Christ Our Creator and Redeemer

John Calvin rightly pointed out that we know God as both creator and redeemer in his magnum opus, The Institutes of the Christian Religion.  But how often do we realize that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, is our creator and redeemer?  Of course this is also true of the Holy Spirit.  But it is an amazing thing that the Son of God is the divine agent of both creation and redemption.  This is biblically manifested to us in such passages as John 1:1-14, Hebrews 1:1-4, and Colossians 1: 14-20.   It is important that we recognize that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, not only saves sinners, but has created all that is and also sustains all things in existence.  This is mind blowing.  The babe in the manger created you and me.  The tired Messiah sitting at the well of Sychar in Samaria in John 4 maintains the sun, moon, and stars, and the planets in their orbits.  The Savior hanging on the cross also upholds the cross on which which he hangs, and the universe to boot!  This is amazing and beyond my mind to fathom.  I want to fall down and worship this Lord and Savior.

I have had the privilege of preaching on the passages cited above and it is a thrill to shine the spotlight on these Scriptural treasures.  It is amazing that Christ is the Creator.  Indeed!  And someone has finally written a scholarly investigation of the subject.  Sean McDonough, professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary has published an interesting study of the New Testament teaching on Christ as Creator.  You can obtain the book here.  You can also find a helpful review of the book here.  My concern is not so much to plug the book as it is to point out the doctrine which is so clearly elaborated in Scripture and which cries out for proclamation.

If you are tempted to think that this doctrine is not worth pondering remember that it has been denied in past ages in the church.  For instance, the arch heretic Marcion held that the God of the Old Testament and God the Father of New Testament were two different gods.  The “god” of the Old Testament was a lesser deity who inappropriately created a physical universe made of matter.  The early church father Irenaeus, who offered what is perhaps the earliest biblical/systematic theological defense of Christianity (his Adversus Haeresus or Against Heresies), went out of his way to contradict the unbiblical teaching of Gnosticism that also tried to drive a wedge between the God of the Old and New Testaments.  Irenaeus showed that there was one God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who both created the world and redeemed sinners.

Does not gaining a glimpse into the grandeur of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ just move you to worship?