Mike Criswell
Genesis 1:3
In our last study we noted that God is first and foremost “Creator.” All that exists does so by the volition and direct command of God.
In the beginning, before the material universe existed, there was God! God is the great “Mind” from which ALL else emanates. Philosophically speaking there can be only two categories of “reality.” There is “mind” and there is “matter.” Before “matter” there was God (mind). HE . . . (we use the masculine pronoun in an accommodative sense because deity cannot be rigidly gendered as deity falls outside the scope of human sexuality).
God, is the first “Cause” and the “Unmoved Mover” (Aristotle, Aquinas et al). It is of little wonder that when Moses questioned “who” God was, YHVH (Jehovah) said “I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). God is the “Who” behind all existential reality.
Not surprisingly, the very Hebrew “name” of God (YHVH, Jehovah) drives from the Hebrew verb that carries the notion of “being” (To Be, To Exist). Thus, when discussing “God” we must first begin with the premise that “He” is and always has been! The beauty of this, however, is that we can and must “seek” Him and find Him. But it takes diligence. I’m not there yet, myself. Most of the time I feel like I’ve only touched the hem of His garment. The beauty, however, is God will never run away from us. He’ll wait with incredible patience for us to reach out.
God is a “Creator.” He is “THE” Creator. The moment we seek to give praise to any other, we fall into the trap of idolatry. In the Hebrew language there is an interesting and intriguing phenomenon. In Hebrew, the word for “thing” (as in things that exist) is the exact same root word for “speak.” The Hebrew word is “dabar." The implication of “speak” and “thing” coming from the same Hebrew word is astounding. Let me explain what I mean. I have already noted that God is The Creator. First and foremost, He brings things into existence. But how does he do this? Well, God “speaks” all things into existence! Amazing, isn’t it? “Creatio ex nihilo” is the phrase in Latin. “Creation out of nothing!” Such a concept boggles the mind.
Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that you can reach out and physically touch came from “something.” But God, the ultimate Mind, simply speaks and His “words” make “things” appear. Being people of God, the Hebrew people knew the power of God’s word.
Obviously, humans do not have the power to simply speak and make things appear. But God is not constrained by human standards. When God speaks, it happens. Instantaneously! When God said, let there be light, there WAS light. Boom! Likewise, with most of creation.
With living creatures, however, God used the dirt he had previously made. Yet man was special for he brought all other “creatures” to Adam to see what he would name them. Why God did this was likely to show the incompatibility of an animal being a “suitable” helper for Adam. Adam is obviously higher on the creative scale than other creatures. God seems to give a bit more “hands on” attention to his crowning creation. But the point is that God’s Word is Power. It is not only the “most” powerful thing, it IS power! Through God’s “Word” (The Divine Logos – Preincarnate Christ) ALL things came into existence.
* Interestingly, some see the phrase “Abra Kadabra” (I speak and thereby create) as deriving from “Bara – to create” and “Dabar – thing/word,” as we discussed above.
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