Colossians 1
continues with Paul talking about the preeminence of Christ. He is the image of the invisible God. This is huge in my opinion. There is so much about God we can’t
know. We can’t see Him, we can’t
physically touch Him. Christ was the
image of the invisible God. Who Christ
touched, God touched. What Christ said,
God said. Jesus Christ is our physical
example of the character of God. By
Christ, everything was created.
Everything includes things on Earth and in heaven, things visible and
things invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. All things were created through Him and for
Him. This implies that there is a vast
spiritual world out there which was also created by Christ. Sometimes I wonder what this world is
like. Christ is before all things and in
Him all things hold together. He is the
head of the church. He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. This passage emphasizes the importance of
Christ. It explains how He was from the
beginning and controls everything. In fact,
creation exists because of Christ and for Christ. I think the name Paul has for Christ, the
firstborn from the dead, is interesting.
We think of Christ being the only son of God. We don’t think of him as being the firstborn
from the dead. This implies that there
will be others bon from the dead. Christ
had to be raised from the dead in order for us to be raised from the dead. Paul says the fullness of God was pleased to
dwell in Christ and through Him, to reconcile all things on heaven and earth to
Himself. When I first read this I wonder
what in heaven had to be reconciled. The
thought I have on this is that nothing in heaven had to necessarily be
wrong. Creation was unable to reconcile
itself with heaven. Christ came to Earth
and was fully man and reconciled us to Him.
He was also fully God and as such heaven was also reconciled to Him. So through Christ all things were reconciled
to Him. Through Him we have access to
God. Paul continues to say that we who
were once alienated are now reconciled in His body through His human body and
human death. We are reconciled so He can
present us as holy and beyond reproach.
This comes with a condition though.
We must continue in the faith, stable and steadfast. We can’t shift from the hope of the gospel,
which has been proclaimed in all creation.
Not only does Paul say that the gospel has been proclaimed in all
creation, which is significant, he also says we must not shift from that
hope. Does this mean it is possible to
lose our reconciliation? I honestly don’t
know. My personal belief is that we
cannot, but passages like this don’t sit quite right with me. Anyway, these are my thoughts. Whether they are right or not I don’t
know. I just hope I don’t lead anyone in
the wrong direction who reads this!
Showing posts with label Creation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Creation. Show all posts
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Man and woman
Story: Creation of man and woman
Passage: Genesis 2:4-25
Characters: God (2:4), Adam (2:7/2:20), the woman (2:22)
Interaction: God created a man. God didn’t want the man to be alone but the animals were not good enough helpers. He made a woman from the man’s rib. Adam recognized that the woman was like him, but he still proceeded to name her like he had been doing with the animals, which I think is funny! The man and woman were naked, but felt no shame. Adam is referred to as “the man” until verse 20 at which point the author just begins calling him Adam with no explanation.
Notes: Plants had not yet grown even though they were created on the third day. The passage says that they had not yet grown because it had not rained yet and there was no man to work the earth. God might have created seedlings on the third day and they were alive, but waiting for God to finish creation before they flourished. However, when God created man, the passage says that trees sprung up from the ground. The bible even says that these trees sprung up for two reasons: they were pleasing to the eye, and to provide food. God cares about our pleasure! In the garden though, this pleasure would not have distracted the man from God, but rather it would have added to the total perfect pleasure Adam was experiencing in God’s presence. A huge river flowed out of Eden, big enough to form four major rivers in the area. A garden that is able to produce that much water would have to be huge, which is not how I normally envision the Garden of Eden. Even in a perfect world in the presence of God, God did not want the man to be alone. The man was not really alone since God was with him but God still decided that the man should have a helper. Ponder that for a little bit and the significance of that will hit you. Even in the presence of God, God saw fit to create a woman for the man! After God decided the man needed a helper, he did not create a woman immediately. He led all the animals past Adam and had him name them. After finding no suitable helper there, He created Eve. After this search, the man would have had a profound appreciation for the wonder of creation that God had just made. As the man said, she was the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bones. She was the same as a man but also totally different. Yet, she was perfectly suited to complement his strengths and weaknesses. Out of every creature on the world, a woman was God’s solution to the man’s need for companionship and help. Adam would have understood this and had a total appreciation for this final creation of God. This is why marriage is so beautiful and sacred. A man was not God’s final plan for what humanity looked like, but rather a man and a woman are meant to work together and become one, unified to serve and glorify God together. This unity is seen later in the church and in our relationship with Christ, but it is first modeled in this final and most beautiful aspect of the amazing creation of God.
Questions: Why did God not grow the plants immediately? Why did man have to exist first? Why did Adam need a helper? Having perfect fellowship with God should be enough. Why is Adam not actually named until verse 20 and who named him? Why does Moses emphasize the nakedness of the man and woman? (we will continue to see this throughout the next story)
Lessons: God wants us to delight in Him through His creation. Women and men are supposed to be together. We are created to work together in unity to fulfill God’s purpose for us. That was His original intent in creating us.
Passage: Genesis 2:4-25
Characters: God (2:4), Adam (2:7/2:20), the woman (2:22)
Interaction: God created a man. God didn’t want the man to be alone but the animals were not good enough helpers. He made a woman from the man’s rib. Adam recognized that the woman was like him, but he still proceeded to name her like he had been doing with the animals, which I think is funny! The man and woman were naked, but felt no shame. Adam is referred to as “the man” until verse 20 at which point the author just begins calling him Adam with no explanation.
Notes: Plants had not yet grown even though they were created on the third day. The passage says that they had not yet grown because it had not rained yet and there was no man to work the earth. God might have created seedlings on the third day and they were alive, but waiting for God to finish creation before they flourished. However, when God created man, the passage says that trees sprung up from the ground. The bible even says that these trees sprung up for two reasons: they were pleasing to the eye, and to provide food. God cares about our pleasure! In the garden though, this pleasure would not have distracted the man from God, but rather it would have added to the total perfect pleasure Adam was experiencing in God’s presence. A huge river flowed out of Eden, big enough to form four major rivers in the area. A garden that is able to produce that much water would have to be huge, which is not how I normally envision the Garden of Eden. Even in a perfect world in the presence of God, God did not want the man to be alone. The man was not really alone since God was with him but God still decided that the man should have a helper. Ponder that for a little bit and the significance of that will hit you. Even in the presence of God, God saw fit to create a woman for the man! After God decided the man needed a helper, he did not create a woman immediately. He led all the animals past Adam and had him name them. After finding no suitable helper there, He created Eve. After this search, the man would have had a profound appreciation for the wonder of creation that God had just made. As the man said, she was the flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bones. She was the same as a man but also totally different. Yet, she was perfectly suited to complement his strengths and weaknesses. Out of every creature on the world, a woman was God’s solution to the man’s need for companionship and help. Adam would have understood this and had a total appreciation for this final creation of God. This is why marriage is so beautiful and sacred. A man was not God’s final plan for what humanity looked like, but rather a man and a woman are meant to work together and become one, unified to serve and glorify God together. This unity is seen later in the church and in our relationship with Christ, but it is first modeled in this final and most beautiful aspect of the amazing creation of God.
Questions: Why did God not grow the plants immediately? Why did man have to exist first? Why did Adam need a helper? Having perfect fellowship with God should be enough. Why is Adam not actually named until verse 20 and who named him? Why does Moses emphasize the nakedness of the man and woman? (we will continue to see this throughout the next story)
Lessons: God wants us to delight in Him through His creation. Women and men are supposed to be together. We are created to work together in unity to fulfill God’s purpose for us. That was His original intent in creating us.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Beginning!
Before I begin, I have been reading the Bible story by story on my lunch break and jotting down some notes. I am going to post my notes on here daily hopefully! We'll see how that goes though. These are my thoughts, they could be wrong, they probably are. Please comment with your thoughts if something interests you or rubs you the wrong way! Also, with more time I could elaborate on these notes, but at least this first post is pretty much straight up what I wrote down the other day, so sorry.
Story: Creation
Passage: Genesis 1:1-2:3
Characters: God (1:1) Spirit (1:2)
Interaction: God spoke and created light, sky and sea, land, stars and moon, birds and fish, and animals and man. God created man in Their image. He rested afterwards. God said creation was good.
My Notes: God spoke and suddenly physics existed! That is crazy! He spoke again and water separated from the sky! It is no wonder Lazarus rose when Jesus spoke and told him to! It is interesting that animals were also given the breath of life(1:30). Animals and humans were given the same command about eating the plants of the earth. The only distinction between us and animals is that we are created in Their image. If we find differences between us and animals, we can learn a little bit about God. For example, music speaks to humans on an emotional level. We don't see that happen with animals. This tells me that the effect of music on us is something that comes along with God's image. 1:31 begins with behold which means we need to pay attention to what follows. The following statement is that creation is good. That is emphasized for a reason. This is the focal point of the story. The creation account builds up to this final conclusion. It is also interesting that He gave humans dominion over creation. I believe that is because we are formed in Their image. Since God has control over creation, He gave us some control over His creation as well. The passage says that the seventh day God rested and it is to be holy. This is interesting since celebrating the sabbath is not mentioned for hundreds of years. It was holy before God commanded the Israelites to observe the Sabbath.
Questions: Why did God create in the first place? Why were we created in Their image? When did He make the planets? Dry ground was created before the moon and stars. Christ is not mentioned in this passage but He was obviously there. Why was the Spirit mentioned but not Christ? Why did God rest? He shouldn't have needed rest.
Lessons: God is holy! He speaks and things that don't even exist obey! He has given us that power, why don't we use it? Also, why do we not obey? What makes us think we know more and are stronger than a God who speaks the laws of physics into existence?
Story: Creation
Passage: Genesis 1:1-2:3
Characters: God (1:1) Spirit (1:2)
Interaction: God spoke and created light, sky and sea, land, stars and moon, birds and fish, and animals and man. God created man in Their image. He rested afterwards. God said creation was good.
My Notes: God spoke and suddenly physics existed! That is crazy! He spoke again and water separated from the sky! It is no wonder Lazarus rose when Jesus spoke and told him to! It is interesting that animals were also given the breath of life(1:30). Animals and humans were given the same command about eating the plants of the earth. The only distinction between us and animals is that we are created in Their image. If we find differences between us and animals, we can learn a little bit about God. For example, music speaks to humans on an emotional level. We don't see that happen with animals. This tells me that the effect of music on us is something that comes along with God's image. 1:31 begins with behold which means we need to pay attention to what follows. The following statement is that creation is good. That is emphasized for a reason. This is the focal point of the story. The creation account builds up to this final conclusion. It is also interesting that He gave humans dominion over creation. I believe that is because we are formed in Their image. Since God has control over creation, He gave us some control over His creation as well. The passage says that the seventh day God rested and it is to be holy. This is interesting since celebrating the sabbath is not mentioned for hundreds of years. It was holy before God commanded the Israelites to observe the Sabbath.
Questions: Why did God create in the first place? Why were we created in Their image? When did He make the planets? Dry ground was created before the moon and stars. Christ is not mentioned in this passage but He was obviously there. Why was the Spirit mentioned but not Christ? Why did God rest? He shouldn't have needed rest.
Lessons: God is holy! He speaks and things that don't even exist obey! He has given us that power, why don't we use it? Also, why do we not obey? What makes us think we know more and are stronger than a God who speaks the laws of physics into existence?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)