Was it “Spoken” into existence?

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Kjvav

   Ok, we all have read Genesis 1 many times. We’ve all talked about it to others. Many of us have preached series’ on it.

   All throughout the chapter we see the phrase “And God said.....” and the phrase “and there was.....”.

   For example...1:3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

   And so we all say God “spoke” the universe into existence. I know I’ve said it countless times. But is it actually what happened?

   John 1:3 says that by Jesus everything that was made, was made.

   Hebrews 1:2 , speaking about the Father’s creation, in reference to Jesus said “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”

   Hebrews 1:10 “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hath laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands:”

   I’d does appear to me possible that the “And God said/and there was” statements of Genesis 1 actually mean that God directed (said his wishes) to our Lord Jesus and Jesus physically made them. Not really what we generally mean when we say “spoken into existence”. More of a “The Father spoke and the Son did” thing. I think of the centurion who said to one man ‘go’ and he goeth and to another ‘do this’ and he doeth it.

   What sayeth  the the group?

MainframeSupertasker

Well, if you say God spoke it into existence, that's correct. But if you say the Father spoke it into existence, I would say there's not much information so as to know who's the one who spoke and who's the one who made it grin.png

Or it was like this: God commanded, and they "obeyed".

Kjvav

Well, Hebrews 1:3 does say that the Father created the worlds by the Son.

wsswan

In those days if I said I was going to do something and I sent someone under my authority, a son, a servant, or a slave for example, and they actually did the work, it would be done according to my word thus fulfilling my word. So the person I sent became my word in their way of thinking.

MGleason

Mark 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

When God speaks, even the very elements obey Him - even to come into existence.

Kjvav
wsswan wrote:

In those days if I said I was going to do something and I sent someone under my authority, a son, a servant, or a slave for example, and they actually did the work, it would be done according to my word thus fulfilling my word. So the person I sent became my word in their way of thinking.

   Agreed

Kjvav
MGleason wrote:

Mark 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

When God speaks, even the very elements obey Him - even to come into existence.

   Just to be clear, I have no problem whatsoever with God actually speaking the world into existence. I have no problem with any of the miracles of the Bible, I know God most certainly could have spoken and then it just plain happened.

   I’m simply saying that when other portions of Scripture are taken into account, it seems that the Father spoke his will, and the Son made it so, that it was not simply a word spoken and that’s it.

   I’ll also add this... in Genesis 2:19 it seems very evident that as God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, so he formed all the animal life. “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them....”

   And yet in Genesis 1:24 we have the “God said/and it was so” statement.

MGleason

I believe the Father planned and the Son carried it out.  That would mean it was the Son actually speaking it into existence.

There is an interesting parallel with our salvation, where the Father planned it and the Son actually came to carry it out.

It's possible that something different was done for the creation of Adam, rather than speaking it into existence.  Man was the pinnacle of God's creation, so it wouldn't be surprising if the approach was different.

Kjvav

   I come close to agreeing with that, except for verses that say that this or that is the work of his hands. It appears to be something more personal than “speaking”.

   And the animals were formed out of the dust the same as Adam, though it is never implied that the animals became a living soul.

MGleason

We have to realise that Scripture is full of anthropomorphic language for God.  God is a spirit and does not have a physical body - except for Jesus, who became human and therefore does indeed have a physical human body as well as remaining a spiritual being.

So when we see reference to God's eye, that doesn't mean He has a physical eye, it means he sees things.  When we see a reference to His ear, that means He hears things.  When we see a reference to His hands, that means He does things - He makes things or otherwise takes action.

It's putting it in terms we can understand.

Kjvav

Agreed, but doesn’t it seem odd that the Father would command “Let there be light” so that Jesus could turn around and again command “Let there be light”?

MGleason

I believe Jesus was the one who said "Let there be light".  Jesus and the Father planned to create light, and Jesus was the one who spoke it into being.

wsswan

Did Jesus say bang real loud?

stevetuck

The simple answer is ‘When Jesus spoke the world into existence (John 1), God spoke (Genesis 1), because Jesus is God.’

hellodebake

It's a very interesting question we may never fully know the answer to.

There is a lot to  be said about speaking to things in the bible. Numbers ch 20 v 8  ; Is ch 55 v 11 ; Mark ch 11 vs 14-20-23 as well as Luke ch 17 v 6.

In the original Hebrew language, the word 'God' used in Gen ch 1 is the Hebrew word 'Eliohim' which according to my Strongs concordance is 'plurality in singular form.' So all 3 ( God the Father,Son and Holy Spirit ) were present at creation.

My guess is that God the Father spoke matter into being, God the Son fashioned it, and God the Holy Spirit 'moved upon the waters' ( the word moved in Hebrew is " rachaph" -vibrate,shake, flutter) perhaps created the gravitational energy pulling everything together ....

 

Kjvav

   I tend to believe that it was the Holy Spirit that is spoken of in Genesis 2:7 “....and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life...” based on Job 33:4 “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

   

wsswan

All three possibly could have done it individually but I believe the Almighty is the source of all things but each have similar powers to fulfill the Almighty's desires.

MGleason

The name "Almighty" applies to Father, Son, and Spirit alike.  All three are equally God.

wsswan
MGleason wrote:

The name "Almighty" applies to Father, Son, and Spirit alike.  All three are equally God.

That is a very popular understanding.

MGleason

It's a Scriptural understanding.  For example, in Revelation 1:8, Jesus applies the name to Himself.