Col. 1:16–All Things Through and For Him

Colossians 1:16–"For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through Him and for Him."

This is one of those 'knot' statements in that it ties a whole host of Scripture passages and theological ideas together.  It can be condensed into a simple phrase: by Him through Him and for Him.  In other words, everything in existence has been created purposely, with specific intent.  That purpose is His, the intent is for Him.  All things, everything is meant for His glory, to His praise and to magnify His holy name.   Additionally, this is a tie that connects the creation of the universe to Christ, as it was always, before the foundations of the earth, for Him.  I find great peace and comfort in this truth.

Praise be to His name!
Amen.

Genesis 1:27–Bearing His Image

Genesis 1:27–So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

This is one if not the most important verse in all of Scripture.  It is the very essence of humanity distilled.  It says everything we need to know about our origins, about life's meaning, and about who we are.  I have written essays about this passage of Scripture and its importance to our lives and to how we do Christianity.  But for now all I have to say is this:

Human life is precious.  We have been gifted the unique pleasure and undeniable joy of glorifying God in our very nature.  He made us as bearers of His image; as beings that glorify His name through our lives.  This is our design and our purpose.  This is the value of the human: that we actually bear His image!  There is no greater joy, no more wondrous a proposition than that.

Let us, then, strive to bear His image appropriately and with the dignity it deserves.

Amen.

Adam Gained only the Loss of Everything

Whether film or theology, the beginning is always a good place to start.  The Bible starts with the story of creation: God speaking creation and the created order into existence merely by the power of His spoken word.  Then comes the apex of God's creation: man.  Made in the image of God, man is purposed to reflect God's image and glory not only back at God but also throughout creation.

It is important to note that there is a change of name in Genesis 2.  In Genesis 1 it is God creating, but in Genesis 2 there is a transition to the Lord God.  This is a significant change, for the Lord God refers to the covenant name of God, Yahweh.  Although space is not permitting for an exhaustive look at this point, suffice to say that Moses is making a clear point to ensure the original Israelite readers (and us too) that the same Lord God who brought them out of Egypt is the One who created Adam, the original man.  Moving on...

Think about the scenario: the Lord God creates Adam and gives him everything, even a wife.  The emphasis is that the Lord provides everything for Adam.  Adam lacks nothing.  Again, Adam already had everything in God.  There was not a single thing in all creation that Adam lacked.

However, Adam willfully disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of that one tree that God forbade.  Adam did not believe that God actually had provided everything.  Instead, in the most powerful act of volition he challenged God's goodness and His promises by eating of the fruit.  This is the very essence of sin.

But it is important to note: because Adam already possessed everything, there was no thing, nothing he could do or say to merit more because he already had it all.  Therefore, when Adam ate of the fruit, he did not gain anything, it turns out he lost everything.  The willful act of disbelief in the provision of God caused a separation from the source and giver of life that Adam could not bear in life; he had to die.  This needs to be said again: by willfully not believing what God had promised, Adam gained nothing but the loss of everything.  Let us not forget this when we see the traps and snares of temptation trying to woo us away from the glory of God.

Adam's Original Sin: Neglecting His Wife

Genesis 3 records the Fall of mankind, and by by association creation.  The story is one of the few essential narratives in all the Bible, on par with the story of David killing Goliath, and death of Jesus.  Even non-Christians who have never opened the pages of the Bible know these stories.  For the purposes of this dialogue, the Fall will be under closer examination. 

A brief synopsis: Adam and Eve, the apex of God's creation, have been created and given the whole of creation as their gift and task.  Yet God has given a single command to not eat one thing, the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  At some point, Adam and Eve are sitting around in the cool of the day, and a sly serpent comes and tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.  She then hands some fruit to Adam, who eats, their "eyes are opened," and they are cast out of the presence of God for their disobedient sin.

Breathe.  Something is striking about this story, though, where is Adam while Eve is being tempted.  In the Hebrew, there is a preposition about Adam indicating that he was right next to his wife while she was being enticed by the shrewd snake.  But despite Adam's close physical proximity, he did not speak up, he didn't even think to ask, "Hey babe, what's going on over there?"

Instead, Adam neglected what was going on with Eve and the serpent.  In truth, Adam abdicated his primary task, which was to care for and protect his wife.  Thus, Adam's first sin, which is different than Eve's, was actually neglecting his wife, Eve.  Notice how this sin carries through the bloodline of Adam to today.  Men should take heed, then, to the sin of Adam and think about it every time we hear the television calling us away from our wives.

The Fall of Man

Genesis tells the tales of beginnings.  One of these beginnings that has had long-lasting effects to every human since occurs in Genesis 3, known generally as The Fall.  Although the crux of this episode is chronicled is told in chapter 3, chapter gives us the necessary background information.  Because it is so needed to understand chapter 3, a brief synopsis of the relevant material from chapter 2 is in order.

This is the story of Adam, the prototypical man, and Eve, the prototypical woman.  Adam was created first, formed from the clay and dust by God's own hands, with life breathed into his nostrils straight from the breath of God Himself.  Adam was placed in a beautiful and complete garden, Eden, and given the freedom to take joy at eating any and every one of the fruits in the garden, save one, the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

It is at this point, the first time ever, that God esteemed something not good (Gen. 2:18), for man is a relational creature and is not to be alone.  God then tasks Adam with naming all the beasts and animals  before creating Eve.  Eve was then taken out of man while man was put into a deep, sedative sleep.  And thus the stage is set for chapter three.

In chapter 3, the apex moment of creation, sin, occurs.  Briefly, the serpent comes and entices Eve to take of the forbidden tree.  In a sequence that leads right to death, the serpent lies to Eve, she misinterprets the command of God and eats the fruit to gain the serpent's proposed effect of "god-like" knowledge.  Eve then passes the fruit to her husband who eats, their eyes are then opened to their loss of innocence, and they hide from God who, after confronting their disobedience, curses them for their actions.  There is so much more to this, far more than can be discussed here.  For this, read these two chapters after prayer and God will reveal Himself to us through His Word.

While there is long list of relavent and important points of comment about The Fall, because of the length and scope of this dialogue, the act of disobedience itself will be examined.  There are many misconstructions associated with this event, the chief of which deal with the deceptions of the serpent.

For one, the so-called knowledge to be acquired from eating of the forbidden tree did not make man god-like, nor was it nearly as fulfilling as promised.  This the truth is attributed to all sin.  There is another major point to be associated both with the Fall and with all sin: Eve and Adam, in eating the fruit of the tree, attempted to accrue knowledge apart from God.

This is the very essence of sin: any attempt of man to gain something that is God, such as get knowledge or wisdom or even find salvation, is a deliberate act of unbelief and disobedience.  Put plainly, it is sin.  Although this has been an all-too-brief exegesis of Genesis 2-3, the point is to show that sin has been the same act since the very beginning, though perhaps the particulars have changed.