Chapter II: The Efficient Cause of Creation
CHAPTER II: ON THE EFFICIENT CAUSE1 OF CREATION
The author of creation.
§ 8. The author of creation is the one and only God, as Scripture frequently testifies. Gen. 1:1: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” Job 9:8: “God stretched out His heavens.” Ps. 134:[3]: “Jehovah made heaven and earth.” Isa. 45:6–7: “I am the Lord, and there is not another. I form light and create darkness.” Jer. 10:11: “May the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish from the earth.” Mal. 2:10: “Has not one God created us?” Heb. 3:4: “He who created all things is God.”
Moreover, that one true God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for this reason the work of creation is attributed in Scripture to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Concerning the Father it is said, 1 Cor. 8:6: “One God, the Father, from whom are all things.” Heb. 1:2: “God has spoken to us in His Son through whom He also created the world.” Concerning the Son we read, John 1:3: “All things were made through Him.” Col. 1:16: “All things were created in Him.” Regarding the Holy Spirit, Job 26:13: “His Spirit made the heavens.” Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life.” Ps. 104:30: “Send forth Your Spirit, and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth.”
Creation belongs to the entire Holy Trinity.
§ 9. We claim that distinct mention is made of these three persons in the proper basis of this article, namely, in the first chapter of Genesis (in a manner of revelation appropriate to that time). There is no doubt with regard to the Father, the First Person. The person of the Son is understood in the word “said” according to the infallible explanation of John 1:1[, 3]: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made.” On the basis of Ps. 33:9 (which gave to some the occasion for claiming that only God’s command and order is meant with the word “said”) we do not accordingly deny that God made all things by commanding and ordering effectively. Nevertheless we must not exclude the hypostatic Word, that is, the Son of God, because in that word of commanding and ordering was the power of the Most High and the substantial Word. For the Father does not work without the Son (John 5:[19]). Thus in Prov. 8:22–30 the Wisdom of God demonstrates His eternity, and attributes to Himself the work of creation. Moreover, that Wisdom of God is the Son of God (1 Cor. 1:24; Matt. 11:19). Therefore, because Solomon attributes to Wisdom the same effects that Moses attributes to the Word of God, it follows that the “said” in Moses denotes the same thing that Solomon indicates through “wisdom.” The Chaldean paraphrase uses the same word in Genesis 1. Otherwise it calls the substantial Word maimerah, “O Jehovah, give,” the word “Jehovah” itself.
What Moses means with the word “said.”
§ 10. We must pause here a moment because of the magnitude of the subject. What that “said” is, through which God created all things, is explained in Col. 1:15–16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation”; that is, in Him all things were created. Thus Heb. 1:2–3: “He through whom the Father created the world is the splendor of His glory and the imprint of His substance.” Here we recommend a careful and accurate comparison of the Old and New Testaments. He who led the people out of Egypt, accompanied them through the wilderness, and gave them the Law says that He created heaven and earth in six days (Exod. 20[:11]). But now, He is the Son of God, for He is called “the Angel of the Lord” and in this way is distinguished from the Father (Exod. 3:2). Furthermore, it is clearly said of Christ that He was tempted in the wilderness by the Israelites (1 Cor. [10]:9). He who says, “To Me every knee shall bow” (Isa. 45:23), says in the same place that He created the earth and that He created man upon it and stretched out the heavens with His hands [Isa. 45:12]. The apostle applies this to Christ, Rom. 14:[10–11]: “We must all stand before the tribunal of Christ because it is written: ‘Every knee shall bow to Me.’” Therefore Christ made heaven and man.
He is not to be worshiped unless He made heaven and earth (Rev. 14:7). Yet “all the angels worship” Christ (Ps. 97:7; Heb. 1:6). Therefore He Himself made heaven and earth. Thus He says, Isa. 48:12–13: “I am the first and the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens.” But now, Christ says, Rev. [22:13]: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” Consequently, no one should deny that the word “said” in Genesis 1 denotes the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity.
Creation is attributed to the Holy Spirit.
§ 11. Concerning the Holy Spirit it is said in the same place that “He brooded upon the waters” (Gen. 1:2). The rabbinic scholars and their disciples take this to mean the wind, but that did not yet exist. Moreover, it says distinctly “the Spirit of Elohim” to indicate that He is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Wolfgang Capito is correct in writing on Genesis 1: “When ‘spirit’ is used instead of ‘wind,’ it means something violent. When the phrase ‘of the Lord’ is added, it declares the greatness of the thing to which it is added: for example, ‘the mountains of God,’ ‘the cedars of God.’ Therefore if a very violent and forceful wind were being signified, then it would not have been able to ‘brood upon.’ ”
From this we develop the third argument for our position: In this passage such things are attributed to the Spirit that do not befit wind. Basil (Hexaem., p. 10) writes that he heard from a Syrian that the word used here means the same thing as “to foster with life-giving heat, like a hen sitting on eggs.” Augustine writes correctly: “The Holy Spirit was not carrying Himself upon the waters like oil on water or water on ground, but with a sort of efficacious and creating force in the same way as the will of a craftsman is carried onto the wood or whatever else is subject to his craftsmanship.” Finally, we add the explanation, Ps. 33:6: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their host by the Spirit of His mouth.” Galatinus shows from the rabbinic scholars themselves that here the three persons of the Trinity are distinguished (De arc. cath. verit., bk. 2, ch. 4).
[Genesis 1:2:] “The Spirit brooded upon the waters.”
§ 12. We must not ignore the fact that that Mosaic text (“The Spirit of the Lord brooded upon the waters” [Gen. 1:2]) is explained with reference to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity with unanimous consensus by all interpreters of better reputation, both ancient and more recent. See Origen (Περὶ ἀρχ., bk. 1, ch. 3), Basil (Opera, vol. 1, p. 35, Hexaem., homily 2), Cyril (Contra Julian., bk. 1, col. 13, and bk. 2, col. 35), Augustine (Confess., bk. 13, ch. 4; De civ. Dei, bk. 8, ch. 11, and bk. 11, ch. 32; and Ad Simpl., bk. 2, q. 1), Ambrose (Hexaem., bk. 1, ch. 8), Luther (on Genesis 1),2 Münster, etc. Moreover, Burgensis notes that the more ancient rabbinic scholars clearly also explained this passage as a reference to the Spirit of God.
Bara Elohim.
§ 13. We must also observe that Moses says with a special form of speaking: “Bara Elohim.” No other firm and certain reason for the plural number used with reference to God can be given than the plurality of persons. Rabbi Hunna writes: “If these words had not been written, no one would have been permitted to speak this way.” However, there is no foundation for the opinion of Aben Ezra and others that this is a characteristic of holy language and that the plural is being used to refer to God for honor’s sake. This word Elohim in the plural is also used with a plural verb in 2 Sam. 7:[23]: “Because of the people of Israel, Elohim came to ransom the people for Himself.” It is also connected in the same way with a plural adjective in Josh. 24:19: “The Lord is Elohim kedoshim [‘holy Gods’].” But now, it is not customary in Scripture to attribute a plural adjective to one person. See more in our disputation on the Trinity [On the Three Elohim (1610 Loci Theologici), locus 4].
[Genesis 1:26:] “Let Us make man.”
§ 14. In connection with this, in Gen. 1:26, as God takes up His deliberation about creating man (we are speaking in the only way we can), He uses the plural number: “Let Us make man after Our image.” In the fact that He says “let Us make,” He is showing the one operation of the three persons. In the fact that He says “after Our image and likeness,” He is proclaiming the one equal substance of the three persons. Hence Socrates (bk. 2, ch. 25) reports that this decree was passed in the Council of Sirmium: “If anyone should say that the Father did not speak ‘Let Us make man’ to the Son but [only] to God Himself, let him be accursed.”
The order of acting in the work of creation.
§ 15. Therefore we conclude that creation is an undivided act of the one true God alone, namely, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Dionysius (De div. nom., ch. 2): “All causal things are common to the entire Godhead.” Thomas ([ST,] part 1, q. 45): “To create befits God according to His being, which is His essence that is common to the three persons.” We should not dispute too inquisitively about the distinction of persons in the work of creation, but let us be content with the simple truth that the eternal Father created all things through His Son in the Holy Spirit. The fathers gather this proposition from Rom. 11:36. However, Nazianzen is correct in adding that those short words “ ‘from,’ ‘through,’ and ‘in’ do not divide His nature but express the properties of the one, unconfused nature.” Observe also that in Col. 1:16 all things are said to have been created “in the Son.” Chrysostom (on Hebrews 1, homily 2): “It is not as a heretic foolishly suspects, that the Son is some instrument of the Father, nor is He said to have created through Him as though He Himself could not create. Rather, just as the Father is said to judge through the Son because He begot the judge, so also He is said to work through the Son because it is clear that He begot the workman.”
§ 16. Basil (Orat. de Spiritu s.) calls the Father “the initial cause” [προκαταρκτικήν];3 the Son, “the creative [δημιουργικήν] cause”; and the Holy Spirit, “the perfecting [τελειωτικήν] cause.” However, this must be taken skillfully, namely, as a reference to the distinction of persons and what results from it in external works as far as the order of doing them is concerned, but not as a reference to inequality of essence or of power in doing them. Danaeus (Phys. Christ., ch. 17) says it this way: “The Father creates by His will. The Word or Son creates by working and the actual producing. The Holy Spirit creates by putting in powers and nature and by injecting movement and life which is in each thing that it may exist and be preserved.” However, these ideas need a far greater explanation, lest they introduce some inequality of power. There is one will and one working of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the act of creation, just as there is one undivided essence of the three.
Creation is the work of God alone.
§ 17. Furthermore, creation is not only the act of one God and of the Godhead of three persons, but it also belongs to God alone. This is shown from the many declarations of Scripture cited in thesis 7 by Athanasius (Contra Arian., sermon 3, p. 180), Cyril (Thesaur., bk. 2 at the end of ch. 2, and in bk. 12, ch. 15; Contra Julian., bk. 2, col. 41), Augustine (De civ. Dei, bk. 12, ch. 24), and Damascenus (Orth. fid., bk. 2, ch. 3). In addition to these, there are the more important of the scholastic doctors: Thomas ([ST,] part 1, q. 45; and Sent., part 2, dist. q. 1, art. 3), and Alexander of Hales, Scotus, Capreolus, and Biel, on the same place. Mornaeus (De verit. relig., ch. 2), to demonstrate this pronouncement, shapes the following argument: “There is an infinite distance from nothing to something. Therefore, in order for something to exist from nonexistence, for something to be produced out of nothing, the infinite power belonging to God alone must be present.” This he takes from Thomas ([ST,] p. 1, q. 45, art. 5), which argument Biel nevertheless tries to resolve in Sent. 2, dist. 1, q. 4.
The angels are not creators.
§ 18. Therefore we detest those monstrous errors and insanities of the ancient heretics who divided the work of creation between God and the angels, or assigned to the three persons of the Deity an inequality of action, or in any other way undermined the integrity of this mystery. To this are related the “eons” of Valentinus, the “ejections” and “projections” [ἐκβολαὶ καὶ προβολαί] of Basilides, the two principles of the Manichaeans, etc. In regard to these see Irenaeus, Tertullian, Epiphanius, and Augustine. The Saturnians used to claim that the angels were the creators of man, according to Tertullian (De praescript., p. 112). The Simonians hailed them as the creators of the whole world, according to Irenaeus (bk. 1, ch. 20, and bk. 2, ch. 9). However, Damascenus (Orth. fid., bk. 2, ch. 3) is correct in calling all of them “the mouthpieces of the devil.”
1 Something by means of which something else happens and on which the effect of that happening depends; that which brings about an effect.
2 Cf. Lectures on Genesis (1535-45/1544-54), AE 1:9 (WA 42:8).
3 In other contexts, this term is translated as “external, impulsive cause.” Cf. below, p. 42 n. 1.