General Discussion
Before the beginning of creation, there was God. It's hard for our finite human minds to comprehend, but God has always existed and always will. Some time (we don't know how long) before God created the universe, He created the angels. Job 38:7 says they were there at creation. "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
God (Elohim in Hebrew) consists of three distinct eternal Persons, or centers of consciousness. In the first three verses in the Bible, we see the plurality of God with the three Persons or manifestations of God: God the Father, God the Son (also known as the Word), and God the Holy Spirit. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3). God, the Father, is mentioned in the first verse. God, the Spirit, is mentioned in the second verse, and God, the Son, is mentioned in the third verse.
Although not fully revealed in Genesis 1:3, when God said, "Let there be light," it is as "the Word," the second Person of the Trinity. The Word uttered these four words, and there was light. He then divided the light from the darkness, and the first day of creation began. In John 1, we see the progressive revelation of God's word regarding the Creator. We know from John 1:1-5 and verses 14-17 that the "Word" (Λόγοςis or Logos in Greek) is the second Person of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. And the Word was made 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. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:1-5,14,17-KJV).
John 1:1-3 is not the only scripture that speaks of the Word's work at creation. The sub-heading of Proverbs 8 is called "The Blessing of Wisdom." Proverbs 8:22-30 tells of the Lord Jesus' existence before (and during) the Creation, which is confirmed in Micah 5:2. "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was" (Psalm 8:22-23 - KJV). The LORD (Yahweh) is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, the Word, and the "me" (and "I") is "wisdom." Proverbs 8:22-26 speaks of the time before creation, and verses 27-31 speak of the LORD's work at creation. These verses speak of wisdom as if it were a companion or witness of the LORD; however, it is Jesus Himself who is the embodiment of wisdom. "For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from Yahweh" (Proverbs 8:35). It is not merely wisdom that finds eternal life, but wisdom in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and savior that brings eternal life.
Some scholars believe the phrase, "in the beginning," of John 1:1 matches "the beginning" of Proverbs 8:22-23 and refers to pre-creation, and John 1:2-3 matches Proverbs 8:27-31 (and Genesis 1:1-3) and refers to creation. John 17:5 is another scripture that refers to the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Word, before creation. "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
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