Epigraph

The Creator of the heavens and earth! How could He have children when He has no spouse, when He created all things, and has full knowledge of all things? This is God, your Lord, there is no God but Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him; He is in charge of everything. Eyes cannot reach Him, But, He reaches the eyes. He is the All Subtle, the All Aware. (Al Quran 6:101-103)

…

Zia H Shah MD

With the discovery of the fine tuning of our universe to make it biophylic for our lives has put God the Creator, fairly and squarely in scientific and philosophical discussions. The biophylic universe and God the Creator is discussed in so many other articles.

This post is about who is the Creator? According to the Quran, as noted in the verses quoted above, only the Creator of everything in the universe is worthy of worship. Could Jesus be the Creator? How could he be the Creator, if he is the literal son of God the Father?

I have put the above two videos by Robert Lawrence Kuhn as a suitable prelude to my article. He also has thousand of videos on the topics of cosmology, religion & science, philosophy, atheism and metaphysics. I am writing this article in hope of getting the trajectory of all these videos correct, by precisely understanding the Creator of the Abrahamic faiths.

The Gospel of John has an opening that is used by the devout Christians to conceptualize Jesus as the Creator in some sort of Triune way, even though Jesus is not only fully God but also fully man and the man was not born until 1-6 AD.

Without, going into confusing debates about Trinity, let use just examine what the Bible says about God the Creator. Let us start off with the first 5 verses of the opening chapter of Genesis, which was written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, may peace be on him:

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. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

No body knew Jesus when the Old Testament was revealed as he was not even born yet.

Old Testament makes three fourth of the Christian Bible by volume and here is a video of a leading Christian apologist confessing that there is no mention of Trinity in the Old Testament:

So, if there is no Trinity in the Old Testament and Jesus is not born yet, when Jews talk about God as the Creator, they clearly mean God the Father, of the later Trinitarian Christian tradition.

Now, let us move to the Trinitarian Christian understanding of the Bible. There is no clear answer as to who is the Creator? Let us start with the following table:

Who is the Creator of All Creation?

The reference of the Holy Ghost being the Creator in the above table is the most interesting one to explore at this stage. Let us read that in its context for a fuller understanding:

‘But now, Job, listen to my words;
    pay attention to everything I say.
 I am about to open my mouth;
    my words are on the tip of my tongue.
 My words come from an upright heart;
    my lips sincerely speak what I know.
 The Spirit of God has made me;
    the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
 Answer me then, if you can;
    stand up and argue your case before me.’ (Job 33:1-5)

Several references can be cited from the New Testament, wherein Jesus will acknowledge indirectly that he did not create and he is not the Creator, here is an example from the Gospel of Matthew:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’

‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ (Matthew 19:1-6)

In Mark chapter 10 Jesus gives the credit of creation of mankind to God the Father and does not claim it for himself:

Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them.

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’

‘What did Moses command you?’ he replied.

They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’

‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied. ‘But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ (Mark 10:1-9)

In Mark 13, Jesus talks about the end times, he takes credit of certain things, but does not take credit of creation:

‘When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.

‘If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time. (Mark 13:14-23)

Let us move to the Book of Acts:

On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

‘Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
 The kings of the earth rise up
    and the rulers band together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.’ (Acts 4:23-26)

In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your feet!’ At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:  ‘Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.’ (Acts 14:8-17)

In the above description Paul and Barnabas are talking to the Pagans and so obviously not talking about Triune God. Context is confirming that they are telling them about God the Creator as in Judaism, Islam and Unitarian Christianity. The next reference is about Paul talking to people of Athens. So, again he cannot be talking about Triune God:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: ‘People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything.’ (Acts 17:22-25)

Now, a few references from the Book of Revelation:

 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

 ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they were created
    and have their being.’ (Revelation 4:9-11)

Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, ‘There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.’ (Revelation 10:5-7)

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.’ (Revelation 14:6-7)

Even in some letters of St. Paul, for example in Ephesian 3, Jesus is not the Creator:

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. (Ephesian 3:7-9)

In the above letter there is separate mention of Christ and separate mention of God the Creator of all things. But in St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Jesus does become the Creator:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

In short, the Bible, at least the New Testament is not sure, who is the Creator. The issue is lost in the mystery of the Trinity.

I have written articles before, how God created from nothing: The Quran and Creation Ex Nihilo: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

It seems that while Jesus lived, he followed the Quranic injunction and worshiped God the Father or God the Creator: If Jesus was Divine, Who did he worship?

Lastly the Quranic verses quoted as epigraph lay out a very powerful argument against Jesus being literal son of the God the Father. It is asking a simple question where is the spouse for the Divine who can give birth to a Divine son? The philosophical details about this profound question are for another day.