Saving the World

            For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

 

            What more could possibly be said about this central tenet of Christianity? It, and the more famous verse that comes before it have been taught to most of us from childhood. And yet…and yet. How many of us are more thrilled with Revelation and Daniel than John 3? We know the world deserves to be condemned. We may even look forward to it, thinking, “Justice” when what we really long for is for “them” to get “theirs.” How many more of us think that He’s doing a bad job, and think the old saw, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”? If only we’d listen to them, we’d make progress toward saving the earth ourselves!

            What is the right perspective to take of this verse? How should we read it? The first thing to notice is that we aren’t mentioned. God sent His Son into the world to save the world. That is the goal. It means that everything that happens works toward the saving of the world. Even tragedies like school shootings, invasions, and global warming are going to be worked together for the good of saving the world. It is worth noting that we are part of the world that He sent His Son to save. We are included, but we are neither the one who does the saving, nor the sole entity to be saved.

            This brings to mind the two other worlds that are mentioned in Scripture. The first is the world that existed between the creation and the fall (Genesis 1-3.)  I’m not sure that it could be said to have been saved. The second is the world between the fall and the flood. From the description in Genesis 6, I suspect that the world then was far worse than this one and that the only possible salvation available to the world was the wiping out of all life except what was on the ark. There are seed vaults that are a variation on this idea – if worse comes to worst, there will be a means of starting over. I think worse came to worst then, and the only hope was to “reboot.”

            The greatest salvation, of course, is salvation from sin brought about through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it might not be wise to limit this verse to that idea. That might be seen as Step One. First, He must save our lives, our souls.

            According to Dallas Willard, Step Two is spiritual formation in our lives. We must be changed; to become Jesus’s apprentices, which means little saviors. We tend to try to do the saving before we are spiritually formed enough. It’s a little like a two-year-old trying to be an Olympic athlete. If they work at it long enough and in the right way, they might get there, but at two, they’re more likely to irrevocably damage themselves by trying to compete.

            What this verse brings to mind for me is that while bringing others to Christ is of huge and primary importance, our spiritual formation may also include our development as savers of the world in other ways, too. I would never have predicted that I would move in the direction I am – with a focus on gardening and the environment, and trying to learn to become a “domestic McGyver, ” a sort of Prepper, or a pioneer woman, but that’s precisely why I am beginning to suspect that this is a direction my spiritual formation is meant to take.

            But the point is that our little saving of the world can only take place as our spiritual formation/growth takes place and as our faith and love grow.