Psalm 119:64 (ESV) declares, “The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love (chesed).” A walk through a forest or in an art museum lets us experience a sampling of God’s steadfast love to his people through his work in creation and his gifts of art and culture.
In terms of what we as humans create—such as history, art, beauty, and faithfulness—these are things that shape what we know as elements of aesthetics. Aesthetics lead us to ask how truth, goodness, and delight coalesce, pleasing our hearts, elevating our minds, filling our senses, and blessing our souls.
Our Stewardship Over Creation
The scriptures lead us to this wonderful task. In creation, we are reminded that God saw all that he had created and declared it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31 ESV).
As his image bearers, we are called by his “Creation Mandate”, or “Cultural Mandate,” to extend his rule over all creation. We read in Genesis 1:27-28 (ESV), “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female, he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the Earth.’”
In these words, we are reminded that God challenges us as his vicegerents to rule with him over his creation for his glory. Reflecting his beauty in nature as well as in the gospel, Psalm 34:8 (ESV) invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
In Psalm 19:10-11 (ESV), we are told that God’s revelation of his will for mankind is “sweeter than honey” and more to be desired than “much fine gold.” Scripture teaches that God has spoken and has shown us what is morally excellent. Micah 6:8 (ESV) insists, “He has shown you, O man, what is good.”
Our Creativity Used for God’s Glory
And so in all our human endeavors, whether in the transcendence of art or in the mundane tasks of daily life, God’s glory is to be our highest goal.
The Apostle Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV), “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” According to Revelation 4:11 (ESV), the celebration of God’s glory reflects heaven itself. That text reveals that God, as Creator, ever receives the worship of heaven for his majestic work of creation: “Worthy, are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Our aesthetic instinct that was built into our being by being made in God’s image manifests itself in the joys of life in God’s world. Nehemiah declared, “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Neh. 8:10 ESV).
These texts demonstrate that God radiates his sovereign majesty in creation. They also encourage us as his creatures to join him in what is good and beautiful. One of the key ways we can do this is by harnessing his handiwork. We bring God glory as we enhance our lives and communities through our God-given creativity. This is the impetus for creating culture.
The True Definition of Culture
When a person has embraced the lofty goals of aesthetics—excellence, the good and the beautiful—we might describe him or her as “cultured.”
This may be true of gifted people from many fields, such as speakers, musicians, scientists, athletes, actors, painters, craftsmen, or authors. Consider William Shakespeare, Michael Jordan, Michelangelo, Albert Einstein, Andrea Bocelli, Anthony Hopkins, Leo Tolstoy, Emmitt Smith, Andres Segovia, Jane Austen, John Calvin, Marian Anderson, or Rembrandt. Such men and women exemplify lives of culture in their spheres of accomplishment. When we see what they were or are renowned for, we are ushered into the spheres of beauty, extraordinary skill, aesthetics, and culture.
So, consider the word “culture”. What does it mean for someone to be cultured? If we take a careful look at the etymology of the word, we find that it is derived from the Latin word colere, which has multiple shades of meaning. We’ll take a moment to explore four right now before diving into the fifth in our next article.
(1) First, the word “culture” means to till and care for the soil. It’s from this sense that we get the word “agriculture”—caring for and tilling a field. It means harnessing the jungle of untamed nature to give it order so that it produces a manifold blessing of good. When one cultivates the land, he brings forth the beauty of a harvest and life-giving sustenance.
(2) The second meaning of colere is “to care for” or “to value”. We can see this meaning of the word in terms like aviculture (caring for birds), apiculture (caring for honeybees), viniculture (caring for grapevines), and horticulture (caring for plants). The word culture here illustrates the requisite commitment needed for the arts and sciences. The beauties of life require that we care for them like a garden of flowers or a fruitful orchard. A cultured person is someone who cares deeply for those things that add rich value and beauty to life.
(3) Beyond the idea of caring, there’s the greater sense of being devoted. When someone cares for something intensely, he or she becomes so devoted to that task that he or she pays attention to it with unstinting care. So, a cultured person is devoted to his knowledge, devoted to his task, devoted to his or her skill, to his or her art. A concert pianist and a concert guitarist produce beauty because of their untold hours of devotion. It’s often been said that ten thousand hours of any activity will make one skilled. However, a truly devoted artist has spent far more time in pursuit of excellence.
(4) From the word devotion, we see yet a further development of the word where it takes on the nuance of worship. Culture brings us to the worship of God. In fact, we derive the word “cult” from this same root word. This word in English has a pejorative meaning, implying a heretical group that diverges from Christian orthodoxy. In German, however (where it is spelled kult), it describes the liturgical activities of worship. The idea of culture here is that the arts are not just ends in themselves, but they take us to the ultimate fine art: the worship of God himself. He alone is worthy of worship, as he alone is infinite, eternal, and unchangeably perfect. For a biblical Christian, we understand that all we do in any sphere of culture should be done with excellence and unto God’s glory, and not for our own fame or praise.
In the next article, we will examine the fifth meaning of culture and learn how Christians can create a culture that celebrates love for Jesus and the beauties of his salvation.
