The Made Maker

Christ in Creation

The Made Maker

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. The same was in the beginning with God.--John 1:1, 2 [Wilson's Diaglott]

Richard Kindig *

One camp of Christians says the first verse of John's Gospel refers to two separate beings. Another camp reads the same words and reads them as stating that the reality is two aspects or manifestations of the same being. Ceretainly both camps recognize that the term Logos or Word refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he was with God from the beginning, even before creation, and that the Logos made all things. Without the Logos, not even one thing that was made came into being.

	Action of Attribute or Relation of Logos	Verse Reference
1	in the beginning "was"	John 1:1
2	"with the theos"	John 1:1
3	"theos was the logos"	John 1:1
4	All things were made by him	John 1:2
5	Nothing was made without him	John 1:3

Non-Trinitarians might disagree at this point with line 3, but the reality is that the Greek sinply says, "God was the Word." Most translators render it, "The Word was God."

Other Scriptures state that the Lord Jesus Created the world:

6	All things were created by him	Colossians 1:16
7	All things were created for him	Colossians 1:16
8	By him all things consist (are held together)	Colossians 1:17

These Colossians verses provide more insight while confirming the basic statement of John 1. Jesus created "all things," which includes both visible and invisible, spirit beings as well as earthly. Life came from Jesus. He created it. These verses also add the dimension of intent. All things were created for Jesus. More than that, it says that "by him all things consist" or are held together. Jesus is not only the maker of life and of "the cosmos" as John puts it (the human race) but he is the sustainer or one who holds things together. Hebrews 1:3 confirms this by speaking of the son as "upholding all things."

God's role in creation is defined by these Scriptures:

	Action or Attribute or Relation of God	Verse Reference
9	In the beginning God created	Genesis 1:1
10	God [Yahweh] created everything (listed items include heaven, earth, man, Israel, light, darkness, peace. evil in the sense of judgmental disasters, and salvation)	Isaiah 45:5-14
11	God [Yahweh] created the heavens, gave the Spirit to the people, etc.	Isaiah 42:5
12	God [Yahweh] made the earth by his power, and established the world by his wisdom	Jeremiah 51:15
13	(Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come--verse 8) created all things, and they were created for his pleasure	Revelation 4:11
14	God created specifically foods and marriage to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth	1 Timothy 4:3

	Action or Attribute or Relation to God	Action or Attribute or Relation of Logos	Verse References
15	Inn the beginning God created	In the beginning the Logos was with God, and all things were created by the Logos	Genesis 1:1 John 1:1
16	God [Yahweh] created everything [listed items include heaven, earth, man, Israel, light, darkness, peace, evil, and salvation]	Logos [Jesus before he became a man] made all things, including the world, and spiritual and earthly life	Isaiah 45:4-14, John 1:3, Colossians 1:16
17	God created all things ...	By Jesus	Ephesians 3:9
18	God appointed ...	Son as heir of all things	Hebrews 1:1-3
19	God made the ages [worlds] ...	by [Greek: dia] his son	Hebrews 1:2
20	There is one God ...	and one mediator between God and man	1 Timothy 2:5
21	There is one God ... the Father ...	and one Lord--Jesus Christ	1 Corinthians 8:6
22	of [Greek: ek] whom are all things	by [Greek: dia] who are all things	1 Corinthians 8:6

When point 1 is compared with point 9 or point 6 with point 10, it is easy to see why most Christians simply consider God and Jesus together as two names for the same entity: God. Both were there in the beginning and both are defined as the creator. Certainly these Scriptures show that any non-Trinitarian Christology would be defective if it failed to ascribe to our Lord Jesus all the power and authority which these Scriptures emphatically give to him.

But there is more. The table above contains a few texts which prevent us from equating God with the Logos because of clear distinctions between them.

Points 15 and 16 showed the shared roles of God and the Logos in creation. Points 17 through 22 show distinctions which Scripture presents. Jesus emerges not as God, but as God's choice, God's honored agent, God's son and partner, in the great work of creation. Both share the role of creator, and the titles of Savior, Lord, and King. But they also have distinctive roles they cannot share. The first of these is presented in Point 20. God is not, and indeed cannot be, a mediator between himself and man. That is Jesus' unique role. God and man are estranged. According to God's plan Jesus was positioned to be the brige or mediator, not to bring God down to man's level, but to elevate man to a place where God could again have fellowship with him.

The Greek language is very precise as illustrated in points 19 and 22. In both cases the blessings of God in creation are described as flowing ek God and dia Jesus. Both prepositions were defined by Euclid, the father of geometry, and his definitions are quite precise. Ek defines a line beginning at the center of a circle and proceeding outward. Dia defines a line crossing through the circle at its center, and passing to the other side. This is described by the word "diameter."

Notice the simplicity of the Bible's message. Everything is "out from" God and "through" Jesus. They are two separate entities, with two separate names. They were together in creation, but since creation their roles have diverged. The table below shows how this divergence has progressed.

	Action or Attribute of Relation to God	Action or Attribute or Relation of Logos	Verse References
23	God [Yahweh] is alone; there is none beside me	[Jesus said] My Father is greater than I; "I ascend to my God and your God."	Isaiah 40:5, 6; John 14:28; Marek 15:34; John 20:17
24	God will be all in all, He will put all things under Christ's feet. All things, that is, EXCEPT himself, that is, the heavenly Father.The son also shall be sunject unto him	God will put all things under Christ. Christ will deliver the kingdom to God. Then the Son [though he will also always himself be a king in his own right) will also be subject (under and obedient to) him [God] who did put all (other) things under him [Jesus].	1 Corinthians 15:24,27, 28
25	Every family [Greek: patria] gets its name from God, who is himself the father of ...	... our Lord Jesus Christ	Ephesians 3:14, 15
26	God's will and eternal purpose are supreme ...	... and God's will is worked out THROUGH Christ, who himself submitted his wiull to that of the heavenly Father.	Ephesians 3:11; Luke 22:42; Acts 13:22, 23

According to these Scriptures, the Logos is under the Father, not "coequal" with him as those who wrote the Athanasian Creed put it. God is supreme, the Father, the Blessed, Yahweh. Though he honors Jesus, the son remains oibedient and subject to him. Everything flows out from him. It pleased God that in Jesus all fullness should dwell; that all blessings and life should flow THROUGH Jesus (Colossians 1:19).

But does any text say God and Jesus are equal? Here are some which seem to imply that:

	Relation of the Logos to God	Verse References
27	"Let ths mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, though it not robbery to be equal with God." (King James) "Who, though being in God's form, yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God." (Wilson's Diaglott) "Who, in the form of God subsisting, not a thing to be seized acccounted the being equal with God." (Rotherham) "Counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God." (Revised Version margin)	Philippians 2:5-8
28	This attitude in Jesus is commended as the one we should have. We are also elsewhere told what Satan's attitude was: "I will be like the most High." (King James)	Isiah 14:12-15
29	"I and my Father are one." (King James)	John 10:30

In the Phillipians text (see Point 27), Jesus is spoken of as existing "in the form of God" prior to his coming to earth. Unitarians are mistaken when they say Jesus began his life as a baby. Jesus existed previously in the form of God, a spiritual being "far above angels." As John said, Jesus already "was" in the beginning, a term referring to the time when God and his only begotten turned their attention to the plans they had formed, to create a universe populated by living beings in God's image. The Logos began "far above" other spiritual beings. Yet apparently a spiritual being can be far above all other created spirit or earthly things, and still be lower than God in some respects. This seems to be Paul's argument when he shows that it would have been a usurpation, or a snatching or robbery, for Jesus to aspire to be "equal" with God. Trinitarians say Jesus, not thinking about the "grasping" of equality with God means that Jesus was already equal. But the word "grasped" does not mean to "hang on to." It is used elsewhere (see Matthew 13:19; John 6:15; 10:12) to mean to take away, seize by force. Thus it refers not to something one already has. but to something one does not have unless it were "seized" or "taken by force." Strong defines the word as "pluinder."

Jesus is already the "only begotten son" (John 1:18), the "first-born of every creature (Colossians 1:15), "the beginning of the creatiaon of God" (Revelation 3:14). He is far above angels and principalities; he enjoys continuous comradeship with the heavenly Father whose house he shares. Everyrhing is his. Yet he doe snot reach our and seize the one thing he does not have: equality with God. He is such a loving and submissive son that he does not aspire to anything that God has not given him. Paul says we should have the same spirit. We should not meditate a usurpation, or aspire to plunder. Like the Logos, we should be thankful for what God has given us, and willing to give it awy or "empty ourselves" if it serves God's purposes.

That is exactly what Jesus did. As a free moral agent or being, separate from God but living alongside him, he humbled himself, left his previous glory, and was made flesh. He even gave that away through his healing ministry and his death; he gave his flesh for the life of the world. That's the spirit we are asked to have in our own minds and attitudes according to Philippians 2:9-11.

How did God respond? The following verses tell us: "Wherefore God has also highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord ... to the glory of God the Father."

Notice thatr all this exaltation of Jesus is spoken of as both a reward for Jesus' spirit of sazcrifice and obedience, and also a gracious gift (Greek: charis, verse 9) from God "the Father." God has rewarded Jesus' faithfulness. That means Jesus is a person of virtue, a being who was made in God's image much like we are. He is a son whom God loved just as we love the separate beings who come from us: our sons and daughters. Blessings flow from God to Jesus. And yet the superabundant amount of God's exaltation of Jesus in his resurrection is still spoken of as a "gracious gift." God was not obligated to elrvate Jesus higher than his previous grand majesty as the Logos In fact when Jesus prayed to God on the even of his death, he simply asked for a return to "the glory which I had with you before the world was" (John 17:5). Hallelujah for the humility and love of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Seeing this more clearly helps us understand the oneness of which Jesus spoke in John 17 (point 29), the oneness of purpose and will which characterizes those who have learned to appreciate the spirit of the hevenly Father and his son.. It is a harmony of purpose amd joy of cooperation thata is exemplifiud by the by the unselfish mutual service-relationship between the Father and the son. The same kind of relationship is typified by an earthly father/son and husband/wife relationship, and John 17:17-14 promises it as the heritage of all the true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we begin to catch a glimpse of the love that exists between the Father and the son, we begin to behold Jesus' glory, the glory which, as Jesus stated, God gave him because he loved Jesus before the foundation of the world.

	God's Role	Jesus' Role	Verse Refs.
30	God made all things through Jesus	All things were made by the Logos	John 1:3
31		The kosmos or human race was made by Jesus	John 1:10
32	God made the ages ...	... by Jesus	Hebrews 1:2
33	Gave Jesus power to do signs	Made water into wine	Hebrews 2:4; John 4:46
34	God is asked by Jesus to make the foillowers of Jesus perfect in oneness with them	... just as Jesus and God are already perfect in oneness	John 17:23
35		God's son Christ Jesus was made of (ek, out from) the seed of David according to the flesh	Romans 1:3
36	God made Jesus ...	... better than the angels, as Jesus has RECEIVED a highter name	Hebrews 1:4
37	From God ...	... Jesus is made unto us wisdom	1 Cor. 1:30
38	God made Jesus in the likeness of men	Jesus made himself of no reputation	Philippians 3:7
39	God made Jesus ...	... a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizidek	Hebrews 6:20
40	Our "new man" is created by God	Jesus is our brother, not our father	Eph. 4:24; Heb. 2:11; Col. 1:2; Matthew 23:9
41	Goid is the head of Christ, just as ...	Christ is the head of man ... and just as a husband is the head of a wife	1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:22; Colossian 1:18.
42	God is perfect	Jesus, though already holy, harmless, and sinless, was made perfect through sufferings	Deut. 32:4; Hebrews 2:10
43	God knows everything	In AD 33 Jesus did not know the day and hour of his coming kingdom; he learned obedience by the things he suffered	Matthew 24:36; Hebrewss 5:8
44	God cannot die	Jesus died, his soul died, he was in hades (the death state), and God resurrected him	Rev. 1:8; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 1:18; Acts 2:24, 27, 31, 32; Psalm 110:1
45	God made the earth by his power and WISDOM	Jesus identifies himself as the WISDOM of God	Jer. 51:15 (compare Matt. 23:24-36 with Luke 11:49-51

So what was the role of the Logos in Creatiuon? The Lofos was the Made Maker. First, he was made. Just as we do not have anything we did not receive, so Jesus our Lord received all things from God. He was the receiver of the Father's love. He was the only creation of God, the firstborn of all creation, the beginning of the creation of God.

And he became the one who gave love. He became, for all of us, our maker. The great giver who received everything from God gave it all away, He gave it away by creating all the mighty and beautiful angelic hosts. He gave it away by creating the beautiful and perfect galaxies, the suns, planets,.and life on earth.

Sudedenly, the dynamism and depth of the relationshiop becoime clearer. "Let us make man in our image." .Truly, a partnership was at work. The result is a great masterpiece of cooperation and commitment which God and the Logos hve accomplished. And they are not done; indeed, they have just started.

"My father worketh hitherto; and now I work," Jesus said in John 5:17, and the lessons of history as well as the statements of Scripture tell us why. Work needed to be done. The human race fell. It needed a savior; indeed, it needed two saviors. It needed God, who planned the salvation and stayed alive while Jesus was in the grave so there would be someone with the mighty poiwer it would take to raise Jesus from the grave. And it took a Savior who could do something that even God could not do, someone who could become a man, someone who could make himself vulnerable to the oppression and abuse of mankind, and who could die.After God puts all enemies under Jesus' feet, Jesus will do something else God could not do; he will serve as the mediator between God and men. And, wonder of wonders, Jesus has invited us Christians to share in that great mediatorial work as kings and priests, judging men and angels, and becoming a bridge between their fallen past and the glorious future which God has promised he will bring to pass for the world of mankind!

Proverbs 8:22-35

The LORD possessed [Strong's 7069; created] me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

I was set up [Strong's 5258; anointed] from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth [Strong's 2342; born, as in travail]; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Befoe the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth.

While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he sat a compass upon the face of the depth:

When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep.

When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his comandment; when he appointed thefoundations of the earth.

Then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, and my delight was with the sons of men.

Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refused it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all that hate me love death.