God’s purpose is from Creation to New Creation—for a New Earth.
The Adam-Christ parallel (Rom 5:12-20) explicates God’s redemptive purpose for history, recreating a New Heavens and a New Earth in Christ (Rev 21:1-6; 2 Cor 5:17).
This motif of a New Creation in Christ demonstrates that the infinite creator-God was not ‘caught on the hop’ by the Fall; that while the impact of Adam’s disobedience was universal, Christ’s obedience – as the last Adam and the second Man – not only terminates the old Adamic order of sin and death but also inaugurates a superior new order of righteousness and life—a New Heavens and a New Earth! God’s plan was always for the Earth, for the renewal of both the moral and physical universe, not only in history but also for the ages to come.
This motif of Creation–New Creation also demonstrates the principle of covenant headship in either Adam or in Christ, leading to either curse or blessing for the human race and creation. Additionally, it demonstrates how the original Creation Mandate to “produce and protect” (Gen 2:15) is rehabilitated in the New Creation—in biblical economics and ecology.
God has a plan for the planet.
