Who Created the Heavens and the Earth?
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. — Genesis 1:1
If you would have asked me this question when I was very young, my answer would have been swift and sure: “God did…duh.” Later, after I had learned a bit more of the Bible and discovered the doctrine of the trinity, I was confident that I had a more precise answer: “the Father”…because quite often when “God” is mentioned (by Paul, anyway), he seems to be speaking of the Father (Romans 1:9, 2:16, 5:8–11, 6:11, 6:23, etc.), so surely “God” in Genesis 1:1 means the Father, right? Put a pin in that…we’ll come back to it.
We also see that the Holy Spirit was there, but He just seemed to be flying around checking things out:
And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. — Genesis 1:2
Well, “flying around” isn’t quite accurate. The word for “hovering” there (מְרַחֶ֖פֶת) is used in Deuteronomy 32:11 in a way that casts more light on the intent of the Spirit:
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them; He carried them on His pinions. — Deuteronomy 32:11
The Holy Spirit wasn’t surfing; He was cherishing, brooding like a mother bird hovering over her young to care for and protect them. When we get to Job 33:4, we also see that Job attributes his own creation to the Holy Spirit.
Later, I learned a little more. I learned that the Hebrew word for God in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) which, interestingly enough, is a plural masculine noun. Plural? Yes, plural…as in more than one. But it’s used with a singular verb (bara)! Since I’m not a Hebrew scholar, I’m not sure what to make of this, and opinions seem to vary quite a bit.
On one end of the spectrum, some see this as a strong case for the trinity, while the other end of the spectrum argues that it is simply a “plural of majesty,” a construct used to emphasize the grandeur or magnificence of the subject. The case for the “plural of majesty” is affirmed by Bryan Murphy, Th.D. Associate Professor of Old Testament The Master’s Seminary, but others who cite Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology argue that there is no textual warrant for this construct at all. It gives me great pause to accept this explanation because it is commonly articulated by the enemies of Christ (e.g., Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Unitarians to name a few), but the fact that OT professors and highly-esteemed theologians don’t agree on the matter just makes this all the more difficult to figure out. So, until I’m smarter, I’m going to stick with my long-held belief that at the very least, the plural Elohim and its sigular verb hints at the trinity (a hint that is strongly reinforced in Genesis 1:26), but is by no means conclusive all on its own—we need a lot more Bible under our belts before we can make a solid case for the doctrine of the trinity.
Okay, so we have the Father doing the creating (Ephesians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 4:6), and the Spirit superintending or watching carefully over God’s nascent creation. That’s two members of the triune godhead; where was the Son when all of this was going down? We don’t really get to see the Son’s role in creation until we get to the fourth Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. — John 1:1, 2
Aha! Now we’re making progress! The Word (Jesus, cf. John 1:14) is the Son (cf. John 1:14), so let’s reword this to make the message crystal clear:
In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God. The Son was in the beginning with God.
Jesus was there in the beginning, but what was He doing? Check out the next verse:
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. — John 1:3
What’s with this “through Him”? Most of the major versions say “through” but a few do not:
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. — John 1:3 (KJV)
All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. — John 1:3 (ERV)
All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. — John 1:3 (NET)
It would see that “through” might be a bit more consistent with the rest of Scripture, hence the reason that the majority of English versions render it that way.
We can also turn to Colossians 1 to see what the Holy Spirit had to say through Paul:
[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. — Colossians 1:15–17 (NASB)
Here, we can see that not only is Jesus the manifestation of the invisible God, but that He created all things…and not just the material universe, but also thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities which is how the Bible refers to the spiritual realm that includes angels and demons (cf. Colossians 2:15, Ephesians 3:10, 6:12)—Jesus created them all. (Interestingly enough, the majority of versions of Colossians 1:16 say “by Him.”)
So, who created the heavens and the earth? Was it the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?
Yes.
Homework
Describe the trinity as if you’re trying to help your unbelieving friend understand.