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In Acts, of all the preachers cited, only Paul bases a sermonic point on God’s work of Creation. It should be no surprise, then, that his epistles touch on the doctrine repeatedly. And he applies it more broadly than one might expect.
Romans 1.20
Early in his epistolary writing he lays down an application that apparently underlies all the others:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Ro 1.20 NASB)
This is Paul’s clear response to the “What about those who have never heard?” question. He says, “They are without excuse.”
I should note that he clearly identifies the “they” here in the previous verses; they are “men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Ro 1.18). God, he says, has made that truth evident to such rejecters (Ro 1.19) through the things that he has made. I’ve written on this principle at greater length earlier in this blog, so suffice it to say here that anybody ought to be able to recognize all kinds of attributes of the Creator by just looking at what he has created—whether or not the observer has modern observational tools.
To deny that the cosmos evidences the power or wisdom or skill or goodness of a Creator is simply to suppress what is obvious. The assumed atheism of much of modern “science” reminds me of the Iraqi Information Minister, Muhammad Saeed Al Sahhaf, who during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 went on television to deny that American troops had reached Baghdad, when plentiful videos showed American tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling through the streets. For his gaslighting Saeed earned the moniker “Baghdad Bob.”
The atheist scientist knows. He does. But he will not see, because either his own will or that of his colleagues simply will not allow him to. It’s not just teens who are susceptible to peer pressure.
Colossians 1.16
Paul develops this principle in more detail in a later epistle, written during his house arrest in Rome while waiting for Caesar (Nero) to hear his appeal. Here he asserts that Jesus, the Son, is Lord over all the cosmos (Co 1.15) for the simple reason that he has created it:
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Co 1.16 NASB)
Note how the claim ends; his right to reign is absolute not only because he created the cosmos, but because he is the person for whom it was created.
Again, I’ve written on this passage in (much) more detail earlier, demonstrating the falsehood of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ allegation that Colossians 1.15 shows that Jesus was created and thus cannot be God. We won’t rehash that material here. Instead we’ll focus on the actual point of the passage: Jesus is Lord—of all that is, ever has been, or ever will be. A key basis for that is his role in Creation.
And on this day after Easter, it is appropriate as a significant aside to assert as well that another evidence of his lordship is his emergence from the tomb, triumphant over death and leading a long line of followers who are thus triumphant over death as well.
When I was a boy I assumed that I’d be alive when Jesus returned for his church. Though I still hold open that hope, I realize that at age 71 the odds are increasing that I’m going to die just like all those folks from history.
That’s OK. Death has died in the resurrection of the Son, the Creator, the Lord.
Creation matters.
