In the Christian faith, we find in God the eternal creator of the universe and the personal origin of man. Creation and creatures are therefore conceived as finite, correlative to the God revealed as infinite, personal and good.

1 The teaching of the book of Genesis

The book of Genesis teaches us that everything that exists was created by God.

1.1 Human existence and the origin of the universe

Our human existence in the universe is a fact, given to us without an interpretation. In our awareness of this fact, we seek a meaning for our own existence and an origin for the universe.

In the Christian faith, we look for the answers to these questions in the affirmations of God’s revelation, primarily in the biblical text. The book of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament and therefore of the Protestant Bible, already provides with an account of the origins or beginnings of the many elements that structure reality.

1.2 The correlative notions of creation and creator

In the first chapter of Genesis, we are immediately confronted with a radical statement:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 1

We take the expression “the heavens and the earth” to mean the whole of what we call “the universe”. According to the book of Genesis, nothing that exists is the fruit of chance, but “all things” come from an act of creation.

The text immediately separates God, whom it presupposes, from the universe, which he created. The notion of creation is therefore correlative to that of Creator.

1.3 Conceiving God by analogy from our experience

In the finite conditions of our existence, it is in fact on the basis of our experience that we can conceive of God, by analogy, and first of all as Creator. So knowing God as creator and knowing the universe as creation are inseparable, even if we can characterise God in himself (which is the object of theology proper).

So the first thing we read about the Christian divinity in Scripture is that it brought into being the universe we know, and everything in it, including the cosmos, the earth, plants, animals and man.

1.4 The New Testament perspective

This metaphysical motif of the creation of the universe and of man is a structuring factor for all theological discourse, and is constantly repeated in the Scriptures. In particular, the New Testament attributes creation to the Son of God:

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, verses 1 to 3

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.

Epistle to the Hebrews, Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2

Now, creation includes the “visible” world, that of the universe we know, and the “invisible” world, that of the angelic creatures, whose existence we admit by faith:

For by Him [the Son] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Epistle of Paul to the Colossians, Chapter 1, verse 16

2 The infinity of God the Creator

Creation points to a revelation of God as a being infinite in all its dimensions.

When we say that God is infinite, we mean that he is not limited by any dimension pertaining to visible things or things of the universe, that is space, time, substance or causality. But these are the dimensions of creation, which is why creatures are considered to be finite. Scripture says this, for example, in the Gospel according to John, when it speaks of the “spirituality” of God:

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 4, verse 24

From a theological point of view, the distinction between creator and creature/creation can therefore be conceived more philosophically or mathematically as an ontological distinction (relating to being) between the infinite and the finite.

2.1 God is eternal

In particular, we learn from Scripture that God is eternal, that is to say that he is not limited by time, nor does he have a beginning or an end. In Psalm 90, for example, we read:

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

Psalm 90, verses 1-2

But when we say that God is “eternal”, we do not mean that he exists “from eternity” and “forever” in a conception of time that would be that of the created universe. We mean that the dimensions of his being transcend, i.e. go beyond, the very temporal dimension of everything that is finite, since the “time” we know is an aspect of creation.

2.2 God is omnipresent

We also learn that God is omnipresent, not being limited by the space of the things he has created, and being present in all these things and in every part of space. In Psalm 139, for example, we read:

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

Psalm 139, verses 7 to 12

If space is a dimension of the created universe, as is time, God’s omnipresence does not only mean that the dimensions of his being exceed the spatial dimensions of creation, but that they also transcend them. Moreover, the apostle Paul, addressing the Athenians, reverses the comparison by founding the being of all things in God himself, thus regarding him as their ultimate environment:

And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

Acts 17, verses 26 to 28

2.3 God is omniscient

As far as knowledge is concerned, Scripture declares God to be “omniscient”, i.e. to know all things, even before they happen, as we read in the epistle to the Hebrews, for example:

There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Epistle to the Hebrews, Chapter 4, verse 13

or Psalm 139:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

Psalm 139, verses 1 to 5

We are speaking here only of the created universe, and reserving the question of God’s knowledge of himself for a separate article on the Trinity. God’s omniscience is understood in particular through God’s foreknowledge, by which all the free acts of rational creatures are known in advance to God. And as in the case of space and time, the divine will transcends these free acts, so that they do not escape his eternal counsel either, that is to say, the divine reason which pre-ordains all things in order to bring them into being, as we read, for example, in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians:

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 11 and 12

2.4 God is omnipotent

Scripture amply recognises that nothing stands in the way of the divine will, in other words that God is “omnipotent”, that is capable of all things, which exist and happen as he has decided. This should not, however, be understood as an ability to do “anything”, for example something illogical or irrational, or contrary to his own nature: God is capable of everything that is in accordance with his nature and will. In the book of Genesis, for example, we read:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.”

Genesis, Chapter 17, verse 1

and in Paul’s second epistle to Timothy:

If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

2nd epistle of Paul to Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 13

In particular, this divine will, which nothing resists, and which is sometimes described as “sovereign” in theology, is not opposed to the freedom of rational creatures such as men and angels. This point always raises legitimate questions about the relationship between the infinite freedom of the creator and the finite freedom of the creature, and we will deal with it more fully in the question of predestination.

3 The personal nature of God the creator

Creation points to a revelation of God as a personal being who is both one and many.

The first account of the creation of man and woman is given in Chapter 1 of the book of Genesis :

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 26 and 27

3.1 God is a personal being

If man is created in the image of God, then his personality must reflect something of God. When we say that man is a person (from the Latin “persona”, or from the Greek “prosôpon”, with shades of meaning), in contrast to other animals, we mean that he is a rational animal, endowed with self-awareness, thought, intention, volition… and that his choices are based on a reflexivity that makes him a responsible being, capable of rising above his instincts. However, we must beware that if man is the image of God, this does not mean that God is the image of man; but for man to reflect God in his personal character, there must be a dimension of personality in God.

We see Scripture adopting this point of view by describing the actions of the Creator using anthropomorphisms, which by analogy refer to those of a human person. In this way, Scripture attributes directly to God what comes under the heading of personality, in all the dimensions mentioned here in relation to man. In the book of Genesis, for example, we read in the episode of the Flood :

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Genesis, Chapter 6, verses 5 and 6

We think that this language should be read as anthropomorphic, meaning that there is a form of personality in God, which is the origin of the personal dimension of man, and which can therefore be spoken of analogically.

3.2 God is one and many

While the text quoted here attributes a single intentionality to God by conjugating the verbs of action in the singular, the word “God” (here “Elohim”) is a plural, and the verb “Let us” and the adjectives “our” are granted to this plural. Moreover, we see that if man is created in the singular, in the image of God, it is also “male and female” that he is created (in the singular). So we see that God is presented both as a single being, and as comprising within himself a multiplicity (see The One and the Many: a theistic approach to the problem of Being): and this “polarity” between the One and the Many in God is reflected in the creation of man (one), created both male and female (many).

This internal multiplicity of the divinity is manifested in several Old Testament texts, and finds a radically new interpretation in the New Testament, through the internal distinction of the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (which we will discuss in detail in the article on the Trinity). This understanding of divine unity and multiplicity is the occasion for a (re)interpretation of the creation work as the work of God in three persons, which is already present in the text of Genesis.

For example, when the apostle John situates Christ in relation to God and creation in his Gospel, we read in Chapter 1:

In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

Gospel according to John, Chapter 1, verses 1 to 3

Here we freely choose to amend the NKJV translation by retaining the word “Logos” from the original, otherwise translated as “Word” (which is consistent with the idea that God created the world through “his word”), but it is especially important to note that he is identified with Jesus Christ in 1:14: “And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. This means that the Son of God is identified as the agent of the creation of all things.

4 The goodness of God the Creator

Creation points to a revelation of God as a good, just and holy being.

4.1 God is good

The account of the creation of the world in the book of Genesis reveals God’s goodness. Indeed, while the expression “it was good” is repeated several times in Chapter 1, we finally read in verse 31:

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 31

So creation itself expresses a goodness that emanates from God, and to which his work itself is measured and found to conform. As with time, space or causality, we must not understand that ‘good’ or ‘goodness’ exists independently of God, but that God, his being, his nature, his will, is itself the standard of what is good (or goodness). If, as creatures, we have a certain intuition, a certain innate idea of goodness, we may therefore interpret it as having been imprinted in us in our creation in the image of God.

4.2 God is holy

God’s goodness is matched by other qualities or attributes which underpin the ethical, and in particular the moral, dimension of human existence, and which are distinct specifications of it. First of all, we find throughout Scripture that God is holy, that is separated from creation, and therefore pure, that is without mixture, without compromise with the evil that has afflicted creation. In the book of Isaiah, for example, we read:

And one [seraphim] cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

Isaiah, Chapter 6, verse 3

God’s holiness is communicated in principle to his creatures in their original state; in the alienated state of humanity, however, it concerns a process, called sanctification, by which God separates men from evil, in principle in the work of salvation associated with the Holy Spirit, and which we will deal with in its place.

4.3 God is just

We then find in Scripture that God is just or righteous, i.e. that he acts fairly and justly towards rational creatures, angels and men. Human justice is thus founded on this aspect of divinity, which for us is defined only in relation to creation. But here again, justice corresponds to a dimension of the divine nature, which founds its reign on creation, and in particular on the world of men, as we read in Psalm 97, for example:

Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

Psalm 97, verse 2

God’s justice is an essential aspect of his goodness, and one that is fundamentally connected to the work of redemption wrought by Christ, and to the new life in which the Christian participates; we will talk about this in the section on substitutionary atonement and justification. God’s justice is also the basis of fear and hope in a future judgement, according to which men will have to give an account of their deeds in view of their eternal destiny.

4.4 God is love

While God’s holiness and justice are best understood in relation to his creatures, God’s love, in which his goodness culminates, is well understood first and foremost in relation to God himself. Love or charity (in Greek “agapê”) is so characteristic of God that the apostle John wrote in his first epistle:

He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1st Epistle of John, Chapter 4, verse 8

This does not mean that our conception of love should be divinised, or that we should make a vague idea of “love” what counts above all else, but that in God we find the source of a love that fully characterises him, and that is also manifested towards his creatures, and in particular in the work of redemption that he has accomplished in Jesus Christ. Such a love is rooted in the being of God himself, who in his subsistence in three persons, is a fundamentally relational being, which we will have the opportunity to clarify again when we deal with the Trinity.