BECAUSE GOD CREATED: A REVIEW OF CREATION REGAINED BY ALBERT M. WOLTERS Ken Stockdell, Jr.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1 ESV) According to Wolters a biblical, Reformed Christian worldview begins and is embodied by these ten words that begin the story of redemption. While Christians, almost by definition, have at least the basics of a Christian worldview, many who wear the label Christian have never thought through the system beliefs that guide their lives in anything close to a rigorous way. With the unfortunate degree of biblical illiteracy among Christians in these times, it is all too rare for the average Christian to have done what Wolters states as one of the purposes of the book, to offer help in the process of reforming our worldview to conform more closely to the teaching of Scripture.1 Because of this biblical illiteracy and the anti-intellectualism that dominates the culture, at least in my part of the country, few people have a conscious understanding of what a worldview, or system of beliefs that guide life,2 is. By beginning with a chapter that outlines the nature and content of a worldview, Wolters helps the reader with building this foundation. It is no wonder that so many today crumble under the stresses and challenges of everyday life, much less greater episodes of tragedy like the tornados and floods that have recently ravaged parts of the country. With a worldview that is fragmented (a piece of Scripture here and there, a concept from science randomly mixed in, and a few nuggets of popular psychology gleaned from Oprah or Dr. Phil) the foundation of their lives comes apart. Wolters successfully provides the tools to reform this foundation into something solid and lasting. By asserting the centrality of creation to this reformed Christian worldview, Wolters begins where the Bible does. The nature and scope of creation parallels the nature and scope of a
1

Albert M Wolters, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub, 2005), 7. 2 Ibid., 5.

worldview that conforms to Gods revelation of himself and accounts for the story of redemption that embodies that revelation. Likewise, the understanding that God created everything that exists is helpful in our understanding the proper scope of a Scriptural worldview. We are, by our fallen nature, prone to compartmentalize and argue that Scripture has nothing to say about life outside the church. Wolters encourages us to understand that the scope of a Scriptural worldview reaches down to the minutia of our lives and into the operation and works of our culture. Art, science, politics, sex, marriage, and every other aspect of our lives falls within the scope of a worldview conformed to Scriptural teaching. Wolters points toward a Bible-driven life in all its aspects. Understanding that what God created is good, but has been perverted or distorted by mans sin, and that God has stayed involved in his creation to redeem it from that perversion and distortion is the key to understanding the nature of a Scriptural worldview. Parallel with the scope of Gods act of creation is the scope of the effect of mans sin. Wolters discussion of the difference between structure and direction is a helpful guide for the reader in thinking through the distinction between the nature of things at creation and the devastating impact of mans fall into sin. His chapter on Redemption that precedes this clarifies the tension we all feel between how things are and how we intuitively know they ought to be. It helps us understand Pauls description of the war between what we know to do and what we actually do in Romans 7 by providing an answer to the question Why do I do this when I know better?3 The practical examples in the chapter on Discerning Structure and Direction help the reader see how the distinction between these two works out in real life. The most helpful part of this discussion was Wolters pointing out that in our analysis of such issues as aggression, spiritual gifts, sexuality, and dancing we are asking the wrong question. His point that it is not a matter of what is right or wrong, but what is structural versus directional helps us properly evaluate what the Bible teaches, even if not explicitly, about these issues.4
3

Ibid., 78-83. Though the primary theme of this section is the false distinction between the sacred and secular, this section also provides a good explanation for the struggle Paul describes and we all experience. 4 Ibid., 100-114.

Wolters closed the first edition of the book with the admonition to take a biblical worldview seriously in all areas of life, and that to fail to do so effectively denies that Scripture is relevant to our everyday lives.5 The addition of the Postscript to the second edition explains how this is done. Had I read the first edition, I would have described this as a helpful book for understanding a proper biblical worldview; with the Postscript I would add that the book is useful for guiding the reader toward understanding how to meet the admonition that the first edition puts forward. Directing us toward the biblical narrative, Wolters shows how our worldview helps us understand that what we are to do is defined by where we find ourselves in the story line. Since we live in the time between Gods great act of redemption in Christ and the consummation of redemption at the end we constantly experience the tension between the structural and directional, or the already and not yet. We live in the fifth act of the biblical story; the era of witness, as Wolters puts it.6 The church is to continue witnessing to the kingdom of God having come begun by Christ in act four, and to be fully realized in act six at the end. As the trailer that gives the watching world a picture of the kingdom that has both arrived and is to come, we in the church are to provide this picture in the full breadth of a biblical worldview. This witness reaches into everything; its scope is as broad as the whole of earthly creation. As we, just as has been done since the early days of the church, contextualize the gospel message we must do so from the foundation of a biblical worldview. Our actions and our words should be the natural working out of an understanding of who we are, where we are, what is wrong, knowledge of the remedy, and what time it is.7 As we do so, we must heed the Apostle Pauls advice to the Colossians, whom he told to Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Col 4:56 ESV)

5 6

Ibid., 117. Ibid., 124. 7 Ibid., 127.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Wolters, Albert M. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Pub, 2005.