Dr. Raymond Surburg, in a book edited by Dr. Paul Zimmerman and titled Darwin, Evolution and Creation, notes that the Greek word for "creation" in Col. 1:16 ktisis, is the same as the Old Testament word bara. He notes this means to make something from nothing. It also means to make something for the first time, and further, to make something which only God can make. In Colossians the emphasis is that Jesus Christ is beyond all angel stages of which gnostics boasted; He is God and He created the angels.

The greatness of God --and of Christ as God --is noted in the word "finished" in Gen. 2:1. Note the distinction between "creation" in Col. 1:16 and preservation or "holding together" sunesteeken in Col. 1:17. Not only did God create the universe and all that is in it in six normal-length days, but in that time He placed potential for all varieties and all adaptations to a varied environment. When Adam and Eve were created, all people (you and I) were created in code. This Creator God is truly wondrous. The word for "preservation" or "holding together" in 1:17 applies to what is now going on. We cannot experiment with "creation"; we can experiment only with preservation. Evolutionists make a fundamental error in claiming the universe arrived at its present stage through preservation process. The triune God both created and preserves that creation. We should willingly accept the picture of beginnings as recorded in Scripture rather than discarding that divine account for a mythological billions-of-years account of "survival of the fittest."

Dr. R. H. Brown is a physicist and a confessing Christian. He received his doctorate in what is called "radioactive dating" and he is convinced that science demonstrates 4.5 billion years as the age of earth. Yet, according to Scripture, he believes the universe is only approximately 6,000 years old. This kind of divided mind is abnormal. We have told him that if he could accept the distinction between creation and preservation, indicated in these two verses (Col. 1:16, 17), he would overcome this alleged separation. What may appear to be 4.5 billion years old is only 6,000 years old. A divine God was able through the process of ktisis or "creation" to place into the universe all that was needed then or ever. It is important that we distinguish between "creation" and "preservation."

Reference 12.

Prayer: That we might recognize the difference between "creation" and "preservation" and accept that creation was accomplished through processes no longer in operation.