|
Creation Dream – Bruce Cockburn
Centered on silence You were dancing |
Christ on the throne
By Michael Bell
This is Part 9, of a multi-part series looking at the deity of Christ. Here are the links to the Introduction and Table of Contents.
Bruce Cockburn, called Creation Dream “a sort of vision of Christ singing the universe into being – dawn before the parting of the waters.” It is a beautiful song, and I love the fact that Bruce emphasizes Christ’s role in creation. This is an emphasis that we find repeated in a number of places in the the New Testament.
Colossians 1:16-17 (NIV) – For by him all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
The Apostle John says something very similar:
John 1:3 (NIV) – Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
I think that the John 1 text is an interesting one to help us understand the Colossians passage a little more. Remember from previous posts that John is talking here about the relationship between “The Word” and “God”. When John says that all things were made “through” Christ and the “nothing was made” without him, he seems to be referring to Christ as the instrument of creation rather than the source. While I do not want to stray too far into a modalistic sort of argument, I see the God the Father saying “let there be light”, and his “Word”, God the Son, going forth and fulfilling those commands. That is how creation is both “through” him and “by” him as we see in these two passage. This also helps us understand how these passages fit with the Old Testament:
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
The Colossians passage tells us a little bit more about the reason for creation. Not only were all things created by Christ, but all things were created “for him”. It is a pretty sobering thought when you think about the meaning of life, and you realize that the reason why any of us were created, the reason why anything was created was for Christ. Whatever our purpose on this planet it needs to focused on what Christ wants to do! He is our very reason for being.
The prophet Isaiah words things a little differently:
Isaiah 43:3a,6b,7
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
6 …Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth-
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
Colossians says that we are created by and for Christ. Isaiah says that we are created by and for God. The only way to reconcile these passages is if Christ is indeed God, and as God the Son participated in the creation event. This is what Paul asserts in the book of Romans:
Romans 9:5 (NIV) – …From them [the people of Israel] is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
“Christ, who is God over all.” What a wonderful understanding they had of Christ in the early church. And look at how well it fits with the other phrases we have looked at today.
“Through him all things were made.”
“Without him nothing was made that has been made.”
“He is before all things”
“In him all things hold together.”
“For by him all things were created;”
“All things were created by him and for him.”
Can there be any doubt that the Bible fully communicates that Jesus Christ is Creator God?
As usual your comments and thoughts are welcome.
Michael Bell
Joshua Hearne
Tim Melton
Joel Black
[...] God the Creator [...]
Mikelioso,
Thanks for your yet unpublished comment. I have not had a chance to respond to it, and would like to post your comment and my response at the same time. Thanks for your patience.
Mike Bell
Mikelioso made the following comment:
To be brief and to the point, while the author of John and to a lesser extent Paul, seem to believe Jesus Christ is the creator God, to say they fully communicate it is an overstatement. Feel free to look up the Christology article in wikipedia. It it was fully communicated there wouldn’t be the need for so much debating. And with out the work of later theologians the references to Christ as God, or the Holy spirit, or logos wouldn’t mean much. I think God’s requirements for us are simple and don’t require 300 theologians to explain. It may be true, and I enjoy these sorts of discussions but I think its more the realm of opinions of people.
Mikelioso,
Your point is well taken, that Paul and John do not spend a lot of time on Jesus Christ as creator God. Nevertheless they do affirm it, and I see nothing in scripture that discounts it.
What I want to show in this series is two things. One, that there is sufficient evidence in scripture to show that the New Testament writers understood Jesus to be God, and that this was backed up by many early witnesses in the Church long before the Church of Nicea.
Each post, taken on its own is not necessarily going to be enough to wow or convince anyone, but when together as a body of evidence, the idea of Christ as God becomes irrefutable.
This was a topic that was of utmost importance to the early church, they wrestled mightily with it, but they also came to agreement on it.
I will talk in a later post about why I find this to be such a vital concept.
One further question for you though. What did you mean my “God’s requirements for us are simple…”?
Mike Bell