In order for humankind to flourish in their role as cultivators and creators (see Genesis 1&2), God will have to voluntarily withdraw, in certain ways, from his own creation. He makes space for the man to name the animals; he makes room for the man and the woman to know one another and explore the garden.
He even gives them freedom, tragically but necessarily, to misuse their creative and cultivating capacities. God is always willing to be present, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, but he is also will to grant humankind their own cultural presence. Without this gracious carving out of space, they would never be able to fulfill their destiny as diving image-bearers.
Culture Making, Andy Crouch (110)
