From Corruption to Cohesion
The bolded text featured in this piece was taken from Vladimir Gelesnoff’s essay, “The Christ of God,” published in Unsearchable Riches, vol. 1, p. 36.
While none of the writing that follows is new, or original, in content, my hope is that the way in which the material is presented reveals new rays of light that, perhaps, your eyes haven’t quite taken in before.
Man is a microcosmos—a complete counterpart of the mundane system. There is nothing in the external world which does not find its counterpart in the human organism, though in the formation of the human body the material elements underwent a process of refinement; gross elements have been sublimated to a point unknown in the animal world.
Even science appears to agree with part of this flourish.
Some scientists think the human organism, along with every living thing on Earth, came into being through pre-existing, inanimate matter, by a process called abiogenesis.1
Only, scientists don’t believe a divine or intelligent power was behind the formation of life.
Many scientists, especially in the fields of astrophysics and cosmology, suggest that the elements in our bodies—carbon, iron, nitrogen, and oxygen—were formed inside stars that lived and died billions of years ago.
This idea colors the whole wonderful range of thought unfolded in the eighth chapter of the Roman letter. Adam was under the Creator, but above the creation.
Adam’s hierarchical place in the cosmos, in the beginning, was comparable to Christ’s position. He was above creation, but he was under God.
Similarly, Christ, while subject to the Father, is above all creation. (Colossians 1:15-18; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28)
We might say, as Paul did, in Romans 5:14, that Adam was a “type of Him Who is about to be.” In other words, Adam was a model, or pattern, of Christ, in his relationship to God and God’s creation.
He [Adam] was appointed to have dominion over all things in the earth, and there was a close link between him and the creation over which he was given ascendancy; his body was made of the dust of the ground.
Adam was, literally, formed from the same material that he was to have dominion over. He wasn’t far removed from the earth. He was right there, in the very midst of it.
A similar situation occurred with Christ, Who was made flesh, “and tabernacles among us, and we gaze at His glory, a glory as of an Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Christ didn’t simply put flesh on, like a Halloween costume. He fully entered into our fleshly, mortal condition. He was subject to weakness, and suffering, and pain.
Paul writes, in Romans 8:3, that God sent “His own Son in the likeness of sin's flesh and concerning sin, He condemns sin in the flesh.”
He knew what it was like to have a headache. He knew what it was like to experience heartache. He knew what it was like to feel alone, to feel abandoned, to feel betrayed.
In Hebrews 4:15, we read: “For we have not a Chief Priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but One who has been tried in all respects like us, apart from sin.”
Our Savior, who put on flesh, is intimately familiar with our infirmities, and can, as a consequence, sympathize with our suffering.
Thus, when man fell, the whole creation became involved in the ruin, though not of its own volition. In consequence of his transgression Adam became possessed of a sinful nature, which reacted on the body, and made it mortal.
Adam’s transgression was always part of the plan. It was not an accident, where God had to come up with a Plan B. There was never a chance that Adam would not sin, or miss the mark.
But…
Christ was with God, from the very beginning. His sacrifice was inherent in God’s design, nested in the plan since the start. It was all laid out before times eonian.
[Christ,] Who is the Image of the invisible God, Firstborn of every creature, for in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible... all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him.
Colossians 1:15-17
We are thus prepared to see the grand meaning of the resurrection of Christ for creation at large. Just as corruption, radiating from the first man as a centre, pervaded and permeated the entire universe, just so life, radiating from the second man as a centre, will permeate and pervade to the remotest corner of the universe.
Adam’s transgression had effects on the entire cosmos. Stars are born, and, bursting forth, die out. Planets smash into one another, comets plunge into other celestial rocks, and black holes swallow up the light of all that gets near them.
The earth, as well as the heavens, are in a state of complete chaos and destruction. The corruption that manifested through Adam’s transgression affected the entire universe.
It could be said that science, again, bears this out, through a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement.
Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon where two or more particles become connected in such a way that the state of one particle instantly affects the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are.
Imagine two perfectly tuned musical strings. One is in Los Angeles, and the other is in New York City. You pluck the one in Los Angeles, and, even though you didn’t pluck it, the second one, in New York City, sounds. We may say there’s a unity between the two strings, even though they are very far part. In this way, we would say they’re entangled.
Albert Einstein referred to quantum entanglement as “spooky action at a distance.”
From a materialist standpoint, it is spooky. But from a divinely intelligent perspective, it wholly fits with the way God designed the cosmos.
We may say that Adam was entangled with the rest of creation in the beginning, where, when he transgressed, the rest of creation was affected, and thrown into disunity, “not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it, in expectation” (Romans 8:20)…
As with Adam, Christ is intimately entangled with creation. Paul writes that “all is created through Him and for Him, and He is before all, and all has its cohesion in Him” (Colossians 1:15-17).
Just as Adam’s corruption permeated the entire cosmos, sending everything spinning off into chaos and destruction, Christ’s life will permeate the entire cosmos, bringing all back into perfect unity and harmony with God.
Thus viewed, the resurrection of Christ in a glorious spiritual body is a pledge of creation’s deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The hope of creation is bound up in the resurrection of the Son of Man, which is the basis of the “creation” commission in Mark 16:16-18; Colossians 1:23.
This is the Body of Christ’s expectation. We believe, through Christ, that God is going to bring all back into harmony with Himself.
And He will.
Nothing is lost forever. It’s only temporary.
Let us believe His Word.
With grace, and the tie of peace,
Concordant Student
Abiogenesis is the idea that life came from all living matter, apart from a divine intelligence. It should be noted, however, that abiogenesis has never been proven. Conversely, Scripture teaches that God deliberately brought life into existence, shaping it, in all its manifestations.
Great article! Love your writing style.