Hard Questions
Can Evolution Be Biblical? - Hard Questions
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Colossians 1:15-20
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
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God created everything and Jesus was there when all things were created. I do not now nor have I ever believed in evolution
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You nailed it! John 1. Colossians 1. Gen 1. So clear.
I would do yp fpcus pn God.
Hi Pastor Nat, thank you for your ministry! Can you expound a bit on vs. 20? "He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross..." Is this saying peace was made for mankind (through the reconciliation by Christ) in the physical and spiritual realm, or is it suggesting that there is something/someone else in the heavenlies that peace through Christ was extended to? The "everything" reference has me wondering. 🤔🙂
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Great question! Here is what one commentator said: "The peace achieved through the death of Jesus is an objective peace. It is the peace of relationships, not feelings. Although the human heart cries for feelings of peace, the deep need is for a relationship of peace. When relationships are correct, feelings follow. Here, as generally for Paul, the peace brings order and harmony into what is otherwise chaotic and distorted. The reconciliation of all things, as interpreted here, suggests that the peace is the restoring of harmony to all things, the many dimensions of existence (“things on earth or things in heaven”). Paul identified restored order often as a result of the work of Christ. It applied to individuals in Rom 5:1, where the peace with God is the immediate result of justification. It applied corporately in relationships in Eph 2:11ff., where peace between races is a result of the work of Christ. Here, Paul expressed the cosmic aspects of the harmony effected by the cross.
Significantly, an act in time and space had repercussions beyond both time and space. Jesus’ death at a specific point in time and in the physical dimension of life affected beings outside of time who live in the spiritual dimensions of existence. Thus there is a unity of the two worlds, physical and spiritual. They are reconciled in an act of time, and peace is forever established. From a theological perspective, therefore, there is a unity between the two. Unity is effected by divine creation, observed in God’s intervention into the world through miracles and the incarnation, and solidified in redemption. Creation is the handiwork of God, and the Christian should understand the unity of all things in Christ. Elsewhere Paul reflected on this theme in 1 Cor 15:25–28 and Phil 2:9–11. These cosmic dimensions are as much a part of the gospel as are the personal."
Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Vol. 32, pp. 227–228). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Significantly, an act in time and space had repercussions beyond both time and space. Jesus’ death at a specific point in time and in the physical dimension of life affected beings outside of time who live in the spiritual dimensions of existence. Thus there is a unity of the two worlds, physical and spiritual. They are reconciled in an act of time, and peace is forever established. From a theological perspective, therefore, there is a unity between the two. Unity is effected by divine creation, observed in God’s intervention into the world through miracles and the incarnation, and solidified in redemption. Creation is the handiwork of God, and the Christian should understand the unity of all things in Christ. Elsewhere Paul reflected on this theme in 1 Cor 15:25–28 and Phil 2:9–11. These cosmic dimensions are as much a part of the gospel as are the personal."
Melick, R. R. (1991). Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Vol. 32, pp. 227–228). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
God is the creator of all things in heaven and earth. He desires a relationship with us and through Christ he made that provision.