Every day we see and experience broken relationships. Sometimes they are so broken that parties end up killing each other. For example, just this morning I was reminded that in Australia alone each week two women are murdered by their partners―this week one was a pregnant mother.

In today’s post I want to look at one of the reasons why I believe eventually all broken relationships will be healed in the New Creation. We find this promise in the “The Christ Poem”¹:

I love how this passage shows the preeminence (the utmost importance) and centrality of Jesus in everything―past, present and future. And it does this using wonderfully interwoven parallels:
– Jesus is over everything (a) because everything (b & c) was created by Him.
– Jesus is before everything (d) because everything (e) is held together by Him.
– Jesus is preeminent in everything (f) because He is:

• the beginning (or origin) of Creation
• the head (or origin) of the Church
• the firstborn from the dead (the beginning or origin of the New Creation)
• the “telos” (purpose and destiny) of everything―everything (c) is created to Him, and everything (g) will be reconciled to Him.

(I think these dot points also show the Bible’s overall story)

Now as far as I can see, the scope of all of these “everything”s³ is identical and includes absolutely everything created⁴. In case there was any doubt, Paul twice reinforces the “everything” (b & h) with the “in heaven and on earth” phrase⁵, and makes sure we understand that the phrase includes everything visible and invisible, even thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities.

However, what does “reconcile everything to Him” mean? Thankfully, I think Paul explains it in the same sentence. It is “making peace”, and Jesus achieved⁶ this through His self-sacrifice, “His blood shed on the cross”. I think Paul gives examples of what this looks like, both before and after the poem:

He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. We have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him.Colossians 1:13-14
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before HimColossians 1:21-22

Paul uses it similarly in Romans 5:10 (HCSB), explaining that amazingly the reconciliation was inaugurated (begun) while we still hated God:

For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

Not only is the relationship to God reconciled but relationships to everyone else:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jews and non-Jews] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.Ephesians 2:14-18 (NIV)

And this isn’t just a future hope or dream, it’s something God invites us to be involved with now:

Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (HCSB)

I find it immensely encouraging to know that each self-sacrificial peacemaking, small or big, takes us one step closer to seeing every relationship restored and reconciled―indeed reformed to what God always intended!⁷

I hope this brief overview will inspire you to at least look into this more. The best exposition of Colossians 1:15-20 I’ve ever read is in Robin Parry’s book⁸―you can read the pages here. It strongly influenced this post, however I also found Diane Castro’s blog post⁹ helpful, as well as Talbott’s discussion¹⁰.

<sub>1. Colossians 1:15-20
2. N.T. Wright, “Poetry and Theology in Colossians 1:15-20,” in idem, The Climax of the Covenant: Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark; Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991) 99–119. Found on page 42 of The Evangelical Universalist.
3. Each time it’s the Greek word “pas”.
4. While not talking about creation, the extent of the image and fullness of God is similarly absolute, as Jesus is fully God.
5. Also used by Paul in Ephesians 1:10 and by Jesus in Matthew 28:18.
6. And achieves. I think it’s a “now and not yet” scenario. He has won but it’s not yet fully actualised.
7. I want to make it clear that sadly there are limits to how much some relationships can be healed in this age. For example, I’m NOT advocating women staying in, or returning to, domestic violence―violence is the opposite of the peace that God intended, and will achieve for all relationships in the age to come. If you are facing domestic violence please seek help via HumanServices.gov.au or WomensHealth.gov. For those interested in present and future reconciliation more generallly, I recommend reading Miroslav Volf’s profound material e.g. The Final Reconciliation: Reflections on a Social Dimension of the Eschatological Transition.
8. MacDonald, Gregory. The Evangelical Universalist, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2012), 41-53.
9. Reconciliation: The Heart of God’s Grand Plan for Creation.
10. Talbott, Thomas. The Inescapable Love of God (1999, revised 2015), p63.</sub>