A mystery allows for doubt. That is, if a thing is not explained, we may wonder whether we are apprehending or able to apprehend information we are given. In our comparison we see God and Christ used interchangeably as creator. There is nothing from the text that would allow us to deny that God and Christ are equated in scripture. If the scripture does not support denial, denial is purposefully against the written word. If the author of Colossians had wanted to make a stark distinction to how the world was created, he didn’t do so. We cannot assume he neglected this. If he intended that we should see distinction, the text does not give any inclination. Knowing full the Genesis account, this one is written blurring the lines between Genesis 1 and Colossians 1:16. Not novel to the Colossians author, the Apostle John states in similar fashion:[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
Lon, Why is it that you ignore the fact "Christ" is a Title, a Title given the respresentative of God very much as the "Angel of the Lord" was a representative of God that He was God who appeared in the various instances mentioned in the Bible.. . . which all relates to intimacy to the nth degree as "anointed" can best be described. However, in the case of Jesus, He was the messiah.
Do we not say the "Word" was "Christ"? Yes. Then "Christ" was God; the Title was place within a human body and made subservient to it . . . and it, the body, to the "Christ" of Himself; Divine Union, unfailing in every way irrespective of anything that came against him. The body was Jesus, the "Christ" of God.
That same pattern established in Jesus is that which Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus and probagated throughout the NT that the new born receive the same "Christ" of God for their lifes to be lived out IN God . . as Father: "This is eternal Life . . . . ." John 17:3. This is the Good News!