Is All Creation Cursed?

It's a common idea.  Creation is cursed via man's "fall."

But, is it?  Or is this one of those oft-repeated ideas, like how Satan fell from heaven--an idea we actually don't see supported in Scripture?  (For more on the supposed fall of Satan, check out my episode on Paradise Lost, as well as this conversation with Mike Chu about the dragon of Revelation 12.)

Before we begin, we might define what "all creation" even is and how it is seen as "cursed."  Different people might have different definitions, but I have seen this presented as including:  death (all death--death of anything alive aside from plant death), a change in animal predation, sickness, sin, weeds, genetic mutation, seasons, the weather, and natural disasters.  Basically, anything and everything that leads to death or twisting of God's purposes in creation (such as genetic mutations or the like).  If your definition differs in some way, that's okay--we're going to dig in to what we can actually see in Scripture (and beyond Scripture, too, to help us dig into the biblical thought world). 

Genesis 3 is our first go-to passage on the consequences of "the fall."

Genesis 3:14–24 (NASB95)

14The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 
15And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” 

16To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.” 

17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 
18“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 
19By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” 

20Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 

21The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 
22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 

23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 
24So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

So, these are the things that are happening here:

• The serpent is cursed (going on his belly and eating dust)
• Enmity between the serpent and the woman and their respective seeds with a prophecy known as the protoevengelium
• Pain (toil) in childbirth is multiplied to the woman; the woman's desire will be for her husband and her husband will rule over her
• The ground is cursed and Adam will have toil; thorns and thistles will grow
• God made garments of skin to clothe the humans
• God sent the humans out of the garden and placed cherubim and a sword to guard the way to the tree

Okay, so what's cursed?  The serpent and the ground.  Neither Adam nor Eve are said to be cursed, though their consequence looks a bit like a curse, as it affects two immediate things:  childbirth and agriculture.  (More about curses in this episode of the podcast.)

Curses often affect productivity (offspring, health, or food production), so even though Adam and Eve aren't directly cursed, they at least get some sort of effect that is similar to a curse.  But we should take care not to conflate what's going on with a curse directly--because it doesn't say that they won't be productive.  It says that their production will be painful in some sense (both "pain" and "toil" are the same word in Hebrew).  In addition, there is the question of whether or not death itself is a curse, which we won't tackle here, but you can look forward to my talking more about that in the future at some point.

At any rate, back to our original question.  Even if we were to take the position that Adam and Eve are cursed without the use of the word "curse," then this is still not all of creation.

What we have are effects on:  the serpent, Eve, Adam, and the ground.  What about death?  What about the animals?  What about predation?  What about other natural aspects of creation like earthquakes and storms?  Don't those come from the fall?  (Again, even if your definition of the curse of creation doesn't hold all of these ideas, what we see in Gen 3 is still restricted.  No where does it say that all death comes from this; and yes, I'm referring to Romans 5 there, too..."so death spread to all men.")

So where do we get the idea that "ALL" of creation is cursed?

Next we let's examine a parallel to Genesis as we look at the book of Jubilees.  For those unfamiliar, the book of Jubilees is a second temple text written prior to the time of Jesus that forms a kind of commentary on the book of Genesis.

This is what Jubilees says about the consequences of the incident in the garden:

Jubilees 3:23-31

23 And the LORD cursed the serpent and he was angry with it forever.d And he was angry with the woman also because she had listened to the voice of the serpent and had eaten. And he said to her, 24 “I will surely multiply your grief and your birth pangs. Bear children in grief. And to your husband is your return and he will rule over you.” 25 And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from that tree from which I commanded you that you should not eat, the land shall be cursed because of you. Thorns and thistles shall sprout up for you. And eat your bread in the sweat of your face until you return to the earth from which you were taken because you are earth and to the earth you will return.” 

26* And he made for them garments of skin and he dressed them and sent them from the garden of Eden. 27* And on that day when Adam went out from the garden of Eden, he offered a sweet-smelling sacrifice—frankincense, galbanum, stacte, and spices—in the morning with the rising of the sun from the day he covered his shame. 28* One that day the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak with one another with one speech and one language.f 29 And he sent from the garden of Eden all of the flesh which was in the garden of Eden and all of the flesh was scattered, each one according to its kind and each one according to its family, into the place which was created for them. 30 But from all the beasts and all the cattle he granted to Adam alone that he might cover his shame. 31 Therefore it is commanded in the heavenly tablets to all who will know the judgment of the Law that they should cover their shame and they should not be uncovered as the gentiles are uncovered. 

We won't go into too much detail here, but note the expansion of what happens to the animals.  There's a definite difference between Genesis and Jubilees.  Genesis has a very ancient Near Eastern/Egyptian/Mesopotamian background.  The book of Jubilees, however, is removed from that in time and location.  As such, the author of Jubilees seemingly was unaware of the context of the serpent as a divine throne guardian.  The serpent is presented as just another one of the animals.  The author of Jubilees has an answer as to why the serpent could communicate with Even when obviously snakes don't talk!

Not only did animals lose their sense of speech, but they, too, were removed from the garden and scattered abroad.  (Note that the language of cursing is till left to the serpent and the ground, however.)  It reads like an animal version of the tower of Babel.

Although the book of Jubilees adds to our progression of ideas that have developed over time, it is not Scripture and so doesn't provide a very good basis for theological interpretation.  And it's still not really getting us to the point of "all creation is cursed" per se.  It just shows all of creation getting kicked out of Eden (which is a point we will return to).  So we must continue looking for a solid basis for our thesis.

A common place to turn is the book of Romans, so let's go there next:

Romans 8:18–25 (NASB95)

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 
19For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 
20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 
21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 
22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 
23And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 
24For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 
25But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

This passage is great for our question because it does talk about "creation" in general!  Let's look closely at some points here:

• Creation is longing anxiously (we'll get to why in a moment)
• Creation was subjected to futility (we'll define futility)
• Creation will be set free from its slavery to corruption
• The whole creation groans and suffers pains of childbirth 
• Creation is compared to what we are going through
• There is a context of salvation

So why is creation groaning?  (I bring up this word specifically as it is often the verse and phrase that I've heard mentioned specifically.)  To answer that, we need to look at the context of the passage, which is humanity and humanity's bondage to the power of sin.  (For more on the idea of Sin as a power and a force of bondage, see this episode about Jesus and the Cosmic Powers.) 

Verse 19 specifically states that creation is longing for the revealing of the sons of God, and unlike the sons of God of the Old Testament, the sons of God here is humanity.  Our revelation as the sons of God is our adoption as sons.  So this is about our following of Jesus, being adopted into the family of God, and being redeemed (v. 23).  This has something to do with reversing the futility that creation was subjected to. 

What futility was creation subjected to, then?  Futility describes something that is useless or pointless.  There is an ineffectiveness to creation.  Why?  Because it is in bondage (similar to our own bondage, perhaps?) to corruption.  What is that corruption?

What does Paul have in mind here?  Is he, perhaps, thinking about the promises of the new heavens and new earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22)?  Is he thinking of 1 Enoch 45?

      4 On that day, I shall cause my Elect One to dwell among them,
      I shall transform heaven and make it a blessing of light forever.
      5 I shall (also) transform the earth and make it a blessing,
      and cause my Elect One to dwell in her.

      Then those who have committed sin and crime shall not set foot in her.
      6 For in peace I have looked (with favor) upon my righteous ones and given them mercy,
      and have caused them to dwell before me.
      But sinners have come before me so that by judgment
      I shall destroy them from before the face of the earth.

I can't be sure if he's got any of these passages in mind particularly, but we can see that there are promises that do extend to creation.  There is no direct suggestion of creation being cursed, but 1 Enoch does say that the earth will be made a blessing.  If creation isn't currently blessing, then it could be said to be futile, right?  It is not fulfilling its purposes if it is not blessing humanity.  In 1 Enoch, in this transformed earth, "those who have committed sin and crime shall not set foot in her."  This squares quite well with what Paul is saying in Romans about our adoption and redemption.

Okay, so here's my question:  why would humanity's redemption be the cause of creation's purpose to no longer be futile?  Is this an ending of a specific curse? 

Unfortunately, we don't get a lot of detail as to the differences in creation with this transformation into the (rew)newed earth.  So we don't have any idea if this has anything to do with predation, or death of animals, or tsunamis, or avalanches, or birth defects.  (Yes, we do have the wolf laying down with the sheep, etc, in Isa 11--but guess what that passage is?  It's poetry.  Is it giving a literal account of what to expect?  Possibly; but we can't be dogmatic about that.  Is it instructing us to place our infants in snake dens?) 

Here's another passage from Jubilees 4:26:

On account of this the earth will be sanctified from all sin and from pollution throughout eternal generations. 

Again, Jubilees is not inspired Scripture, but this description seems like something we could agree upon.  Sanctification from sin and pollution.  But again, what does that look like?  It's describing a cleansing, much like what we might understand when we are baptized.  This accords strongly with the logic of sacrifice in relation to sacred space.  Our sins cause pollution.  The answer to this pollution is washing/cleansing, which is the purpose of atonement. 

There are other passages in places most of us don't see as inspired that can help build the idea that Paul might have had in mind: 

2 Baruch 31:5-32:6

5 For, behold, the days are coming, that all that has been will be taken away to be destroyed, and it will become as though it had not been.

32 1* You, however, if you prepare your minds to sow into them the fruits of the law,a he shall protect you in the time in which the Mighty One shall shake the entire creation. 2 For after a short time, the building of Zion will be shaken in order that it will be rebuilt. 3 That building will not remain; but it will again be uprooted after some time and will remain desolate for a time. 4 And after that it is necessary that it will be renewed in glory and that it will be perfected into eternity.b 5* We should not, therefore, be so sad regarding the evil which has come now, but much more (distressed) regarding that which is in the future. 6 * For greater than the two evils will be the trial when the Mighty One will renew his creation.

That passage is more about time before the renewal, but highlights the extreme nature of that and how all of creation is impacted by it. 

Further, some interesting ideas here: 

2 Esdras 7:10–15 (KJV Apoc)
10And I said, It is so, Lord. Then said he unto me, Even so also is Israel’s portion. 
11Because for their sakes I made the world: and when Adam transgressed my statutes, then was decreed that now is done. 
12Then were the entrances of this world made narrow, full of sorrow and travail: they are but few and evil, full of perils, and very painful. 
13For the entrances of the elder world were wide and sure, and brought immortal fruit. 
14If then they that live labour not to enter these strait and vain things, they can never receive those that are laid up for them. 
15Now therefore why disquietest thou thyself, seeing thou art but a corruptible man? and why art thou moved, whereas thou art but mortal?

"The entrances of this world" sound quite similar to the narrow gate of Matt 7.

In looking at these extra-biblical passages, we can see that we do have the build up of the idea that Adam's transgression affected all of creation.  This is parallel to the type of thinking that was going on in the Graco-Roman world, as I'll touch on below.  Widening up the scope, again, of Romans 8, Paul is talking about suffering.  That suffering happens not just from our sin, but in various ways that are associated with earthly life.  Clearly, this isn't how God would have made the world, is it??  That's our question.  And I think Paul would say that the world has always been for human flourishing, and it is still for human flourishing.  Interestingly, for Paul, the suffering is not for naught.  Yes, we suffer in response to what we go through in creation, but creation isn't groaning in suffering for itself, but in suffering for the revelation of the glory of the children of God. 

Creation, however, is futile in the sense that it cannot do this itself; it cannot alone give birth to the children of God.  Creation is in bondage, incapable of performing its original creation mandate (keep reading, this is important), and our freedom is also the freedom of creation from corruption into our glory. 

Decline from the Golden Age or Exodus to a New Age?

The Graco-Roman world had many ideas of why the world wasn't perfect.  There was a strong idea that creation was declining from a grand, golden age.  There was even Jewish discussion on whether or not it was a good idea for God to even create man since Adam's sin resulted in the ruling of evil powers over the earth.  Stoics believed that the world would eventually unravel.  The general idea was that only "the elementals" were eternal and all else was passing away, declining into corruption from an age that was previously ideal and that would end in the dissolution of all things except the elements.  It was a very pessimistic view.  Is God going to allow the dissolution of all things?  Do we suffer because that's just our natural end? 

What is Paul saying here in Romans 8 in response to this range of ideas?  Scholars debate the "him" who subjected creation to futility (Adam, Satan, or God), but it seems God is the best referent there.  So even in the suffering and corruption that people see around them, the cause of that is God, and it is not ultimately futile, but rather there is purpose and hope in all that is happening.  The problems seen in creation actually hold a resolution as well as a purpose in God's redemption. 

Just like the people in Egypt who groaned for a release from their slavery, God's redemption from bondage will release us to glory.  But just as the people had to go through the wilderness to enter the Promised Land, so we go through suffering to reach ultimate redemption. 

Back to Genesis

Genesis presents the idea of a curse, but it's far more limited in scope than what we are thinking about in the book of Romans.  I don't want to suggest that we not think about "creation" as encompassing, literally, all of creation, but let's look at how things are discussed in Genesis.  After that, we can ask ourselves if what Paul is referencing is a curse that happened upon creation in general, or if it makes more sense to see that he's just thinking about what others are thinking about during his time.  (This matters because if we are going to get all dogmatic about creation being cursed from the beginning, then we ought to see that, solidly, in the book of Genesis.) 

The next mention of "curse" after Genesis 3 is in Genesis 4:11 with Cain, who is cursed from the ground.  Is this different than what we see in Gen 3?  Well, it follows in the pattern.  Cain's sin of murder goes beyond the taking of the fruit, but his sin is in the same pattern as his parents'.  (See this discussion on Genesis 4 for more on that.)  For Cain, it's not a matter of mere toil and thistle, but the ground will no longer yield its strength (Gen 4:12), which makes Cain a fugitive and wanderer because, well, you can't live in one place if you can't farm.  At least for him in particular, there is a definitely lack of production!

After this, the next time we see curse is in the hope of Noah.  After the flood, what does God say?  That he will no longer curse the ground because of man.

Genesis 8:22 (NASB95)

22“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”

Remember that idea of purification?  Baptism?  Atonement?  The flood was a washing of the earth, a purification that cleared the earth of the pollution of humanity's sin.  The poem here at in Genesis 8 is one about the proper ordering of creation.  The flood was a reset.  It cleansed the earth.  No longer would God curse the ground.

Does that mean that there is no longer any effect of humanity's sin upon the earth?  No; we can't say this anymore than we could say that the Day of Atonement is an end to all effects of Israel's sin.  But what we see here in the story of creation, involving sin and curse and creation, is that sin polluted the earth to the point of needing this cleansing of the flood.  The ground was cursed, but now the things that affect agriculture (seedtime, harvest, cold, heat, summer, winter, day, night) are ensured to be in order.  This isn't to say that there will be no struggle, no toil, no weeds, but as we read into Genesis 9, we see the blessing of God to Noah and his sons who are once again to multiply and fill the earth and perform the mandate of creation.  Our toil on the earth will not stop this mandate.  (We can, however, continue our own individual paths into sin.)

The Original Creation Mandate

The creation mandate is key.

The suffering of creation--and indeed of humanity in particular--is not seen in Romans 8 as a curse to prevent or reduce production or proliferation, but rather a picture of birth pangs that will end in freedom and birth.  That's what the groaning and pain is about...childbirth.  It's not an idea of creation suffering in the sense of "hurry up, humans, I'm tired of suffering, too," or creation falling into entropy and dissolution, but rather a longing for humans to be redeemed and be capable of picking up our original creation mandate of ruling and subduing the earth as the proper stewards of creation. 

In the end, the idea of curse is upended into one of ultimate blessing--which means that Paul isn't actually talking about curse at all to begin with.  He is engaging in the world of thought of the time that sees creation as having had a "fall" in the sense of a decline from what used to be good.  (And that good was not ever some idealized form of non-work for humans!)  Paul is not denying the painful situation of creation.  But instead of pessimism, Paul is offering hope.  In the beginning (the very beginning!), creation was subjected to humanity's rule and dominion.  Adam and Eve failed in that task as they instead chose to put themselves under the dominion of creation (the serpent).  Because of Adam and Eve's failure to pick up this role properly, creation has been impacted by our lack of stewardship and dominion.  As humanity is renewed, so does creation have hope in the revelation of the sons of God who will now exercise dominion as we were originally meant to do. 

In Romans 8, salvation is connected to the purposes of creation.  The Greek for creation "waiting eagerly" is used elsewhere in the NT for the return of Jesus (Rom. 8:19, 23, 25; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:5; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28).  The hope for creation is not for centipedes to no longer die, but rather the hope is Jesus' return.  While we work to do what we can in this "already but not yet" time of living out our lives as imagers who are being conformed to the image of the Son (Rom 8:29--oh how interesting, that's the same chapter!), our true hope is in the consummation of all things.  Keep reading--Jesus died and was raised; even in death, we are conquerors "through Him who loved us" (Rom 8:37). 

The End State

So what does that all mean in reference to creation?  In the (re)newed earth, will we no longer swat at mosquitos?  Will the earth's plates no longer shift to cause earthquakes?  Will wolves and lambs really cozy up together as lions eat salads? 

Maybe.  But what we are left with in the end regarding all that is...speculation.  We simply don't know exactly, and most details we have are figurative or poetic (not that that is the opposite of "literal," mind you). 

Were we ever meant to subdue creation in the form of stopping mudslides?  Would a mudslide simply not be possible in a perfect world?  That seems a little odd.  What if, for instance, a wolf still eats a lamb, but the lamb is instantly regenerated with a new body?  In the end, the focus of the biblical authors is not, in fact, the details of creation per se, but rather the flourishing of humanity.  The giving to God of glory as humanity flourishes. 

Rather than mining the Bible for historical, "literal" fact, let's use biblical images to put our minds into the framework of the ancient person.  We might not understand how a flood would cleanse the crust of the earth from sin.  We might not grasp the mechanics of the logic of sacrifice--maybe because it's not a mechanism in the first place.  Maybe it's an image to show us the reality of God's love and desire to be with us, to cleanse us, to deliver us. 

Immerse yourself in the story, not a mechanistic tit-for-tat.  The story of creation and what we see in creation is set within a particular set of ideas.  The more I dig into the context of Scripture, the more I see how deeply the theme of deliverance from bondage goes.  We simply do not need to formulate a systematic theology that minutely explains how God subjecting creation to futility ends up with creation being in slavery to corruption.   What's going on there is a set of narrative ideas and concepts rather than an outlying of precise causes and effects.

My suggestion, at the end of all this, is not to look at this as "the curse of creation," since that's just not the description that we see Paul or anyone else using (past particular sub-sets of creation--the serpent and the ground).  Instead of looking negatively (ie, "why is the world like this?"--in which case the only answer is, "God subjected it to this"), let's look at it positively--the fulfilling of the purposes of creation is the revealing of the sons of God and the expectation of the fulfillment of all things in the return of Jesus.