The majority of the people who call themselves Christians uses this verse to suport their claim that Christ is the God who created all things.
Colossians 1 :16 states, thus:
For
by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or
powers. All things were created through Him and for Him." (New King James
Versiom)
Perhaps,
what makes them think that the verse
teaches that "Christ created the world" is the part which
states "by Him all things were created."
Notice nevertheless that just before that
statement, the Bible states, "He (Christ) is
the firstborn over all creation"
(Col. 1:15, Ibid.)—which clearly indicates that Christ is one of those
which were created and therefore not Himself the Creator.
The Bible unequivocally informs us
who the one and only Creator is. Isaiah 44:24 records thus:
"Thus
says the Lord, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb:
"I am the Lord, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all
alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself". (Ibid.)
The "Lord" and
"Redeemer" who made everything "all alone" and "by
Himself was further identified by the prophet Isaiah:
"Doubtless
You are our Father ...You, 0 Lord^ are our Father; Our Redeemer from
Everlasting is Your name" (Isa. 63:16, Ibid.)
Hence, as the prophet Malachi
rhetorically asks, "Have we not all one Father? Has not one God
created us?" (Malachi 2:10, Ibid.)
Clearly therefore, the one God who "created the world" as taught by
the Bible is not Christ, but His Father who is the only true God (John 17:1,
3).
So, why then does Colossians
1:16 state that by Him (Christ) all things were created"? That very
verse itself provides the answer—the last part of it explains, "All
things were created through Him (Christ)." Remember that one of the
meanings of the term "by" is the word "through," and thus
the two are synonyms (Microsoft Encarta 2006 Dictionary Tools). But then again,
in what sense "were all things created through Christ"? The
explanation is again found in that very same verse which continues, "AI!
things were created through Him and for Him." That all things were created
for Jesus is further explained by Apostle Raul who himself wrote Colossians
1:16. He pronounced:
"God
did what he had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan he had
already decided to complete by means of Christ. This plan, which God will
complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything
in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. All things are done according to
God's plan and decision . . . . . based on what he had decided from the
very beginning" (Eph. 1:9-l 1, Today's English Version)
Notice that "from the
very beginning" it had been the "secret plan"
of Cod that when the time is right "He will "bring
all creation together, everything in heaven and on earthy with Christ as
head." It is in this sense thus that God created everything for
Jesus.
It is clear therefore that all
things, were created "by Christ" not in the sense that He is Himself
the Creator, but in the sense that all were created by the Father through and
for Him (Christ). Hence, in other translations of the Bible such as the Today's
English Version , Colossians 1:16 is rendered in this manner:
"For
through him God created everything in heaven and on earth. . . ., God
created the whole universe through him and for him."
(emphasis ours)
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