The Christian story about the world is all about repair. It teaches that in the beginning, all of creation, including humankind as bearers of the divine image, was “very good,” as God pronounces in Genesis. But through the sin of the first human beings creation was “subjected to futility,” in the words of the apostle Paul. The great theme of the Old and New Testaments, then, becomes God’s repair plan for his marred handiwork.

Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus accomplished the decisive step in restoring a corrupted creation.