The Bible attributes creative power to both the Father and the Son. That the Son of God played a part in the creation is clear from Colossians 1:13-17: his dear Son . . . by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. The invisible things created include the angels. The visible things created are the sky, the earth, and life on earth. But Isaiah 42:5 attributes creative power to the Father, by saying of the One who holds Christ's hand: Thus says God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it. So what are the roles of the Father and the Son in creation?
That the Father is the original source of creation seems to be implied in 1 Corinthians 8:6: one God, the Father, of whom are all things. But that He worked through His Son in creation is implied later in the same verse: one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. Although it is not possible to be precise, it may be that this Scripture indicates that to God the Father, one should attribute the original plan of creation, the laws of physics and the raw materials created in the Big Bang, and their later assembly. But to the Son we could attribute the preparation of the earth, and the creation of life upon it. Such a division of labour is suggested by Proverbs 8:29,30 where the Son says: When He (God the Father) marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master workman. (NASB) So Christ’s work in preparing the earth was under the command of His Father.
Speaking of Christ as the ‘Word’ and His part in the creation John 1:1-3,10 says: In the beginning was the Word . . . All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made . . . He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Perhaps one reason Jesus is called the ‘Word of God’ is that He fulfils the words that God the Father speaks. I will examine the creation chapter according to this logic. Wherever God speaks before a creation, I take this as an instruction from the Father to His Son to work.
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. As we do not read of God speaking before this act, we do not know the relative roles of the Father and Son. But I believe that God the Father created the universe by Himself. This event is far greater than any of the other events during the ‘six days’. I believe that God the Father also made the solar system.
Let us look at some of the following six days where God the Father speaks.
Genesis 1:9: And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. This may be God the Father, telling God the Son, to separate the oceans from the land. That the Son did this is suggested by Hebrews 1:10 where, speaking to Christ, God the Father said: Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth. The Son of God did this, and then the Earth and the Seas were named.
Men today can drain swamps, but they cannot approach the power of the Son of God who completely separated the sea from the land. The mechanism may have been by the adjustment of convection currents in the earth's mantle.
On the same day we also read of life appearing: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind. (Genesis 1:11) Perhaps this is God the Father's instruction to the Son to create vegetation. That the Son of God had the power to create life is evident from Christ's own words: For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26) In this context Jesus is speaking about the physical life of our eternal bodies. This is perhaps shown more clearly in Philippians 3:20,21: the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body. (NKJV)
If Jesus will give eternal life to our natural bodies, then how much more could He have given natural life to the plants on the third day of creation. If men today can manipulate genes, then how much more could the Son of God have created life from inanimate matter.
When it comes to the creation of man on the sixth ‘day’, God the Father does not say, ‘Let there be’, but rather, ‘Let us make’. This implies the joint action of the Father and the Son. The Son perhaps created the natural body of man, as Paul writes of: one Lord Jesus Christ . . . and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:6) The Father perhaps created the spirit of man as He is called: the Father of spirits. (Hebrews 12:9) Thus we can understand Genesis 1:26,27 where: God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Man's body was not derived from the substance of God, nor did it appear spontaneously out of nothing. Rather, it was derived from the substance of the earth. So we have nothing to be proud of. The bible does not say that man was made from an ape, but rather that man was made from dust: And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7) This creation gives a certain dignity to man who has been given dominion over the animals. The meaning of the text would be weakened too considerably if one were to interpret man as being made from dust indirectly, either from the ape or from food.
Woman was not created from dust, but from the man according to Genesis 2:20-23: But for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. The story in Genesis seems so beautiful because it underlines deep spiritual truths about God and man, which truths are written into the heart.
The Scriptures teach that the world cannot just continue of itself. It needs God's continual intervention to keep it in order: the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store. (2 Peter 3:7) This same word that keeps is the word of creation by which: word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth (2 Peter 3:5).
The Son of God has a role in this as we read of Him: upholding all things by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3) Perhaps the Son upholds all things upon earth, rather than the universe. Our galaxy contains over a hundred billion stars, and the universe contains a hundred billion galaxies. I do not think that the Son would have the power to uphold all these, but that for this the power of the Father is needed. The maintenance of the laws of physics is also, I believe, by the power of the Father.