Genesis 1:26-30 is the foundational text which establishes the responsibility of human beings to take the lead in the use and management of God's creation. Humans are not intruders in nature but rather stewards of it. See also Genesis 2:15 for a helpful summary statement of humanity's role in God's created world.

Genesis 3 is crucial to understanding why humans have mis-treated and mis-managed God's creation. This point is often misunderstood. From the Transcendentalist writers like Henry David Thoreau to current politicians like Al Gore, the assumption is that humans are innately good, while society is the corrupting influence. But any biblically informed view of the environment must account for human evil.

Statements like Deuteronomy 22:4 and Proverbs 12:10 provide a vision for caring for one's animals, even though they do not stand on themselves as sermon texts.

In Psalm 50, a call for God's people to honor Him and treat their neighbors rightly, the psalmist affirms that the earth belongs to God (see verses 10-12).

Romans 8:19-21 provides a glorious vision of creation's deliverance from the curse and its participation in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

2 Peter 3:10-13 has sometimes been used erroneously to support an ?earth doesn't matter' viewpoint. However, see Douglas J. Moo's comments on this text in The NIV Application Commentary on 2 Peter and Jude (pages 200-202, 204). Also, see Gale Heide's article, "What's New About the New Heaven and the New Earth: A Theology of Creation from Revelation 21 and 2 Peter 3," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 40:1 (March 1997), 37-56. Heide argues that Peter speaks of the fires of purging and cleansing rather than the fires of total eradication. Moo is less certain, but he still argues for a Christian commitment to preserve our environment.

In my next post, I'll address the issue of application in green sermons. How can we help people flesh out a biblical theology of the environment in their everyday practices? In the meantime, do you have any relevant Scripture texts to add to the above list?