1. There is in the Bible a fundamental ambivalence about ‘the world’. On the one hand it is God’s good creation, loved by him and to be redeemed by him; on the other hand it is the place of human and satanic rebellion and opposition to God. We have to bear both of these in mind, in creative tension, in all our missional reflection and engagement in the world. In evangelical circles there is a tendency to think of ‘the world’ primarily in the second negative sense, and we need to be willing to appreciate the other dimensions, for example in terms of what we can learn from all cultures of human beings made in the image of God.
2. The Bible has a rich vocabulary to describe ‘the world’ – including: the earth; the world; the heaven and the earth; all things [in heaven and earth]; the fullness of the earth; the creation; the cosmos; all the nations; all flesh; the inhabited world.
In all this variety, the Bible seems to speak of ‘the world’ in at least five major ways.
a) as the physical creation (the world of nature in which we live);
b) as the whole human race, (the world of nations, languages and cultures and all that goes with them, including religions);
c) as the place of rebellion and opposition to God (the world of sin and judgement);
d) as the object of God’s love and the arena of God’s redemptive mission in history (the world that God so loved that he gave his Son for its salvation)
e) as the new creation (the world being made anew in Christ).
All of these are important dimensions that should be included in missiological reflection. The final section of this report combines the last three of those dimensions under the heading “The World of Sin and Redemption.”
3. The Bible tells us that God owns the world, rules the world, reveals himself through the world, watches all that happens in the world, and loves the world of ‘all he has made’. God’s relationship with the world he created is profound and dynamic.
4. Therefore, human beings as creatures share in all of those relationships between God and the world. This must impact what it means to think about ‘the whole world’. All humanity, every person, has these things in common, along with all creation.
a) They belong to God, however much they have surrendered that ownership to other lords.
b) They live under God’s sovereignty, however much they resist it. History is governed by God, as is all creation.
c) They know God to some degree simply by living in the world that reveals him, however much they have suppressed that knowledge in darkness and perversion.
d) They are created to glorify God and give him thanks and praise, thought they fail to do so.
e) They are accountable to God, who watches all they do and understands not only the actions but also the motives of every human being.
f) They are loved by God, however much they reject his love, or ignore the daily proofs of it, or indeed treat God as the enemy.
g) Wherever we go in the world, we never go to where God is not present and active in sovereign revelation and grace.
5. While the term ‘the world’ easily speaks to us of great magnitudes (the planet, all the nations), we must learn to see the world ‘from the bottom up’. God is concerned also about persons in families, in villages and neighbourhoods. It is noteworthy that the earliest form of the promise of God to Abraham speaks of ‘all the households/clans of the world will be blessed through you’.
6. We must learn to see the world as God sees it and as the Bible describes it. We do not see the world as Toyota or McDonald’s do (as a vast marketplace for unlimited expansion); nor as atheist biologists (as an intricate but purposeless product of evolution); nor with the extremes of sentimentality on the one hand or ruthless exploitation on the other.
1. There is in the Bible a fundamental ambivalence about ‘the world’. On the one hand it is God’s good creation, loved by him and to be redeemed by him; on the other hand it is the place of human and satanic rebellion and opposition to God. We have to bear both of these in mind, in creative tension, in all our missional reflection and engagement in the world. In evangelical circles there is a tendency to think of ‘the world’ primarily in the second negative sense, and we need to be willing to appreciate the other dimensions, for example in terms of what we can learn from all cultures of human beings made in the image of God.
2. The Bible has a rich vocabulary to describe ‘the world’ – including: the earth; the world; the heaven and the earth; all things [in heaven and earth]; the fullness of the earth; the creation; the cosmos; all the nations; all flesh; the inhabited world. In all this variety, the Bible seems to speak of ‘the world’ in at least five major ways.
a) as the physical creation (the world of nature in which we live);
b) as the whole human race, (the world of nations, languages and cultures and all that goes with them, including religions);
c) as the place of rebellion and opposition to God (the world of sin and judgement);
d) as the object of God’s love and the arena of God’s redemptive mission in history (the world that God so loved that he gave his Son for its salvation)
e) as the new creation (the world being made anew in Christ).
All of these are important dimensions that should be included in missiological reflection. The final section of this report combines the last three of those dimensions under the heading “The World of Sin and Redemption.”
3. The Bible tells us that God owns the world, rules the world, reveals himself through the world, watches all that happens in the world, and loves the world of ‘all he has made’. God’s relationship with the world he created is profound and dynamic.
4. Therefore, human beings as creatures share in all of those relationships between God and the world. This must impact what it means to think about ‘the whole world’. All humanity, every person, has these things in common, along with all creation.
4.
a) They belong to God, however much they have surrendered that ownership to other lords.
b) They live under God’s sovereignty, however much they resist it. History is governed by God, as is all creation.
c) They know God to some degree simply by living in the world that reveals him, however much they have suppressed that knowledge in darkness and perversion.
d) They are created to glorify God and give him thanks and praise, thought they fail to do so.
e) They are accountable to God, who watches all they do and understands not only the actions but also the motives of every human being.
f) They are loved by God, however much they reject his love, or ignore the daily proofs of it, or indeed treat God as the enemy.
g) Wherever we go in the world, we never go to where God is not present and active in sovereign revelation and grace.
5. While the term ‘the world’ easily speaks to us of great magnitudes (the planet, all the nations), we must learn to see the world ‘from the bottom up’. God is concerned also about persons in families, in villages and neighbourhoods. It is noteworthy that the earliest form of the promise of God to Abraham speaks of ‘all the households/clans of the world will be blessed through you’.
6. We must learn to see the world as God sees it and as the Bible describes it. We do not see the world as Toyota or McDonald’s do (as a vast marketplace for unlimited expansion); nor as atheist biologists (as an intricate but purposeless product of evolution); nor with the extremes of sentimentality on the one hand or ruthless exploitation on the other.
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