Smoodock's Blog

We are presently involved in a study of Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians. We are still in chapter one and have come to the place, where Paul has presented Christ, not as a lesser god, vis-à-vis one of the gods of the Greek pantheon, whom the Colossians worshiped or as the divine Messiah who preexisted creation of “other” things in Jewish extrabiblical literature. These were lesser gods and not as perfect as the supreme God. It was these gods, according to pagan belief, that were involved in creating the imperfect physical things. In other words, their understanding was according to a dualistic worldview.

Paul concludes that Christ is perfect in every way and all powerful in his works. He is the “place” where creation begins to occur, vis-à-vis the Beginning (Colossians 1:18). Just as all human life has its beginning in Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:20), so all creation, whether in Heaven or on Earth, begins in Christ (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16-18). Therefore, in order to officially bring the old creation to an end, because it had become corrupt in Adam’s rebellion against God, the Beginning (Genesis 1:1) of that creation had to die (Luke 24:26, 46; Acts 17:3). Thus, Christ’s life, the life of the Creator Being, in whom all of creation exists and is held together (Colossians 1:17), died, making all dead (2Corinthians 5:14), but this was done to bring it all to life again in the Resurrection (John 11:25; Colossians 1:20).

The new creation found in the Resurrection is where, once again, Christ is its Beginning (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 3:14; 21:6; 22:13). Therefore, the blood of Christ reconciles us to God, when, prior to Christ’s death and resurrection, we were the enemies of God, expressed in our wicked behavior (Colossians 1:21). In other words, Christ’s death has made peace between us and God, against whom we have been in a state of rebellion (Genesis 3). Nevertheless, the love of God for us moved him to send his only Son to save us (John 3:16). So, instead of condemning the world and destroying mankind, he brought Christ to the cross (John 3:17), that in his death he could bring the old creation to an end (2Corinthians 5:14) and revive mankind in a new creation in Christ’s resurrection (Romans 5:10).

Thus, we’ve been reconciled to God through the death of Christ, as he hung on the cross, for God was at that very moment in him, reconciling the world (his enemies; Romans 5:6) to himself (2Corinthians 5:19). Think of it this way. Adam was the “beginning” of the human race, and Eve was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20). That “beginning,” vis-à-vis Adam (1Corinthians 15:22), became corrupt (Genesis 3:22-23), and it became necessary for the Beginning of all things (Genesis 1:1) to die and rise again to a new Beginning, a new creation, whereby we are now able to appear before him holy, without blemish and blameless (Colossians 1:22; cp. 1Corinthians 15:27). In other words, God, himself, took the first step toward peace. He satisfied the blame for our rebellion by taking the blame himself, although our rebellion (Genesis 3) was fully our own doing. God made peace with us through the death of his Son, Jesus, (2Corinthians 5:18). It is now for us to reconcile ourselves to God, which is done through the preaching of the Gospel and our becoming subject to it (2Corinthians 5:20; Colossians 1:22).

Finally, although we have been saved and our salvation is secure in Christ (1Timothy 4:10), we shall remain separated to him, blameless and without fault before him (Colossians 1:22), only if we remain firmly established in the faith (Colossians 1:23). In other words, our trust in what Jesus did for us, as understood in the Gospel narratives and proclaimed throughout the world, is necessary, if we are to image him (Genesis 1:27), who is the Image of God (Colossians 1:15). God is never mocked, because the fundamental law of creation continues to exist, namely kind produces kind (Genesis 1:11-12, 21-22), and what we sow we shall reap (Galatians 6:7). Nevertheless, our behavior in Christ cannot corrupt the new creation, itself, as was done by Adam, because the Beginning of the new creation/humanity is Christ (Colossians 1:18), not Adam (cp. 1Corinthians 15:22), who rebelled and corrupted all who came after him (Romans 5:12-14). Our transgressions, therefore, are treated in discipline (Isaiah 48:8, 17), not in condemnation (2Timothy 2:13).