Question: Col. 1:23: “the gospel, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.” What is the meaning? Does “every creature” include North American Indians and South Sea Islanders?
P. H. D.
Answer: The universality of its witness is meant in the then known world, “in all creation that is under heaven.” Compare ver. 6 for its fruit-bearing and growth, as also Mark 16:15 for the Lord’s commission. The word “creation” is not that used for each individual creature, but for creation in an abstract way; and this is confirmed in Col. 1:23 by the absence of the article, so that there is no assertion of the Red Indian or of the South Sea Islander. Yet had it been proclaimed as a fact then, as Christ’s bondmen had gone forth and preached everywhere in all the world as then known. So Mark 16:20 testifies.