By Him All Things Consist

The Apostle Paul, thinking of Jesus wrote this in Colossians 1:14-17 ...

"In whom we have redemption through His blood, [even] the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God ... for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ... all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things ..."  (edited from the KJV)

And then, continuing in the same sentence Paul adds this ... "and by Him all things consist."

Before I speak about the word "consist" ... let me lay a foundation on which to build upon.  When John first started to write about Jesus, he could have started anywhere he wanted.  But where did he choose to start?  At the beginning of everything.  Follow John's approach ...

John 1:1-3, & 14 ... "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us ..." 

John asserts that Jesus was ... the Word of God ... before anything was created.  He is relating that in the beginning ... Jesus was.  If we go back as far as is possible, far beyond all that ever had a beginning ... Jesus is.  A personal existence is ascribed to Him from John ... as the Word of God.

And I would add if I may, that He was the spoken Word of God.  Unless a thought is spoken, it remains just a thought.  Genesis records over and over during the creation process that God said something like ... "Let there be" ... and it happened.
 
So the foundation of His personal existence before anything was created gives proof and credence, or plausibility if you like, that Jesus because of His pre-existence, would have been able to create the universe before He was born of Mary as the Son of God.  

He was begotten, or born in the heart and mind of God before any part of creation was spoken into being.  Paul, adds to what John said with the declaration that not only were all things created by Him ... but for Him.

Now, let's consider the word ... consist ... as it is used in the last part of verse 17 ... "and by Him all things consist."

As far as one can tell from the original Greek Paul wrote with, the word he penned was ... "sunistao" ... pronounced (soon-is-tah'-o) and was translated into English as "consist."
  
Honestly ... the intended meaning of consist in scripture isn't all that clear ... but I believe it alludes to this one design: "to stand or continue, to have it's being."

So what does it mean to stand and have it's being?

Adam Clarke (1762-1832) the old British Methodist biblical scholar and theologian spoke to the phrase ... "and by Him all things consist."  He wrote ...

"As every effect depends upon its cause, and cannot exist without it; so creation, which is an effect of the power and skill of the Creator, can only exist and be preserved by a continuance of that energy that first gave it being.  Hence, God, as the Preserver, is as necessary to the continuance of all things, as God the Creator was to their original production.  But this preserving or continuing power is here ascribed to Christ, for the apostle says, 'And by Him do all things consist' ... for as all being was derived from Him as its cause, so all being must subsist by Him, as the effect subsists by and through its cause."

To me, this is proof that the Apostle Paul considered Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God, as he attributes to Him the preservation and consistent care and keeping of the universe and all created things in that universe.

I prefer the rendering that the Amplified Bible gives to Colossians 1:17 ... "And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together)."

To cohere means to ... "be united, form a whole, to stick together."

This scripture in the New Living Translation reads ... "He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together."

By him all things consist ... He upholds all things, and by His constant and continuing power, the heavens have their stability and continuance from Him.  If this was not so, the universe and the earth with it's inhabitants would be dissolved and they would perish. 

In Acts 17:28, Paul states ... "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being ..."

This denotes that our continued existence is owing to Him.  That we live at all is His gift.  That we have the power to move is His gift.  That our continued and prolonged being is also His gift.  All of mankind live and move, and have their being in Him.  And not just mankind, but whole universe as well. 

The whole frame of nature would fly apart, separate and break in pieces, if it was not continually held together by Him.  The key word here is ... continually.  Every created being has its support from Him, and its consistency in Him.
 
All creatures and things are governed, directed, and managed by Him ... including how the galaxies and solar systems in the universe are held in their places, rotating in concert to God's heartbeat and rhythm ... even the tiny, little blue dot in space that we call earth. 

Scientific knowledge is wonderful as it has made life better and easier.  But there are a couple of places that I cannot agree with accepted scientific theory.  The first is that God does not exist, simply because He cannot be proven.  The second disagreement I have with science concerns the earth and our solar system.

Take how science explains gravity for instance.  My explanation may be over simplistic, but hopefully you will understand.  The earth has mass.  It's a big piece of rock that God hung on nothing ... meaning out in space.  Job 26:7  has stated that fact for 4,000 years or so.  That is one thing science got right ... except they leave God out of the equation. 

If I understand gravity right ... it is created from the movement and rotation of all the various planets, solar systems and galaxies and their relationships with each other.  The rotation of the earth's mass causes anything on the surface to be drawn to the center core.  Weight, size, distance and speed will cause variations in the force created. 

Jupiter's gravity is said to be greater than the earth's because of it's size.  It's a giant, but it's rotation time is less than the earth's, it's under 10 hours.  Our smaller planet earth, takes 24 hours for each rotation.  It's barely moving.  Our earth is rotating so slowly it could not create gravity on it's own.  It has to be God doing it all. 

Maybe I'm too simplistic ... perhaps science is right ... but science can not say what made the planets start rotating in the first place.  What made them float on nothing in space until they started rotating?  Science also can't say what causes a babies tiny little heart to start beating in a mothers womb after conception.  It's God.  It's simply God.  But they won't go there.  Not if it leads to God.

Science is great.  But I say ... it's the continued power of God that keeps the planets rotating as they orbit the sun.  God causes gravity.  God watches over His universe.  God is in control of all things.  Ephesians 1:11 states that God, "... worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

I believe God did more than just speak all these natural laws into being at creation, so that now He just sits back and watches them operate automatically.  No.  He continually works His will and purpose over His creation personally.

Colossians 1:17, " ... in Him all things consist ... and are held together."
 
I'm going to believe the Word of God over man's opinion every time.



(Comments are welcome, and will be posted by moderator.)