The border wars between order and disorder relentlessly rage on. They occur in the hearts and minds of every individual – where our hope for purpose and meaning must constantly push back against the ever-shifting sands of circumstance. But it also scales up into cultural conflict, factionalizing everything with political rhetoric, ever fostering an “us/ them” divide, drawing lines of distinction between good and evil as defined by each competing faction’s assessment of what makes human life valuable. And to be sure, what constitutes reality is at the very center of the conflict – either we’re moving toward the very nature of existence, or away from it . . . we’re either embracing life or promoting death. In many ways, it could be said that this is the subtext of every power struggle.
In the creation narrative of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth “. . . and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2) – so God brings order to that chaos by dividing darkness and light, land and sea. The darkness and “the deep” are still present – yet held at bay. Darkness being the absence of light, and “the deep” being the humanly uninhabitable – making of both a great metaphor, as realms of chaos. These are metaphors that allow us to better conceptualize the distinction between existence and non-existence – lest we forget, the point of this narrative is that God spoke us out of non-existence into existence… because what comes next in the story will be a rather conspicuous forgetting of this very point.
In Genesis chapter 3 Adam and Eve, having been created in the image of God, and living in the Garden of Eden, where they encounter a tannin, a Hebrew word translated in the text as “serpent,” but could also be translated as “sea serpent,” or even “dragon.”
Bible scholar Tim Mackie describes tannin as a type of chaos beast found in the wilderness or the sea – dangerous places where our experience of existence will be constantly challenged. So it isn’t surprising that this serpent (chaos beast) would question Eve, attempting to get her to question the very nature of her own existence – tempting her to imagine herself as a self-existing god . . . who was somehow being constrained by the order of God’s creation. In this way, when chaos has captured our imagination, self-delusion begins to drag our hearts into the dark abyss of death’s domain . . . away from God.
By design, we were created to participate in the flourishing of all of creation, making us the stewards of the earth – a world ordered by God, intended to reflect his glory, pulsing with the rhythm and cadence of life overflowing in all directions, as creation unfolds. So the potentiality of chaos was meant to be captured and subdued; we were meant to bring order to chaos – to the glory of God. But instead, in our fallen state, chaos now seeks to capture us at every turn — addicting us to the ways of death, by seducing us with our own vain desire to be our own god . . . until in our alienation, existence becomes defined as an unending power struggle for control.
So if you’re wondering what side of the bordered wars between order and chaos you’ve been spending your time on – Paul gives us a pretty good checklist: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” ~ Galatians 5:18-24.
But when love comes to town . . .
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