Friday, March 11, 2022

Andrew Perry (Christadelphian) on "through him" and "the things visible and things invisible" in Colossians 1

  

It is important to distinguish the sense of διαυτου as ‘through him’—but this is not a causal sense, as if to say it is because of him something was done, (though this may be generally true). But earlier the sense is that of an intermediary through whom something is done, or an instrument through which something is achieved—for example, the Greek is used when describing those who believe through John the Baptist (John 1:7), when Peter says God did miracles through Jesus (Acts 2:22), when Paul questions whether he gained through any he sent to Corinth (2 Cor 12:17), when Paul describes Christ as an intermediary (Eph 2:18, and other verses making similar points), and these are just typical examples of the twenty verses in the NT which uses this construction. In English the semantic fields of ‘by’ and ‘through’ overlap: ‘by’ can imply mediatorship in an action (e.g. the active assertion, ‘he did it by getting Jonathan to do it’, can become the passive, ‘it was done by Jonathan’), but it need not imply such mediatorship; it all depends. The use of ‘by’ in the KJV passages that describe the new creation should be taken in the sense of ‘through’. (Andrew Perry, Before He Was Born: Combating Arguments for the Pre-existence of Christ [7th ed. [4th revision]; Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 109-110 n. 2)

 

Paul makes a statement about ‘the things visible and the things invisible’; the invisible things concern things to come rather than angelic orders or demonic powers. Thrones and lordships have been created in Christ for the future because they will be gathered to him at that time. The language of the visible and the invisible is used for the present and the future and indicative of prophetic statements being made about ‘things unseen’:

 

For this slight momentary affliction in preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Cor 4:17-19 (RSV)

 

The example of the unseen things that Paul gives in the resurrection body which was ‘in the heavens’ (2 Cor 5:1). This is what he was looking for—something ‘from heaven’ (2 Cor 5:2) (The point here is twofold: first, the language of ‘in the heavens’ connects with Colossians; and secondly, the language of ‘looking for’ is about the future. Hence, it would be a mistake to think that Paul is talking about the unseen eternal properties of the Godhead).

 

The principle here is expressed by Paul in Romans,

 

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Rom 4:17 (KJV)

 

Hence, there is a common connection between the language of seeing and prophecy. Faith is a conviction about things not seen (Heb 11:1) and illustrated in the example of Noah who was warned by God concerning things he as yet could not see (Heb 11:7). The prophets wanted to see the things concerning Christ (Matt 13:17) but only sometimes did they see his day John 8:56).

 

We conclude therefore that the future thrones (we might say that the twenty-four thrones around the throne were the present thrones) created in Christ are not most directly the twelve thrones that pertain to Israel, while the future lordship created in Christ pertain to the Gentiles. This suggestion is supported by the fact that the things in the heavens are ‘reconciled’ through Christ (v. 20) and reconciliation of Jew and Gentile in Christ is achieved through the cross. (Andrew Perry, Before He Was Born: Combating Arguments for the Pre-existence of Christ [7th ed. [4th revision]; Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 113-14)