When "Why" Is More Important than "How"...: Christ the Creator

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him."
- Colossians 1:15-16

Paul here is repeating that transcendent truth also seen in John's Gospel (1:3), "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." Or it might be more accurate to say that John followed Paul, since the epistle was probably penned before the gospel. But notice what the two texts share: neither one gets bogged down in the mechanism of creation, but rather emphasize the and goal of creation. In both, the answer is Jesus Christ, the focal point of all things. I suggest that this is the error of modern apologists for theistic creation: they have adopted the agenda of the secularists in debating mechanism, as important as that is, rather than the goal, which is the foundational question.

Symington

The Scottish Reformed Presbyterian theologian William Symington gives weighty commentary on the centrality of Jesus in his book, On the Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ.

""Even the creation of the world, there is every reason to believe, was with the view of its being a theatre on which to exhibit the work of man's redemption by the eternal Son. It is the workmanship of His hand. This is the purpose which it serves; and that it was framed with a view to its serving its purpose is surely no disputable assertion." Then referring to Col. 1:16, he concludes, "He is the final as well as efficient cause of this world's creation."