All Things Were Made By Him

In the first three verses of the Gospel of John, we can see an incredible amount of essential doctrines jump off the page. And, as we have stated in previous articles, these doctrines are foundational to the Christian faith. A few that are clearly observable are: 1) The Eternality of God, 2) The Supremacy of Christ, 3) The Triune God, 4) The Holiness of God, 5) The Doctrine of Election, 6) The Doctrine of Predestination, 7) The Sufficiency of the Godhead, 8) God the Creator, 9) God the Sustainer, and 10) The Ultimate Sovereignty of God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

This is a very straightforward, intentional statement. Yet, it is one that is so neglected -- often unintentionally. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). No doubt about this. There is no question that Biblically, the account of Creation is a work of God alone. “All things” that are created are created by God. And to go further, there is nothing that has been created, which was not created by God. And to go even further, if something is not created, then that is because God chose not to create it.

As a general statement, our American Christian culture has almost given into the evolutionary theory of creation. For decades, we have seen this science taught in schools, but instead of fighting against this false ideology, we have seemed to have given in to it. Or worse, we  have made an attempt to combine a Christian theology of creation with an evolutionary theory. But as we can clearly see in both Genesis and the Gospel of John, it is the Lord our God who has created “all things,” and there is absolutely nothing outside of His control in creation.

The very premise of misunderstanding creation is at the purpose. “All things” were created by God, for God, unto God, and through God. Ultimately, all of creation was made for His glory. There will come a day when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). We have this tendency to make all of life about us, but the purpose of God’s creation is to glorify Him. And we would do well to recognize His intentionality over all creation, especially our individual lives.

3…without him…

So often overlooked is that without God, humanity would have never been created. Meaning, your life is only in existence because God chose for you to be physically born. Even with this knowledge and reality, we still make all of life about our selfish wants and desires. How is it that we regularly forget the Creator and Sustainer of all of life?

In the same way, as we will discover in verses 4 and 5, it is God alone who is the Creator and Sustainer of spiritual life. Just as God is totally Sovereign over all of His physical creation, in the same way, He has complete dominion over all spiritual re-birth. We are God’s creation. He is not our creation. We submit to God, not the other way around. And as His creation, we must rightfully place ourselves at His footstool (Psalm 99:1-3), worshiping Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).