I am part of the men’s small group that meets two Saturdays a month for breakfast. During one of these “prayer and share” breakfasts, one of the men spoke of Jesus as the Creator God. It was excellent insight on his part and caused me to pause because I tend not to reference Jesus in this manner. We can fall into the trap of compartmentalizing God as Father the Creator, Jesus the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as the Sanctifier.
Creation is the work of the triune God. The mystery of the triune God is difficult to understand and, even more so, to comprehend God's creation of the world. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are all God, distinct, yet One God (Deuteronomy 6:4). Recognizing that the Father, Son, and Spirit always act in perfect unity and share all the attributes of God can help us understand Jesus as Creator.
One helpful passage reference is 1 Corinthian 8:6 where St. Paul says, "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." Again, we see unity between Father and Son as well as Jesus being credited as Creator.
Another powerful scripture reveals Jesus as coeternal at creation. In John 1:1-3: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." John writes that Jesus exists eternally from beginning through forever. That Jesus was present at the creation; that He is distinct from the Father ("with God"); and that He is the same as God in nature ("was God"). John says all things were made through Jesus, acknowledging Him as Creator.
The Spirit was also present and active in the creation (Genesis 1:2): "The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters." The entirety of the Trinity was involved in creation. God the Father is Creator (Psalm 102:25), through Jesus who is God the Son (Hebrews 1:2), by the agency of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 33:6).
Everything created exists because of God’s inexhaustible, merciful love. God had no need to create; rather, the universe is the product of love overflowing and merciful love and is therefore the foundation and deepest meaning of all things. This is the heart of the true Christian doctrine of creation.
While it may be more common to refer to Jesus as Lord and Savior, we can also affirm Him as begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through him all things were made.
March 8, 2023