What Is the Holistic View of Redemption?

What is the extent of the redemptive work of Christ? Does it extend only to humanity, or does it encompass the whole of created nature? Some hold that the objective of Christ's redemptive work is solely the salvation of human beings — rescuing them from this fallen material world and conveying them to a spiritual, immaterial heaven. Others maintain that the redemptive work of Christ aims at the restoration of both humanity and the created order in which humanity dwells. The latter position may be termed the Holistic or Cosmic View of Redemption, while the former may be called the Reductionist View of Redemption. Both positions can be traced to identifiable origins in the history of Christian thought.

The Holistic and Cosmic view was the common and instinctive conviction of the earliest Christians through the second century.[1] The reductionist view, by contrast, appeared within Christian theology and gained significant ground only in the late second and third centuries. Among the early fathers, Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130–202) stands as the most articulate champion of cosmic redemption. His doctrine of recapitulation (anakephalaiōsis), drawn from Ephesians 1:10, taught that Christ — the new Adam — came to "sum up all things," restoring not merely humanity but the entire material creation to God's original purpose. In Against Heresies 5.32–36, Irenaeus explicitly defends the expectation of a renewed, physical earth against Gnostic spiritualizers who despised the material world. For Irenaeus, creation and redemption are inseparable: "the world was constructed for man, not man for the world" (5.29.1), and all creation will ultimately be restored and redeemed in Christ.[2]

How the Holistic View Was Eclipsed

A decisive factor in this shift was the assimilation of certain Platonic concepts into Christian thought. Randy Alcorn has aptly termed this synthesis "Christoplatonism."[3] Many scholars identify Origen as the principal architect of this fusion.[4] Origen's thoroughgoing allegorical method led him to spiritualize the eschatological texts of Scripture. He conceived of the resurrection body as a rarified, ethereal "spiritual body" — preserving the form (eidos) of the person but not coarse physical flesh. He taught the pre-existence of souls and their descent into bodies as a consequence of a primordial cooling in their love for God. While scholars debate the extent of Origen's Platonism, his framework unmistakably shifted the center of Christian hope away from a material renewal of creation and toward a spiritual ascent of the soul.[5]

Under this influence, salvation came to be understood primarily as the liberation of the soul from the material world.[6] Consequently, Christians gradually abandoned the expectation of a renewed earth, since matter itself was now regarded as the prison of the soul.[7]

Oscar Cullmann, in his landmark study Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?, demonstrates precisely how the Greek philosophical doctrine of the immortality of the soul reshaped Christian thinking about the life to come. The result was the displacement of the hope for bodily resurrection and a renewed earth by an entirely immaterial vision of eternity.[8]

Through the lasting influence of Origen, and subsequently of Augustine, this spiritualized vision of eternity became deeply embedded in the Christian imagination. It should be noted that Augustine's case is more nuanced than Origen's. Augustine did not reject the renewal of creation outright — in City of God XX.16, he explicitly affirms that "it is by a transformation of the physical universe, not by its annihilation, that this world will pass away," and in Book XXII he envisions resurrected saints dwelling in a renewed cosmos.[9] Nevertheless, Augustine's contribution to the eclipse of the holistic view was real: his adoption of Tyconius's spiritual hermeneutic led him to reject premillennialism and to spiritualize the millennium of Revelation 20; his City of God framework, with its sharp contrast between the heavenly city (spiritual, eternal) and the earthly city (temporal, fallen), created a theological grammar that emphasized transcendence over earthly hope; and his Neoplatonic tendencies led him to prioritize the contemplation of God (frui Deo) as the supreme beatitude. Even though Augustine never denied material restoration, his cumulative emphasis pushed the Christian imagination toward an increasingly immaterial vision of eternal blessedness. To this day, many Christians instinctively regard the idea of a redemption that embraces the material world — or even the notion of a tangible, physical heaven — as a carnal and unworthy hope.

Regrettably, this distortion also affected classical dispensationalists, who posited an earthly eternal destiny for Israel and a heavenly one for the Church.[10] Beginning in the 1950s, revised dispensationalists abandoned this dualism of destinies. Thereafter, some dispensationalists gravitated toward a more immaterial model of eternity (e.g., Charles Ryrie and John Walvoord), while others affirmed a physical eternal state (e.g., Alva McClain and J. Dwight Pentecost).[11]

A Defense of the Holistic View of Redemption

David Lawrence rightly observes that "The story of the Fall is one of tragedy on a cosmic scale."[12] By the same logic, we should expect that redemption, too, will operate on a cosmic scale. It must be stated clearly that this affirmation has nothing to do with the heresy of universalism, which teaches the eventual salvation of all humanity. The expression "holistic redemption" is used here in a precise sense: that God's plan of redemption encompasses the whole created universe, not human beings alone. George E. Ladd captures the biblical vision of redemption in exactly these terms:

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"…salvation does not mean deliverance from creaturehood, for it is an essential and permanent element to man's essential being. For this reason the Old Testament never pictures ultimate redemption as a flight from the world or escape from earthly, bodily existence. Salvation does not consist of freeing the soul from its engagement in the material world. On the contrary, ultimate redemption will involve the redemption of the whole man and of the world to which man belongs."[13]

It is essential to recognize that this hope for cosmic restoration is not a New Testament innovation. It is deeply rooted in the prophetic tradition of the Old Testament. Isaiah declares: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind" (Isa 65:17). What follows in that passage is not a picture of disembodied souls in an ethereal heaven, but a vision of transformed material life: people building houses and inhabiting them, planting vineyards and eating their fruit, living in safety and abundance — and "the wolf and the lamb shall graze together" (Isa 65:25). Earlier, Isaiah had painted the messianic vision of creation at peace: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb… and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isa 11:6, 9). God further confirms the permanence of this renewed order: "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain" (Isa 66:22). These prophetic texts establish beyond doubt that God's redemptive purposes, from the very beginning, encompassed the whole of his creation — not the soul alone.

Paul crystallizes this Old Testament expectation in a single, sweeping statement: God has made known to us "the mystery of his will… as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth" (Eph 1:9–10). The Greek verb anakephalaiōsasthai — "to sum up," "to bring under one head" — is the very term from which Irenaeus built his entire theology of cosmic recapitulation. For Paul, the ultimate purpose of God in Christ is nothing less than the reunification and restoration of a fractured cosmos.

The Anglican theologian N. T. Wright has argued compellingly that redemption does not aim to rescue disembodied spirits and souls from a supposedly evil material world, as the Gnostics would have had it. For Wright, redemption entails the renewal of creation itself — addressing the evil that disfigures and corrupts it.[14]

F. F. Bruce maintained that just as humanity needs to be redeemed from the consequences of the Fall, so too does all of nature, for it was equally affected by the same catastrophe.[15] Sam Storms, in The Restoration of All Things, places the redemption of the entire universe at the very heart of Christian eschatological hope: "The eschatological hope of the Christian is inescapably earthly in nature. God's ultimate aim in the redemption of his people has always included the restoration of the natural creation."[16] It is for this reason that I. Howard Marshall rightly affirms that the "renewal of the world is an integral part of hope in the Judeo-Christian tradition."[17]

Scripture makes clear that Christ is not merely the Redeemer of humanity but the Redeemer of all things (Acts 3:21). It is not only human beings who await redemption; the very creation itself longs for it. Randy Alcorn puts it memorably: "The gospel is far greater than most of us imagine. It isn't just good news for us—it's good news for animals, plants, stars, and planets. It's good news for the sky above and the earth below."[18] The words of the Apostle Paul express this truth with unmistakable clarity:

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For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom 8:19–23)

Paul declares that all creation — not humanity alone — suffers under the weight of sin's corruption (Rom 8:22). The consequences of the Fall are therefore universal in their extension. The curse did not merely reach the small planet Earth; it pervaded the entire universe. From the smallest living organism to the most distant galaxy, every particle of creation has been touched by the devastation of sin. Charles Swindoll captures this vividly: "From the center of Eden to the edge of the cosmos, creation has groaned for redemption since the fall."[19] Randy Alcorn likewise observes that "…there is not an amoeba or chromosome or DNA strand or galaxy unaffected by mankind's fall."[20]

If the Fall had a universal scope, then redemption must have a correspondingly universal scope. Nancy Pearcey, in Total Truth, states that "all of creation was affected by the Fall, and when time ends, all creation will be redeemed." Elsewhere she writes: "just as all of creation was originally good, and all was affected by the Fall, so too all will be redeemed."[21] Albert Wolters has argued that the horizon of creation is simultaneously the horizon of both sin and salvation. To conceive of the Fall or of Christ's redemption as embracing anything less than the whole of creation, Wolters contends, is to compromise the biblical teaching on the radical nature of the Fall and the cosmic scope of redemption.[22]

As N. T. Wright has observed, the effects of Jesus' death reach not only into human history but into the farthest reaches of the universe.[23] For Anthony Hoekema, nothing less than the total liberation of creation from the corruption of sin can satisfy the redemptive purpose of God.[24]

The redemption proclaimed in the New Testament is therefore not the hope that we might one day escape from this material world. It is the hope that this very material world will be redeemed and restored from every consequence of sin, becoming a perfect environment in which we will dwell forever in our resurrected bodies.[25] As Joseph Fitzmyer notes, Paul portrays nature not as a mere spectator of human redemption but as itself a participant in the drama of salvation history.[26] This confirms the words of the theologian R. J. Bauckham: "Christian hope is not for redemption from the world, but for the redemption of the world."[27]

Paul does not say that the creation will be annihilated; he says it will be liberated from its bondage.[28] Paul's underlying conviction is that creation itself must be redeemed in order for humanity to possess a fitting environment for eternal existence.[29] Thus our hope encompasses not only the salvation of our souls but also the redemption of our bodies and the renewal of the very world on which we will dwell (Rom 8:19–21).[30]

Elsewhere, Paul speaks of redemption again in cosmic and universal terms. In this passage, the apostle addresses both the creation of all things and their ultimate reconciliation through the blood of Christ:

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For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth… For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1:16–20)

Paul begins by affirming that Christ is the agent through whom "all things" — both in heaven and on earth — were created. Douglas Moo explains that the phrase "all things" denotes the whole universe.[31] Paul then declares that the death of Jesus effected reconciliation not only with humanity but with all creation. The text makes plain that the work of redemption extends beyond humankind to encompass the entirety of the created order. Both humanity and nature will be restored to their original state of peace with God. This passage stands as clear testimony to the cosmic scope of redemption.[32]

At this point, a common objection must be addressed. Does not 2 Peter 3:10–12 teach the annihilation of the present cosmos — heavens "passing away with a roar," elements "being dissolved," the earth and its works "burned up"? If so, would this not undermine the entire case for renewal? A closer examination reveals otherwise. First, the best and earliest Greek manuscripts of verse 10 read not katakaesetai ("will be burned up") but heurethesetai ("will be found" or "will be exposed"), suggesting a divine judgment that lays bare and purges rather than annihilates. Second, Peter himself establishes an analogy between the future fire and Noah's flood (vv. 5–7): just as the ancient world was "destroyed" (apōleto) by water yet the earth endured, so the coming fire will purify rather than obliterate. Third, Peter's own conclusion points unmistakably toward renewal: "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (v. 13) — echoing the very language of Isaiah 65:17. Both Douglas Moo and Richard Bauckham have argued persuasively that 2 Peter 3, rightly understood, describes a purifying transformation of creation, not its annihilation.[33]

This reading is confirmed by the climactic vision of Revelation. John writes: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away" (Rev 21:1). And the One seated on the throne declares: "Behold, I am making all things new" (Rev 21:5). It is exegetically significant that the Greek word for "new" in both 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1 is kainos — meaning renewed, qualitatively transformed — rather than neos, which would denote something entirely novel, previously nonexistent. God does not say "I am making all new things"; he says "I am making all things new." The present creation is not discarded; it is transfigured.

It must be emphasized, moreover, that this cosmic restoration encompasses not only the natural world in its beauty and complexity but also the full breadth of human civilization. God does not intend to flatten or dissolve human diversity in the age to come; rather, he purposes to redeem and glorify it. The vision of the Apostle John in Revelation confirms this in striking terms: "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb" (Rev 7:9). The nations are not erased in glory — they are gathered, purified, and celebrated. Later, John sees the kings of the earth bringing their splendor into the New Jerusalem, and the nations walking by its light (Rev 21:24–26). The distinct cultures, languages, and peoples that God himself scattered across the face of the earth (Gen 11:8–9; Acts 17:26–27) are not discarded as incidental to the plan of redemption; they are woven into its very consummation. God's redemptive design is to restore all things — from the farthest galaxy to the most particular human culture — to their intended fullness under the lordship of Christ.

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"The earth will freely give its produce, and all evil will be removed, just as Isaiah said … for God has refashioned such a world in his kingdom just as it had been made in the beginning before the first-made human being ruined it, who after he had disobeyed the word of God all things were spoiled and ruined and cursed by God's word: 'the earth will be cursed in your works.' The former shape of this world will become the kingdom of the saints and the liberation of the creatures."

— Gregory of Elvira (359–385)[34]

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"It is remarkable that John's picture of the final age to come focuses not on a platonic ideal heaven or distant paradise but on the reality of a new earth and heaven. God originally created the earth and heaven to be man's permanent home. But sin and death entered the world and transformed the earth into a place of rebellion and alienation; it became enemy-occupied territory. But God has been working in salvation history to effect a total reversal of this evil consequence and to liberate earth and heaven from bondage to sin and corruption (Rom 8:21)."

— Alan F. Johnson[35]

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The transformation that Paul saw taking place in the lives of believers (2 Cor 3:18; 4:16–18; 5:16–17) will have its counterpart on a cosmic scale when a totally new order will replace the old order marred by sin.

— Robert H. Mounce[36]

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"The Fall impacts all areas of God's creation. It shouldn't be surprising that redemption is applied to all areas of life as well. However, this insight has been missed by most evangelicals. The focus on personal or individual redemption, which, of course, is foundational, has overshadowed corporate or cosmic redemption."

— Art Lindsay[37]

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1. Cited by Michael Vlach. Models of Eschatology Part 2: The New Creation Model. http://theologicalstudies.org/blog/398-models-of-eschatology-part-2-the-new-creation-model accessed 18/05/2013. ↑

2. Irenaeus of Lyon. Against Heresies 5.29.1; 5.32–36. ↑

3. Randy Alcorn. Heaven (Kindle Location 1191). ↑

4. Alister McGrath. Systematic, Historical, and Philosophical Theology. p. 644. ↑

5. See Origen. De Principiis 2.10–11; 3.6. For a scholarly overview, see Henri Crouzel. Origen (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989), 249–269. ↑

6. Michael Horton. The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Kindle Locations 24189–24190). See also George E. Ladd. "The Greek Versus the Hebrew View of Man." Available at http://www.presenttruthmag.com/archive/XXIX/29-2.htm accessed 28/08/2013. ↑

7. W. Wayne House. "Creation and Redemption" in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35 (1992): 12. ↑

8. Oscar Cullmann. Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? p. 3. Available at http://www.jbburnett.com/resources/cullmann_immort-res.pdf. ↑

9. Augustine. City of God XX.16; XXII. ↑

10. Craig Blaising in Darrell L. Bock, ed. Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Kindle Location 2786). ↑

11. Craig Blaising in Darrell L. Bock, ed. Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Kindle Location 2828). ↑

12. David Lawrence. Heaven: It's Not the End of the World (Kindle Locations 197–198). ↑

13. George E. Ladd. "The Greek Versus the Hebrew View of Man." Available at http://www.presenttruthmag.com/archive/XXIX/29-2.htm accessed 28/08/2013. ↑

14. N. T. Wright. Surprised by Hope. p. 113. ↑

15. F. F. Bruce. Romans. p. 137. ↑

16. Sam Storms. The Restoration of All Things. p. 20. ↑

17. I. Howard Marshall. New Testament Theology. p. 279. ↑

18. Randy Alcorn. Heaven (Kindle Locations 2491–2492). ↑

19. Charles R. Swindoll. Insights on Revelation (Kindle Locations 5616–5617). ↑

20. Randy Alcorn. Heaven (Kindle Location 2616). ↑

21. Nancy Pearcey. Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004). ↑

22. Albert M. Wolters. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (Kindle Locations 962–964). ↑

23. N. T. Wright. Surprised by Hope. p. 113. ↑

24. Anthony A. Hoekema. The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 33. ↑

25. Michael Horton. The Christian Faith (Kindle Location 24182). ↑

26. Joseph A. Fitzmyer. Romans. p. 509. ↑

27. R. J. Bauckham. "Eschatology." In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman, eds. New Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press. ↑

28. W. Wayne House. "Creation and Redemption" in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 35 (1992): 13. ↑

29. James D. G. Dunn. Word Biblical Commentary: Romans 1–8. p. 471. ↑

30. Michael Horton. The Christian Faith (Kindle Location 26220). ↑

31. Douglas J. Moo. "Nature in the New Creation" in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49 (2006): 471. ↑

32. Douglas J. Moo. "Nature in the New Creation" in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49 (2006): 472. ↑

33. Douglas J. Moo. "Nature in the New Creation" in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 49 (2006): 464–468. See also Richard J. Bauckham. Jude, 2 Peter. Word Biblical Commentary 50 (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1983), 316–321. ↑

34. Mark W. Elliott, Isaiah 40–66, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture OT 11 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 276. ↑

35. Alan F. Johnson. "Revelation." In F. E. Gaebelein, ed. The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 12: Hebrews Through Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1981), 592. ↑

36. Robert H. Mounce. The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997), 384. ↑

37. Art Lindsay. "Creation, Fall, Redemption." http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Creation_Fall_Redemption_FullArticle accessed 15/04/2014. ↑