612. Colossians 1.16: Old Creation or New Creation? (Sean Finnegan)

Update: 2025-08-08

Description

How should we understand the words, “in him all things were created” in Col 1.16? Although commonly taken to mean Christ created the universe, this view has contextual, structural, and exegetical problems. In what follows I’ll name six problems with old-creation readings before laying out why a new creation approach makes sense. I presented this talk at the 2025 Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA) conference in Uxbridge, England. Scroll down to see the full-length paper, audio podcast, and full video.

For those listening to the audio, here’s a quick reference to Colossians 1.15-20

Strophe 1 (Col 1.15-18a)

15a      who is (the) image of the invisible God,
15b      firstborn of all creation
16a      for in him were created all things
16b                  in the heavens and upon the earth,
16c                  the visible and the invisible,
16d                  whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities
16e      all things have been created through him and for him
17a      and he is before all things
17b      and all things hold together in him
18a      and he is the head of the body of the Church,[12]

Strophe 2 (Col 1.18b-20)

18b      who is (the) beginning,
18c      firstborn from the dead,
18d                  in order that he may be first in all things,
19        for in him was pleased all the fulness to dwell
20a      and through him to reconcile all things in him,
20b      making peace through the blood of his cross
20c                  whether the things upon the earth
20d                  or the things in the heavens

Here’s Randy Leedy’s New Testament Diagram

Here are the slides in the original PowerPoint format

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Here are the slides converted to PDF

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To read the paper, simply scroll down or read it on Academia.edu.

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