Through him all things were made

Most religions proclaim God as the Creator. Christians, in particular, believe that God the Father created everything.

However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares, ‘Creation is the common work of the Holy Trinity.’ The Church’s ‘Rule of Faith’ affirms, "There exists but one God... He is the Father, God, the Creator, the author, the giver of order. He made all things by Himself, that is, by His Word and by His Wisdom."

In the book of Genesis, during the account of creation, God (the Father) speaks the Word (the Son) while the Spirit (the Holy Spirit) is hovering over the waters.

God's language shifts from the impersonal command, “Let there be light,” to the more intimate expression, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Similarly, regarding the Tower of Babel, God says, “Let us go down and there confuse their language.” Again, in the book of Isaiah, God’s voice asks, “Who will go for us?”

While some consider this plurality as a ‘majestic plural,’ Catholics interpret this plural sense as a direct reference to the Holy Trinity.

St. John speaks of Jesus, the Word, writing: “He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him, nothing came to be.” From the very start, creation is an act of divine speech. God could have created the world with a gesture, a nod, or a motion.

But instead, Scripture tells us, God spoke. “Let there be light,” and there was light. The phrase ‘God said’ appears ten times in the first chapter of Genesis, emphasizing that creation evolves through the power of His Word.

Jesus, the Son, is the Wisdom and Thought of God, also known as the Logos. While the Father is the source of all things, it is through His Word, the Logos, which proceeded from the Father’s mouth, that the universe came into being. As the Psalmist writes, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth.”

God’s ‘speaking’ was equivalent to God’s ‘decreeing’ or God’s ‘willing’. In other words, the Word of God and the will of God are synonymous here.

This concept of the Logos was not unique to Hebrew thought. In the fifth century BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus spoke of the ‘logos’ as the rational principle that governs the universe, the foundation of knowledge and order.

In this sense, both Greek philosophy and Hebrew Scripture recognized the universe as being called into existence by a word.

Later, St. Paul affirmed this truth: “All things were created through him and for him.” Jesus was the agent by whom all things came into existence. He was not merely present at creation; creation happened through him.

This affirms the pre-existence of Jesus and his intimate relationship with the Father. The phrase "for him" reveals that creation has a purpose centered in and ultimately directed towards Jesus Christ.

Each time I whisper, “Through him, with him, and in him,” my soul recalls the mystery: through him, all things came to be. I, too, was shaped by his hands — made through him, made for him.