A while back, I wrote a post entitled Redeeming Twitter for the Kingdom. I began with the statement that Christians should engage culture, with the mindset of redeeming aspects of the culture for God’s kingdom. My thoughts about cultural engagement were stirred again today by a remark by Daniel Montgomery, teaching pastor of Sojourn Community Church, in his sermon on Genesis 3 today. In a passing comment, Daniel spoke of the effect of Adam and Eve’s giving in to the serpent’s temptation as being transformational of the culture of Genesis 1 and 2. Namely, the culture of Adam and Eve living in communion with and love for God, along with Adam’s calling to cultivate the garden for the glory of God, all came crashing down with the first sin. In it’s place came a culture of alienation and fear of God, judgment, and shame.

It is in the story of the fall that we see cultural engagement. God is in the business of redeeming culture, as we will see, and that thread is woven throughout Scripture. Now, before anyone says anything, I am not claiming that this is a major tenet of belief on par with the Gospel. The main idea of the narrative is personal fall into sin, judgment, and the promise of redemption. But as Paul says in the Christ hymn of Colossians 1, God is working through Christ to reconcile all things to himself, and certainly culture is part of all things. There is a general movement in Scripture from the garden to a city, from Genesis to Revelation, where the original culture of the garden is again a reality. In fact, it is even better, because there will be no chance of this new culture being subverted.

I mentioned that it was Genesis 3, and particularly Daniel’s comment that got me thinking about this today. But it’s also something that I really started thinking about while I was reading Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making. In his book, Crouch puts for the idea that Christians should not isolate themselves from engaging culture, nor is it enough to stop at simply criticizing culture, which are the two reactions we most see. While those things are good in specific contexts, Crouch calls on us to go beyond them in actually creating culture. For example, its one thing for Christians to critique the arts- whether movies, paintings, music or whatever- but another thing entirely to create art to fill the void left by the critique. Ok, says the culture at large, we hear your complaints but what do you have to offer in its place? Why should we agree with your critique?

We see God doing this very thing after the fall. In the subverted culture of sinful humanity, we see Adam and Eve try and cover their shame by producing, in Andy Crouch’s terms, cultural artifacts: clothing. Genesis 3:7 tells us that in realizing their nakedness before each other and God, Adam and Eve sewed leaves together to cover themselves, and their shame. These clothes wouldn’t cut it, however, as they could only cover their bodies, but offered no healing of their sinfulness, shame, and fractured relationships with God. In Genesis 3:15, God introduces his plan of redemption, by promising to send One who would crush the serpent’s head. With the inspired New Testament, we are able to see the fulfillment of this promise in Christ. In Christ, God is building a new humanity, with Jesus as its head instead of Adam (Romans 5:12-21), which ultimately will reside in a redeemed city and culture- the new heavens and new earth.

But many people miss what God does next. God makes for Adam and Eve a new cultural artifact to replace the leaf clothing, and does so in a way that points us to the New Testament reality of Christ. He killed animals in order to clothe Adam and Eve with them. This act points forward to the sacrificial system, which in turn is a picture of what God would do in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. The word used here in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is the very same word Paul uses in Gal 3:27 and Rom 13:14 of “putting on” or “clothing yourselves” with Christ. It is, of course, a normal word for putting on clothes- but why would Paul use that imagery of Christ and ourselves? I think it takes us back to this event of cultural engagement in Genesis 3- As God clothed Adam and Eve in the skin of the first sacrifice to cover their shame and sin, so we are to clothe ourselves in The Sacrifice of Christ, for the covering and forgiveness of our sins and shame. The main narrative of redemption is told here through transformation, or the redeeming if you will, of a cultural good. This is just one piece of the thread woven through Scripture, which Crouch discusses in far greater detail in his book.

So what does this have to do with the Christian? Though it’s true that the first act of cultural engagement we see after the fall is redemptive in nature and sign, but it is God who is doing the redeeming- what part do we have to play? My response is the same part that we have to play in the larger narrative of redemption- evangelism. It is God who saves, but he does so through the means of his people taking the Gospel to others. In the same way, we are the agents God uses to redeem and engage a fallen culture to see its transformation. At this point, some things need to be said:

1) Gospel transformation of individuals is first importance. At the same time, we shouldn’t make a false dichotomy between cultural engagement and the preaching of the Gospel. The former can produce avenues to be able to do the latter.

2) I am not speaking primarily of cultural relevancy. Though I think he is overstating his case, Carl Trueman has offered a blistering critique of “relevancy” that I think is correct at its core and needs to be heeded.

3) The Gospel proclamation is of first importance. I say this again because some people will ignore the first and think I am speaking of cultural engagement in taking the place of Gospel proclamation. Romans 10:14 and following speak directly to this issue, I believe. So here it is again. Gospel proclamation is of first importance. First.

Some of you, of course, will not be convinced. And that’s fine. I wouldn’t expect everyone to jump on board strictly because a discussion of Genesis 3. I do think that those of you who are interested would do well to check out Andy Crouch’s book, as he goes much further with this idea, and even traces it out through Scripture. All of us who are Christ followers can agree, however, that we look forward to the day that all things are reconciled to himself, through himself. Whatever that looks like.