way can dwell within its bounds in relationship with God. This means that if ever humanity fell into impurity, their relationship with God would be ruptured and they would be separated from him.
Creation
So, this loving, relational, eternal creator designed and made our world. The account of creation in the first book of the Bible Genesis tells us that God established the universe and our world with its sun and moon as a perfectly fine-tuned environment in which life could be formed. He created vegetation and animals to inhabit and populate the world. He created humanity as the climax of his creation. Indeed, the whole narrative of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis climaxes in the creation of humanity – creation is for us.
As you are no doubt aware, the exact method and process of this creation is an area of great controversy from the perspectives of science and faith.19 This is not the place for an extensive discussion of the matter. However, a few comments are important. Modern science assumes an old earth (approx. 4.5 billion years) and universe (approx. 13-14 billion years), and an evolutionary perspective of biological development. Some, usually more conservative Christians, reject this entirely and argue for a literal six-day event and a very young earth (less than 20,000 years old). Other Christians accept an old universe and earth, but reject the notion of evolutionary development, seeing the development of human life as sudden rather than a process (called ‘old earth creationism’). Yet others prefer the notion of ‘intelligent design’ which is a broad notion that takes in a wide range of views, but is united in its belief that the complexity of the world as we know it requires an external force or power to exist. A growing number of Christians are now accepting the premises of science but arguing that evolutionary development and creation are not irreconcilable (‘evolutionary theism’ or ‘theistic evolution’).
The important thing to realise is that, contrary to popular thinking, Christians are not all anti-science and evolution. Indeed, many would argue that creation and science are not mutually exclusive. It is also important to note that many of history’s greatest scientific minds, including Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton and today, John Polkinghorne, based their thinking on the existence of God.
Whichever interpretation of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis Christians hold, all agree with the premise that God created the world. If you personally hold an evolutionary perspective, I encourage you to continue to read on as what you will read here does not depend on any particular view of creation. That is, it is possible to believe in God and still accept many of the views of modern science.20
Returning to our main point… The reason God created humanity is so that they could have a loving relationship with him and with each other in the world he created. He made humanity, male and female, in his own image.21 Being made in the image of God means that each of us is made to be in some way like God (without being God or gods). We are made to be people of creativity and love. That is, we humans are created to be completely whole in our own skins and ready for relationship – a relationship with our creator, with each other, and with creation itself.22 He granted humanity sovereignty or the power to rule over all of his creation. This means he has given people a responsibility to both use the natural world and to care for it deeply as human society develops. He is greatly concerned about every part of his world and, as his image bearers charged with caring for it, so should we. God’s project involves us working with him and under his reign. We are to build God’s world.
Relationship with God
Firstly and primarily, we humans were made to have a relationship with God himself. The first basic truth of the gospel from an individual personal point of view is that ‘God made me to have a relationship with him’. This relationship is, in many ways, like human interpersonal relationships, but in other ways it is different. It is the relationship of the Creator with the created, the infinite with the finite, the immortal with the mortal. Because of this, we need to take care at this point to define this relationship appropriately.
The nature of the relationship between God and humanity was always intended to be two-sided. From God’s point of view, he wants to use his immense power to love each person, bless them, lead them, guide them, provide for them, protect them, nurture them and walk through life with them. Put another way, he wants to ‘hang out’ with us. He wants to be our friend, knowing us, caring for us and enjoying our company.
This is seen in the account of the Garden of Eden where he provided humanity with the beauty and perfection of the Garden and walked with them in the shade of the trees.23 He wants this relationship to be everlasting. In other words, he wants to spend eternity with you and me. In the movie Bruce Almighty24 there is a scene in which God (Morgan Freeman) chats to Bruce (Jim Carrey) as they mop the floor, working together, enjoying each other’s company. Or think of a parent spending time with their child maybe fishing or shopping together; God wants to spend time with us.
This desire is symbolised in the story of Genesis 2-3 by the tree of life in the centre of the garden, the fruit of which would give Adam and Eve eternal life.25 The first humans were able to eat of it at any time. It would enable them to live eternally and be sustained in their relationship with God.26
Effectively this was an invitation to join God who is triune (three, yet one) – Father, Son and Spirit. The concept of the Trinity states that God is eternally One in being, yet exists in three eternal simultaneous forms; One yet three – three yet One. We are not a hundred percent sure how this works. I mean, who can work out the notion of a cosmic eternal being who is one and also existing in three forms simultaneously? But it seems from the Bible that God is supreme, is one in character, psyche, connectedness, essence and community, yet exists in three totally unified and intimately connected individual personal beings.27
Hence, the Christian God is different from the Muslim God who is one in a literal mathematical sense, removing any notion of his becoming human. The Muslim God then is a ‘distant’ God who is difficult to relate to. The Christian God is also different to the many Hindu gods who are totally present, distinct, a blend of good and evil and who are supposedly with us in many forms and ways. The Christian God is one but exists in three perfectly united, good, connected, pure modes; all with different functions but on perfectly equal terms, utterly one but expressed in three (the Godhead). He is beyond us in glory (transcendent), yet present with us in history (immanent).
At his heart, this God is one in unity – that is, a unity of community. Hence, our invitation to accept the Christian message is not only an invitation to join God, but also an invitation to join the community of God’s being28 and the wider heavenly community.29 Consequently, a person who enters into a relationship with God joins the triune God and the many heavenly beings in a community of love. We don’t become God or gods, but we enter into a deep and intimate spiritual relationship with God and his people. The unity of the Godhead is the ideal for community, the three eternal persons of God being one in love and purpose and living in perfect harmony and peace. Heaven, as it exists now, is similarly a place of purity and unity which God will preserve at all costs. In a sense then, the communities of believers that exist on earth are meant to be extensions of the heavenly community – colonies of heaven on earth that demonstrate and extend the heavenly community.30
The best way to understand God in these terms is through the human experience of parenting. God is often called ‘Father’. This is an English translation taken from the intimate Aramaic family term of endearment used by Jesus and Paul to refer to God in the New Testament (Abba).31 As ‘Father’, God embodies the fullness of the ideal of human parenting, including in his being the notions of motherhood and fatherhood.32 Just as a young couple want to create a child to love, nurture, provide for, protect and guide through life, God is the cosmic parent of us all, who created with a desire to have a relationship with us.
Ideally each person will walk in a flawless, direct
