The Creator and the Created
Firstly, then, it is man and His Creator. It is the Creator and the created. Perhaps it would be well if we arranged several other passages alongside of this one, going back to the beginning of this same letter in chapter one and verse sixteen through twenty: "For in Him were all things, all things created, in the heavens and upon t
he earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him al things consist ... that in all things He might have the preeminence ... through Him to reconcile all things unto Himself." The center and circumference of all things is Christ, the Creator of all things.
Then there are those familiar words in John's Gospel, in chapter one and verse three: "All things were made through Him; and without Him was not anything made that hath been made." John and Paul are one in perfect agreement on this matter of Who was the Originator of all things.
Next, there is the Letter to the Romans, chapter eleven, for it is always good to have, it is right to have an adequate scriptural basis for what we are saying. Chapter eleven and verse thirty-six says, "For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things."
And let us see more scripture in the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eight and verse six: "...There is One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we unto Him; and One Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we through Him." Well, that establishes this: which we have called the throwback to the Creator and the created.
Then, in order to come to these words about renewing, or making anew, or starting again, we have a process of recovery, and we have to contemplate that terrible disintegration of the man to whom these scriptures are referring. Yes, the disruption of human life, the disruption of every member of the human race, is very terrible. We need not argue, I think, from Scripture on this, because the argument is finished immediately when we consider ourselves, and mankind as we know mankind.
We are perhaps more aware today than ever of this disruption, this disintegration in human life. We are aware that there is a fundamental schism in man, and in mankind. And schism, wherever it is found, always means frustration. Frustration is the evidence of a schism, a divisiveness in human life and in human nature. And we see this right from the beginning of history as recorded in the Bible. All the way through, and coming out in our time in a consummate way, there is frustration in human life.
Every new step which is thought to be a step of progress, of advancement, of development, brings with it its own frustrations. No matter how far advanced, how fully developed, how phenomenal the enlargement of knowledge and of ability to do and to achieve, the frustration goes with it in the same measure until we reach the point in the world's development which we have reached in our own time. Frustration runs hand in hand through history with every fresh development and movement. It is there in human life, it is in the creation, and it is in the universe as it now is. And God Himself has taken pains to bring this out for man's realization.
For instance, there is the Law as we have it in the Old Testament, as we have it vested in a nation, who was chosen for this very purpose of being God's object lesson to all the nations, to all the world. There is the Law, and the Apostle Paul puts his finger upon that whole system with its long history, its meticulous application, and he says, "The Law was given in order to show how impotent man is." If ever there was a thing employed by Almighty God to demonstrate and expose the weakness of man, it was the Law, that is, the Law of Moses as it is called - the Law of God.
The Apostle Paul made a terrible declaration as to the effect of the Law. He said it has only brought to light man's weakness, impotence, helplessness. It has not done anything to save man, but it is rather to condemn him.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
Then there are those familiar words in John's Gospel, in chapter one and verse three: "All things were made through Him; and without Him was not anything made that hath been made." John and Paul are one in perfect agreement on this matter of Who was the Originator of all things.
Next, there is the Letter to the Romans, chapter eleven, for it is always good to have, it is right to have an adequate scriptural basis for what we are saying. Chapter eleven and verse thirty-six says, "For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things."
And let us see more scripture in the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter eight and verse six: "...There is One God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we unto Him; and One Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we through Him." Well, that establishes this: which we have called the throwback to the Creator and the created.
Then, in order to come to these words about renewing, or making anew, or starting again, we have a process of recovery, and we have to contemplate that terrible disintegration of the man to whom these scriptures are referring. Yes, the disruption of human life, the disruption of every member of the human race, is very terrible. We need not argue, I think, from Scripture on this, because the argument is finished immediately when we consider ourselves, and mankind as we know mankind.
We are perhaps more aware today than ever of this disruption, this disintegration in human life. We are aware that there is a fundamental schism in man, and in mankind. And schism, wherever it is found, always means frustration. Frustration is the evidence of a schism, a divisiveness in human life and in human nature. And we see this right from the beginning of history as recorded in the Bible. All the way through, and coming out in our time in a consummate way, there is frustration in human life.
Every new step which is thought to be a step of progress, of advancement, of development, brings with it its own frustrations. No matter how far advanced, how fully developed, how phenomenal the enlargement of knowledge and of ability to do and to achieve, the frustration goes with it in the same measure until we reach the point in the world's development which we have reached in our own time. Frustration runs hand in hand through history with every fresh development and movement. It is there in human life, it is in the creation, and it is in the universe as it now is. And God Himself has taken pains to bring this out for man's realization.
For instance, there is the Law as we have it in the Old Testament, as we have it vested in a nation, who was chosen for this very purpose of being God's object lesson to all the nations, to all the world. There is the Law, and the Apostle Paul puts his finger upon that whole system with its long history, its meticulous application, and he says, "The Law was given in order to show how impotent man is." If ever there was a thing employed by Almighty God to demonstrate and expose the weakness of man, it was the Law, that is, the Law of Moses as it is called - the Law of God.
The Apostle Paul made a terrible declaration as to the effect of the Law. He said it has only brought to light man's weakness, impotence, helplessness. It has not done anything to save man, but it is rather to condemn him.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
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