NOTES for Col 1:16

It is interesting: in what sense does Paul say that everything created was created for Christ? Of course, in his words one can see a reflection of the traditional Jewish messianic ideas that speak of the Messiah as the One whom God had planned even before the creation of the world.

If we take into account that traditional Judaism looks in the same way at the people of God, who were also planned by God before the creation of the world, then it is not hard to arrive at the conclusion that the world was created and exists for the sake of the people of God and the Messiah. But the apostle brings something new into these traditional ideas, which were certainly well known to him. He says of Christ that everything created was created not only for Him, but also by Him.

Of course, the question of the Messiah's origin is not resolved unambiguously even in the prophetic tradition. Some of the Messiah's names found, for example, in Isaiah of Jerusalem, make one think of special relations between the Messiah and God, relations not only, to use philosophical language, existential, but also ontological. Yet none of the prophets speaks of the Messiah's divinity, and Judaism knows no such ideas. Paul, however, by saying directly that the world was created by Christ, evidently implies exactly this. Christ creates the world together with the Father; therefore it turns out to have been created for Him, just as it was created for the Father Himself.

But then the Messiah becomes not only God's messenger on earth, fulfilling His will. He Himself becomes a theophany, bringing into the world the same fullness of God that belongs to the Father. Figuratively speaking, after the coming of Christ there was as much of God on earth as there had always been in heaven. That is why Christians need no mediators between themselves and God, between themselves and Christ: all conceivable and inconceivable hierarchies, all the "thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers" mentioned by Paul, cannot give the world more than Christ has already given it.

It is no surprise that the Kingdom also entered the world with Christ and through Christ, for it is unthinkable apart from that fullness of God which makes it what the witnesses say it is. And then it becomes clear that the world really was created for the sake of Christ and the Kingdom. The only alternative to such a course of events would be the triumph of sin and death. That is what God does not want to allow.

Interesting: in what sense Paul says that all which was created is created for Christ? Of course one can see in his words the reflection of these messianic Jewish traditional representations, which speak about the Messiah as the One, Who was conceived by God even before the creation. If we consider that the traditional Judaism looks the same way at the people of God (they were also conceived by God even before the creation), then it is easy to come to the conclusion of a world created and existing for the people of God and the Messiah. But the apostle brings to these traditional representations which are doubtless familiar to him something new.

He speaks of Christ, that all which was created was not only created for Him, but also by Him. Of course, the question of the origin of the Messiah in the prophetic tradition is ambiguously solved, certain names of the Messiah found for example in Isaiah of Jerusalem, force to think of special relationships of the Messiah with God, relations not only, expressing in the philosophic, existentialist language, but also ontological. But all the same none of the prophets speaks about the divinity of the Messiah, and the Judaism does not know such representations. Paul, speaking directly that the world is created by Christ, really meant to say it. The Christ creates the world together with the Father, and that is why it is created for Him, quite as for Father Himself. But then the Messiah does not become any more only the messenger of God on earth, accomplishing His will.

He becomes Himself the Epiphany, bringing into the world the same fullness of God, which is proper to the Father. Metaphorically speaking, after the coming of Christ on earth, God became as much as He was always in heaven. That is why Christians need no intermediary between them and God, between them and Christ: because all the conceivable and inconceivable hierarchies, all the "thrones, dominions, principalities and powers", mentioned by Paul cannot give the world more than the Christ has already given to it.

It is not surprising that the Kingdom entered the world with Christ and by Christ: because it is inconceivable apart from the very fullness of God, which makes it what say the witnesses. And it becomes then clear that the world was really created for Christ and the Kingdom. For, the alternative to such a development of events can only be the triumph of sin and death. What God does not want to admit.

Beginning his letter to the church in Colossae, Paul as it were repeats anew the fundamental truths without which there is and can be no Christianity in its original sense, connected with the experience of the life of the Kingdom. It is no surprise that the center of his witness is the image of the Messiah-Christ, without whom Christianity as the experience of the Kingdom is impossible in principle (vv. 9-17). And if, according to traditional rabbinic ideas, the Messiah was conceived by God even before the creation of the world, then for Paul the Messiah becomes the One without whom the world is unthinkable, the One on whom it rests and who constitutes its true foundation (vv. 15-17).

Such a transformation of traditional ideas is entirely logical: if the Messiah contains all the fullness of the Kingdom (v. 19), and the Kingdom is the only real, true reality through which and for the sake of which everything else exists, then the Messiah Himself quite naturally becomes the foundation on which the universe rests.

But for Christians, whose main task is participation in the life of the Kingdom and then rooting themselves in it, the most important thing is the possibility, opened by Christ's coming into the world, of complete cleansing from sin, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (vv. 13-14). In former times God cleansed His people from sin through purifying sacrifices, but such cleansing was not complete: one could be cleansed in this way only from a sin committed involuntarily, through ignorance or under compulsion. The blood of sacrificial animals, sanctified by God's presence, was not enough for more than that. Now every seeker of the Kingdom has the possibility of being cleansed from any sin, beginning his spiritual life anew and dedicating it to the path into the Kingdom.

For the apostle the Kingdom is nothing other than the union of heaven and earth; for him the Church turns out in this respect not even to be a prefiguration, but the form of the Kingdom's existence in our world, which is being transformed but is not yet transformed (vv. 18-20). No less important for Paul is the overcoming by seekers of the Kingdom of their own sinfulness, without which one cannot enter the Kingdom (vv. 21-23). The task of the Church is twofold: on the one hand, it must become the space of the Kingdom in the world being transformed; on the other hand, it must be a community of those being saved, a community of people walking the path of the Kingdom but still far from reaching the goal. The unfolding of the fullness of the Kingdom in our transforming world is inseparable from the spiritual formation of its inhabitants, and this process will be completed only at the end of time with the return of Christ.