01 October 2009

Bavinck: Creation's Rebirth

The world, according to [Scripture], consists of heaven and earth; humans consist of soul and body; and the kingdom of God, accordingly, has a hidden spiritual dimension and an external, visible side. Whereas Jesus came the first time to establish that kingdom in a spiritual sense, he returns at the end of history to give visible shape to it. Reformation proceeds from the inside to the outside. The rebirth of humans is completed in the rebirth of creation.

--Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4:718

...the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay...

--the Apostle Paul

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