Christian Churches of God - Sabbath Message

Sabbath Message 22/4/33/120A

(Reissue of Sabbath Message 20/9/26/120)

Dear Friends,

One of the issues we see discussed and which is either not understood, or is deliberately misrepresented by many, is the place of Christ in the Creation. Many of the Churches of God elevate Christ and use the mistranslations or forgeries in the Textus Receptus, or so-called Received Text, and hence the King James Version of the Bible, to justify their position.

The entire argument for the creation of the world by Jesus Christ comes from John 1:10. That is aside from the forgeries in the KJV in which the words by Jesus Christ are forged into the text of Ephesians 3:9 in the Receptus and hence appear in the KJV.

Ephesians 3:9 says clearly that God created all things. The words by Jesus Christ were added to the text in the Receptus to try to establish that Christ created all things. That is because the creation in Genesis was by the elohim, which is understood as the host, as sons of God, in its capacity to act within the will of God.

John 1:10 says that Christ made the kosmos come to be. The words are Kai ho kosmos di autou egeneto or and the kosmos through him came to be. The KJV translates this as the world was made by him.

This rests on the rendering of Kosmos as the world, and it has been used as that rendering or in reference to the world. From the time of Homer it has been used to mean an apt and harmonious arrangement or order and has been used to refer to the arrangement of the stars, and has been used in the LXX to refer to that aspect. The word egeneto means come to pass or, as in the case in John 1:6, it is used to mean to arise or appear on the stage to be raised up. The text begins egeneto anthropopos or there was a man. The text from 1:6 to 1:10 is designed to use the word egeneto to show that Christ raised the world into order as he himself was raised by God to appear before men. That is perfectly in accord with the text in Genesis, which shows that Christ was in the Garden as was Satan, and both were accountable for what they did there. Christ was also with Israel in the wilderness as we see from 1Cor. 10:4. The Scriptures declare the pre-existence of Christ (see the paper The Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ (No. 243)). Radical Unitarians get into serious problems over the scriptures regarding pre-existence and cannot explain the texts. However, the Trinitarians are in an equal bind regarding this aspect of the creation, where we are told that God created all things and we are told by Malachi that one Father created us all.

Christ also is said to have been faithful to he who made him. The term appointed is used in the English to get around this clear text in Hebrews 3:2 regarding the creation of Christ by God. However, the word is poieo, which means made as a product or fabric being a thing that is made, or workmanship. The text clearly shows that we are speaking of God as the builder or creator, as Christ is compared to Moses, being faithful to the builder, and Hebrews 3:4 says that He who built all things is God.

Thus, the text in John chapter 1 can be seen as showing that the person who brought this age or aeon into being and raised up the adornment of this age, is Christ. Thus, the elohim in the Genesis account are the sons of God acting under direction of the Father after the earth was Tohu and Bohu or waste, or without form and void. Christ was the only born God or the Monogenes Theos of Jn 1:18. God sent him to men to speak because no man has seen God at any time. They have neither heard His voice, nor seen His form, nor indeed can they behold Him as we see from Paul’s comments in 1Timothy 6:16. That one being in the bosom of the Father spoke.

John 1:10 must be interpreted in the light of the other clear texts that show that God created all things. The elohim were instruments of the creation after they themselves were generated from Spirit and tied together with the Holy Spirit as sons of God.

Now the text in Colossians 16 is also used to argue that Christ created the host, but the texts show that we are dealing with the creation of the administration.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born (prototokos) of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through him and for him; and he is before all things and all things consist (or hold together) (Col. 1:15-17).

When examined, this text is speaking of the administration of the universe and Christ existed as the prototokos or first begotten so that all things can consist in him. However, he himself is a product of the Father as are the entire host, who are comrades together under the Father.

So, these two texts that are used to claim the creation by Christ, actually say the opposite. The texts, free of Trinitarian forgeries, actually say that God created all things and He did so for the establishment of the body which is the Church, and of which Christ is the head. In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and thus, he is the head of the Church and the firstborn from the dead. Through Christ, the God was able to reconcile all things to Himself whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his stake (stauros) (Col. 1:18-20). Thus, the heavenly host are reconciled also in the sacrifice of Christ. In that way, Christ also had to be of the heavenly host as well as the earthly creation.

So we then ask: “If this is an issue why does it prevent people from serving God and working together?” The answer is that it corrupts the understanding of the Church. To suggest that there are two true God is idolatrous. Yet, that is precisely what a number of Churches of God teach, contrary to the Commandments of God and the testimony of Christ. Moreover, many use these distinctions to excuse their failure to perform and their failure to support the work. Many spend time in endless arguments, never learning and never coming to an understanding of the truth.

What are we to do given that problem? The answer is that we are to get on with the job and leave these people to waste the time of others and not interfere with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

People use these disputes to excuse their non-performance. They do nothing because they wish to do nothing and their minds are in rebellious disorder to God and the Church. It is not unusual to see people come into the Church for the sole purpose of disrupting it and accusing the brethren. They do the adversary’s work for him.

There are two types of people in the world. There are the doers and the talkers. Those who are called of God give themselves to the faith and perform. The others take any opportunity to justify their inaction. Christ will ask them when he arrives why they failed to work and why they did not perform? The justification that they did not really have everything quite correct will not be accepted. How can the Church of God not be working on the planet even today? Christ is not asleep. The Church is not dead. We know that the gates of death will not prevail against the Church, and we have Christ’s word on that. Thus, the Church must be alive today and the elect must find it and work for the faith, or their faith is in vain.

If it is not we, then find the true faith and tell us who it is, so we can sell all we have and find them and support the work. What indolence and self-justification is it that excuses inaction on the groups of endless Judaising and hair splitting? What idolatry is it that confuses Christ with God?
If there are those among us who are idolaters or non-performers, then separate yourselves from them and get on with the work of God in Christ. We see accusers of the brethren come into us endlessly. We see them on the forums and at home in various nations hurling abuse at the brethren who do work and sacrifice for the very people who abuse them.

There is a strange disease in man that excuses poor performance and sin by accusing others. It comes from the adversary and is not of God. Remember that this mind is what should be among you, as it was in Christ. He, being in the form of God, did not think equality with God was something to be grasped after but divested himself of his form and assumed the form of a man. He humbled himself and made himself obedient unto death and died the death of the stake. For this obedient sacrifice, God highly exalted him and gave him a name above all others. (Phil. 2:5-9).

Where is the obedience in the Church of God in the last days? Where is the humble self-sacrifice of the brethren? Why do we face this continual accusation and watch the failure of the Churches of God to perform when time is so short?

The answer is that the Church of God was contaminated by sin and self-righteousness and it had to be purged. People cannot endure sound doctrine. God is diminished and multiplied by the elevation of Christ. The Laws of God are profaned and set at nought by false doctrine in two ways. On each side, the position of Christ is demeaned by the denial of his pre-existence on the one hand, and the false elevation of that pre-existence, or the Binitarian fusion of the oneness of God, as we saw in the false system of the gods Attis, Adonis and Osiris on the other hand.

It is important that we see and understand exactly what role Christ played in the creation. It is also important that we understand how God created and where the sons of God were placed in that activity. It is even more important that we do not allow our talks to be set at nothing by prattlers who do nothing and fail to support the work of the Last Days by endless disputes, never coming to an understanding of the truth, or using the issues to justify their failure to perform.

We will move on now to the Passover. If you have allowed stupidity and false issues to separate you from the Church, then repent and be reconciled. If you have caused offence and accuse the brethren, then repent and go to your brother and be reconciled to him. If you do not wish to do either, then stay away from those who would work. The world is full of false systems that do nothing and attract the unconverted. The adversary has worked for centuries to ensure there is a trap for everyone.

These papers are for further reading on the subject.

The purpose of the creation and mankind within it is explained in the paper The Purpose of the Creation and the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ (No. 160).

The philosophical arguments are also found in the paper Creation: From Anthropomorphic Theology to Theomorphic Anthropology (B5). The first chapter is for the more academically inclined among us.

The creation of the Spiritual realm is examined in the paper How God Became a Family (No. 187).
Let each of us contemplate how it is that we are made into sons of God and how Christ enabled that function.

Let each work for the faith and encourage one another. Let there be no accusation and division in the body.

Seek the good of each other and be reconciled putting aside all accusation and false teaching.
Love one another as God and Christ love us.

Wade Cox

Coordinator General