Mark Keown

The Bible begins with the statement, 'in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'. Now this to me is axiomatic and worthy of dying for. That is, Christianity is based on the notion that a brilliantly intelligent cosmic being is behind the created order, it is the product of his creative brilliance. Beyond this Christians disagree, and with a great degree of strong feeling. There are those who are absolutely convinced that the Genesis account must be interpreted literally and that God created the order in exactly six 24 hour days in exactly the manner described in Gen 1-2. Other Christians are not so sure and are happy to accept some of the notions of science including an older earth. They reject that there is a need for six literal 24 hour days noting that the Hebrew for "day" is used differently through the OT, that the sun and moon were created on the fourth day, and that there is clear symbolism in the text. They thus accept the general outline of Gen 1...

Last week I was absorbed in Jn 1 and Jn 1:3 stood out to me. It speaks of Jesus as creator; 'through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made'. Paul says something similar in Col 1:15, 'for by him all things were created, things in heaven and earth... all things were created by him and for him.' Heb 1:2 also says he is the one 'through whom God made the universe.' This has stuck with me. I often think of creation and it is God the Father who seems the prime agent. There is also the work of the Spirit who hovers over creation (Gen 1:2). Yet here is a three-fold witness from different authors (John, Paul, ?) who agree that it is God's Son who created the world. Wow! So from the very beginning the Son of God, who would become redeemer, is also creator. John also tells us that he is the source of life and Paul that 'in him all things hold together'. Hence, God's son sustains and gives life to the universe. This is rad...