seem, inanimate nature (cf. Col. 1:20c; Rom. 8:19–21), the world of humankind (cf. Col. 1:20c, 21–22) and those angelic powers that were opposed to God (cf. Col. 1:16, 20c). Col. 1:21–23, and especially the conditional clause in Col. 1:23a, “make it clear that while the whole universe has now been restored to its God-ordained destiny [= reconciled], viz. its proper relation to Christ, in an objectively real reconciliation, still the benefits of this reconciliation are not experienced by individual