Christian beliefs about the Word and the Spirit in creation

How could someone born about two thousand years ago have been there when the universe was made? Christians believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem, at a point in history. Yet John's Gospel opens by placing him at the very beginning, before anything existed. You might take that as a loose way of saying Jesus matters a great deal. Christians take it far more seriously, as a claim about who Jesus is. John's first words borrow the first words of the Bible.

Genesis opens with three verses that Christians read closely. Verse one says "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Verse two says "the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." Before anything has taken shape, the Spirit of God is already there, moving over the dark water like a bird over its nest. The Hebrew word for spirit here is ruach, which can mean breath, wind or spirit. Hold on to that word as you move on one chapter. In Genesis two, verse seven, God breathes into the first man "the breath of life", and he becomes a living being. What do Christians connect that breath of life to? To the Spirit. Because ruach means breath as well as spirit, Christians see the Spirit as the giver of life, at work in creation from the start. Christians call the Spirit the agent of God in creation, meaning the one through whom God acts. The Nicene Creed names the Spirit "the Lord, the giver of life." Then verse three says "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." Creation happens through God's word: God speaks, and it is so.

John's Gospel opens with the same three words as Genesis: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Greek word John uses for Word is logos, which means a word, or the reason and meaning behind everything. John says this Word was with God, and also was God. Verse three goes further: "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." Verse four adds "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind." Now, who is the Word? Here are three answers. The first says the Word is the Bible. The second says it is God's spoken command and nothing more. The third says it is the Son, a Person who is God. Which answer do Christians give, the first, the second or the third? The third answer. John calls the Word him, and says the Word was God, so Christians understand a Person, rather than a book or a sound. Verse fourteen settles it: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." Flesh means a human body and a human life. Now ask why. Why does that verse rule out the Word being the Bible? Because a book cannot be born and grow up. The Word in John is someone, and Christians identify him with Jesus. That is why Christians believe the Son existed before he was born in Bethlehem. This is called pre-existence: the Son was with God from the beginning, and shared in making everything. Christians do not believe Jesus began to exist at his birth. They believe his birth is when the eternal Word became a human being, and the video on Christian belief in the Incarnation explains that step.

Put Genesis and John side by side, and Christians find all three Persons of the Trinity in the first three verses of the Bible. God the Father creates. The Spirit hovers over the waters. And the Word is spoken in "And God said", which Christians read as the Son at work. Many Christians also read Genesis one, verse twenty-six, as a hint of the Trinity. There God says "Let us make mankind in our image", and Christians point to the word us. That reading is a Christian one, made in the light of the Trinity, and it is held as one reading among others. If the Trinity itself is new, the video on Christian belief in the Trinity sets it out. Now an explain task. Belief in the Trinity shapes how Christians read the opening verses of Genesis, and the task asks for two ways, with scripture. Which two ways would you give for Genesis one, verses one to three? First, Christians read the Spirit hovering over the waters, in verse two, as the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. So the Spirit shares in creation from the very start, which shows the Spirit is fully God and not something made later. Second, they read God's speaking in verse three in the light of John one, which calls the Son the Word through whom all things were made. The Father creates, the Word speaks and the Spirit hovers: all three Persons are there in the first three verses. Another student opens the same task like this: God made Adam and Eve in his image, which shows the Trinity. What has gone wrong with the Adam and Eve answer for that task? Adam and Eve are not in Genesis one, verses one to three. The question names those three verses, so the answer has to stay inside them. One examiner's report on a question about these verses says many lost marks for citing the creation of Adam and Eve instead. The fix is to stay inside the verses the question names: the Spirit hovering, and God speaking.

Now a describe task, which asks what Christians believe about the part the Word and the Spirit played when the world was made. Could you write four linked sentences on the Word and the Spirit as the world was made? In Genesis one, verse two, the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters before anything has taken shape, and Christians believe this is the Holy Spirit, God's life-giving power, already at work. In verse three God speaks and light appears, so creation happens through God's word. John's Gospel opens with the same words, In the beginning, and says the Word was with God, was God, and made all things. Because John one, verse fourteen, says the Word became flesh, Christians identify the Word with Jesus. They believe the Son was present and active at creation long before he was born. One examiner's report on a describe question like this says a number of students described the creation story with no reference to what was asked, and few linked the Word and the Spirit to creation. The habit that answers it is a link in every sentence: name the Word or the Spirit, and say what each does in creation. Set two sentences side by side. The first says: the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost. The second says: the Spirit hovered over the waters before anything had taken shape. Which sentence links the Spirit to creation, the first or the second? The second sentence does. Pentecost is a true Christian belief about the Spirit, but it says nothing about creation.

This belief matters to Christians in three ways. First, creation is the work of the whole Trinity, so Christians praise the Father, the Son and the Spirit as Creator together. Second, Jesus has authority as the one through whom everything was made. When Christians call Jesus Lord, they mean the Lord of all creation. Third, the Spirit still gives life today. For Christians, the same Spirit that hovered over the waters is at work in people now. Think of a Christian praying for fresh strength after a hard year. Which of those three would they be leaning on? The third: the Spirit as the giver of life, still at work now, renewing people as at the start.

To finish, four questions that mix Genesis and John.

First, what is the Spirit of God doing in Genesis one, verse two? Hovering over the waters before anything has taken shape: God's life-giving Spirit, already at work.

Now, why do Christians identify the Word in John one with Jesus? Because verse fourteen says the Word became flesh and lived among people, and Christians believe that is Jesus.

Colossians one, verse sixteen, is new to this video. It says "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth." Which belief about the Son does that verse support? That the Son was at work in making everything, as John one says of the Word.

Now one more. What can the Hebrew word ruach mean? It can mean breath, wind or spirit, all in one word.

So the one born in Bethlehem was, Christians believe, there in the beginning. Genesis and John both open with In the beginning. Christians read the two together: the Father creating, the Word speaking, and the Spirit hovering over the waters.

When you can link the Spirit to Genesis one and the Word to John one, with a verse for each, mark the video with a thumbs up, because you own this one. Otherwise keep it unthumbed and saved, and return once you have met the video on Christian belief in the Trinity, since each makes the other easier.

Next in the chapter is Christian belief that humans are made in the image of God. Hopefully that's next in your feed, but if not, search for ScholaFly R, S, oh one, oh six.

Every other video is on scholafly.com too, easy to search by video code or by keyword. Whatever you're revising, go there and have a look, or, watch the next video.