Basic HTML Version
120
and yet always dependent on Him. In view of the Scriptural data indicated in the preceding, it is
quite evident, however, that this definition applies only to what is generally known as primary
or immediate creation, that is, the creation described in Gen. 1:1. But the Bible clearly uses the
word “create” also in cases in which God did make use of pre-existing materials, as in the
creation of sun, moon, and stars, of the animals and of man. Hence many theologians add an
element to the definition of creation. Thus Wollebius defines: “Creation is that act by which
God produces the world and all that is in it, partly out of nothing and partly out of material that
is by its very nature unfit, for the manifestation of the glory of His power, wisdom, and
goodness.” Even so, however, the definition does not cover those cases, also designated in
Scripture as creative work, in which God works through secondary causes, Ps. 104:30; Isa.
45:7,8; Jer. 31:22; Amos 4:13, and produces results which only He could produce. The definition
given includes several elements which call for further consideration.
1. CREATION IS AN ACT OF THE TRIUNE GOD.
Scripture teaches us that the triune God is the
author of creation, Gen. 1:1; Isa. 40:12; 44:24; 45:12, and this distinguishes Him from the idols,
Ps. 96:5; Isa. 37:16; Jer. 10:11,12. Though the Father is in the foreground in the work of
creation, I Cor. 8:6, it is also clearly recognized as a work of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The
Son’s participation in it is indicated in John 1:3; I Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:15-17, and the activity of the
Spirit in it finds expression in Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4; Ps. 104:30; Isa. 40:12,13. The second
and third persons are not dependent powers or mere intermediaries, but independent authors
together with the Father. The work was not divided among the three persons, but the whole
work, though from different aspects, is ascribed to each one of the persons. All things are at
once out of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. In general it may be said that
being is out of the Father, thought or the idea out of the Son, and life out of the Holy Spirit.
Since the Father takes the initiative in the work of creation, it is often ascribed to Him
economically.
2. CREATION IS A FREE ACT OF GOD.
Creation is sometimes represented as a necessary act of
God rather than as a free act determined by His sovereign will. The old theories of emanation
and their modern counterpart, the Pantheistic theories, naturally make the world but a mere
moment in the process of divine evolution (Spinoza, Hegel), and therefore regard the world as a
necessary act of God. And the necessity which they have in mind is not a relative necessity
resulting from the divine decree, but an absolute necessity which follows from the very nature
of God, from his omnipotence (Origen) or from His love (Rothe). However, this is not a
Scriptural position. The only works of God that are inherently necessary with a necessity
resulting from the very nature of God, are the opera ad intra, the works of the separate persons
within the Divine Being: generation, filiation, and procession. To say that creation is a necessary
act of God, is also to declare that it is just as eternal as those immanent works of God.