Creation according to the Bible

According to Christian belief, God created the universe and everything in it in just six days. The stories of how God created the universe are described in the Christians’ holy book, the Bible. The first is found at the beginning of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” “The beginning” here is the beginning of everything! There is no time before time is created, so there is no “before creation.” God did not create the world out of something that already existed.

We can call this belief about creation ex nihilo, which is Latin for “out of nothing.” This passage also shows that the Spirit of God - who Christians call the Holy Spirit - played a role in creation. Remember this for later on! This account then goes on to describe the six days of creation. On the first day, God creates light. God separates the light from the dark and names the light “day” and the dark “night.” On the second day, God creates the sky.

On the third day, God creates the land and seas, as well as all the plants. On the fourth day, God creates the Sun, Moon and stars. On the fifth day, He creates aquatic animals and flying animals. On the sixth day, God creates animals that live on the land and finally humans. On the seventh day ---- Wait, the seventh day?

I thought there were only six days! You see, the seventh day is a bit special. On the seventh day, God is finished with his work of creation. So God rests. This makes the seventh day a special, holy day - the Sabbath.

That is the story of creation according to the book of Genesis. In the second part of the Bible, called the New Testament, a writer named John gives another account of creation. John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

This sounds familiar! God made everything in the world. All things out of nothing… ex nihilo! But wait… what is the Word? And how can it be with God… but also be God?

That’s a good question. Experts have discussed this for many years, and most now agree that “the Word” likely refers to the Son of God, who Christians know as Jesus. So John’s account shows that God the Son was involved in creation. Remember that the Book of Genesis talked about “God” creating things? There, “God” referred to God the Father.

And it talked about the Holy Spirit playing a role, too. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit make up what Christians call the Holy Trinity. All parts of the Trinity were involved in creation. This means that the Holy Trinity has existed since the very beginning! The key point in both these stories is that God is the creator of all things.

But why did God create the world? Well Maria, the Bible teaches that God didn’t need to create the world. God is not lacking anything, so He does not need anything either. Instead, He wanted to create the world to share His love and His goodness with his creations.