"We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the Word who made it at the first."
--4th Century Greek Father St. Athanasius
Is Christ an artist? Christ's identity as the creative word of God has been a formative concept in the church's historical understanding of the arts' significance with immense implications for artists' today. I'd like to share a few brief thoughts on a few of these implications here as they have impacted my own life. Beginning with the big picture, if Christ is the Grand Artist, the center of God's creative life, then to draw close to Christ is to draw close to the dynamic creative life of God. Discipleship is not just about becoming a better person, it includes becoming a better artist, infused and inspired by the dynamic creative life and energy of God. Likewise, if Christ is the foundation for creativity in our universe and for the creative impulse in the imago Dei, then drawing close to Christ should help shed light on the fullness and significance of creativity in our culture and world.
As the Athanasius quote above proclaims, Jesus is the One through whom the heavens and earth were made. In the words of John, "through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (1:3) Colossians declares "by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth... all things were created by him and for him... he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (1:16) Hebrews lifts up the Son as the One whom God has "appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word" (1:2-3). Jesus is thus the active agency in the creative life of God, the one through whom God's creative activity takes place in our world. The creation, the artistry of God, is dependent on Christ both for its beginning, its continued sustenance, and its future. If Christ were to let go, the creation would descend back into chaos and nothingness.
One of the things that strikes me about this is, as my friend Jeff remarked once, God could have made a world of stick figures in black and white, but the kind of world that is birthed through Christ is one of color and beaty, of form and color. Through Christ, chaos becomes creation, light breaks into darkness, form and structure, particularity and unity, orchestration and perspective of elements come to be. God's word is his agency in creative activity. Jesus is the grand Artist who stands at the center of our world, the dynamic nexus of God's creative life. To grow close to Christ, to enter into discipleship in his kingdom, thus includes drawing close to the dynamic, creative center of the universe.
There are many images of Christ which find prominence today: the teacher of righteousness; the prophet of justice; the atoning Savior. But what of his identity as grand Artist? Our image of Christ affects how we view and understand discipleship. Inasmuch as we come under his authority as the teacher of righteousness, we will find change in our actions in learning to love the righteousness that God loves. Inasmuch as we walk in his dust as the prophet of justice, we will work for justice and social transformation in our society. Inasmuch as we draw close to him as atoning Savior, we will be overwhelmed with the sacrificial, giving love of God. It is thus crucial in the creative life and understanding of the church that we recapture the elements of Christ's identity as the grand Artist. It is from this posture that Christ-centered discipleship encompasses both the creative growth of the artist and the communal life of the church.
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The New Testament declaration we've been looking at builds upon a deep rich tradition in the Hebrew Scriptures well worth looking at. In Genesis 1, it is by God's word, his voice, that creation comes into existence. "Let there be..." are the words (and other similar phrases) that open every day of creation. God creates the world by his voice. His word is declared to be the agency of his creative activity. The psalmist declares "by the word of the Lord the heavens were made" (psalm 33) and goes on to elabore the extravagance of creation's beauty. Here again the psalmist affirms that Yahweh's word is the agency through whom the created world has come to be.
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Irenaeus, a really amazing early church father from the 2nd century, refers to Christ as the "voice of God", building upon this tradition of God's word as his personal, creative, communicative agency with the world. The "word of the Lord" appears throughout the Hebrew Scriptures but a few snapshots to illustrate some of the broader significance of Christ being identified with this. In Genesis 12 and 15, God creates Israel through his word which comes to Abraham. As he created creation out of the chaos and void, so out of the chaos and void of the nations in a world wrapped up in rebellion, God through his word creates a people to witness to his love and faithfulness to the world and through whom to ultimately bless all nations. The imagery is that of creation out of chaos / void through God's creative word.
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In Isaiah 55 (especially vv. 9-13) God's word is depicted as his faithful love which goes out in pursuit of humanity. His faithful love "does not return void"; the imagery in the passage of coming to the creating word of God is of coming to waters to drink, waters that bring forth life in the deserts; his ways of love are higher than our ways of self-centeredness. In Psalm 107:20 God's word is rescuer, the agent of salvation. Through God’s creative word he rescues the slave, the outcast, the sailors on the sea, he brings the rebellious back to himself. The Christological overtones here of Jesus as the agency of God's salvation in his creation are beautiful.
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In Proverbs, where we find the term "Wisdom" of God in place of the usual concept of "Word" of God, but to the same effect, God's Son is pictured here as rejoicing at his side at creation, the joyful craftsman with whom and through whom the world was made (notice the overtones of this passage in John 1:1-5).
All this to say, a robust Christology will find in Christ the grand Artist. He is, among many other beautiful images and realities, the dynamic center of God's creative life. Discipleship under the tutelage of Jesus involves becoming not only a lover of righteousness, a pursuer of justice, one overwhelmed and in awe of the magisterial and all-embracing love of God; it also involves becoming a better artist. To draw close to Christ is to draw close to the dynamic, creative center of the universe; for artists seeking to grow in our craft and understanding of its significance we could hope for nothing more and we should settle for nothing less.
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