Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath

Timeline: Early World
Era: 4004 BC
Written by: Moses (possibly)
Audience: ancient Israelites

The first words ever written that pertain exclusively to the Christian faith reveal the eternal Word of God. In the Bible Miscellaneous Notes, there is a quote from Fr. Mike explaining that prophecy was hinted in the Old Testament—where, indeed, 99% of the prophets speak—and the meaning of those Old Testament revelations is unveiled in the New Testament.

The highlighted words in red in Genesis 1:1-3 each present a person in the Trinity:

• God created - God the Father; our Father who created us
• Spirit of God - Holy Spirit; the Scripture describes the Spirit to be moving over the face of the waters
• God said - God speaks; Jesus is the Word made flesh

There will be little disagreement about God the Father and the Holy Spirit, but there may be some when it comes to Jesus—especially from those who are not very familiar with His role in the Trinity. This is why Fr. Mike said in his The Bible in a Year podcast that the hints of the Trinity would have been easily missed by people in those times until Jesus was born.

In order to explain this, I will have to outline prophecies from the Old Testament and how Jesus is described in the New Testament:

OLD TESTAMENT

• Psalm 33:6

  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
  and all their host by the breath of his mouth.

• Isaiah 55:11

  so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth;
  it shall not return to me empty,
  but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
  and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

NEW TESTAMENT

• John 1:1-2

  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God

• John 1:14

  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

• Colossians 1:15-17

  He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

• Hebrews 1:1-2

  In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

• Luke 24:27

  And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Jesus is the Word of God (Logos) because He is the Father’s perfect, eternal expression of self-knowledge and love made visible in human history. To explain his role within the Holy Trinity, early Christians and the Catholic Church point to Old Testament foreshadowings of God’s active, creative Word and wisdom, which found concrete fulfillment in the New Testament.

In the context of the Trinity, Jesus as the Word signifies that He is eternally begotten by the intellect of the Father—not created, but sharing the exact same divine essence. Just as a human word is the outward expression of an unseen inner thought, the Son is the perfect, visible image of the invisible Father. They are distinct in their personal relationships but entirely one in their divine action, nature, and eternity.

In Jewish tradition and theology, God’s word is perceived not a distinct person or independent deity, but as God’s active, dynamic power in the world. To the Jewish mind, God’s word דָבַר (davar) and God’s wisdom חׇכְמָה (chokhmah) are extensions of God Himself—the means by which He creates, speaks, and interacts with humanity.

Now the Hebrew word אָמַר (a.mar), meaning to say, to answer, to say in one's heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend, is the word used in God said. I’ll point out now why I mentioned davar:

In Genesis 1, God speaks, using the verb amar, but the resulting divine decree that stands forever is referred to as His davar. Prophets would introduce messages with “The davar of the Lord came to me (Jeremiah 1:4),” meaning a concrete, objective revelation was handed to them. They use amar to report the dialogue: “Thus says (amar) the Lord.” The point I am making here is that while the Israelites did not know that the Word of God would actually be personified later, they have already had this understanding or tradition that God’s word is not merely a spoken sound but a tangible, enduring reality—something that goes forth and accomplishes its purpose (Isaiah 55:11). This distinction between amar and davar laid the groundwork for the later revelation that the Word of God is not just an abstract force but a living Person who would one day walk among us.

In Hebrew, דָבַר (davar) means both “word” and “thing” or “event.” A divine word is an objective, powerful reality that physically alters the world. In Genesis, God creates simply by speaking. “Let there be light” is the davar. Therefore there was light. The Word is God’s own breath and energy putting His will into motion. See how this connects to Psalm 33:6, Isaiah 55:11, John 1:1-2, John 1:14, Colossians 1:15-17.

In early Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible (Targums) used in synagogues, Jewish scribes used the term Memra (the Word) as a respectful way to describe God’s direct interactions with humans, preventing God from sounding too human-like. (Ironic, ain’t it?)

Now, onto wisdom.

• Proverbs 3:19

  The LORD by wisdom founded the earth;
  by understanding he established the heavens

From Psalm 33:6, it states that by the Word of the Lord the heavens were made. In Proverbs 3:19, it states that the Lord by Wisdom founded the earth. And in Genesis 1:1, it states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God created them by His Word and Wisdom.

Jewish tradition already personified God’s “Wisdom” as being present at creation as an agent - as God’s active power in motion. In Proverbs 8, God’s Wisdom is poetically depicted as a master craftsman at His side during creation. This personification served as a literary device to illustrate God’s mind at work, yet it finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who walked on earth as a master craftsman Himself, alongside His work as a rabbi. He is the ultimate expression of this living Wisdom.

In later Jewish writings (such as the deuterocanonical Book of Sirach), God’s eternal Wisdom comes down to earth and finds its physical home in the Torah (Law/Word of God). For a Jew, to live by God’s word was to live by His wisdom. Both emanate directly from the mouth of the Most High.

• Sirach 24:23 (GNT)

Wisdom is the Law, the Law which Moses commanded us to keep, the covenant of God Most High, the inheritance of the synagogues of Israel.

In the centuries leading up to the New Testament, Jewish philosophers and writers also began to use “Word” and “Wisdom” as direct parallel synonyms in Hebrew poetry:

• Wisdom of Solomon 9:1-2

  O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy, who have made all things by your word, and by your wisdom have formed man, to have dominion over the creatures you have made

As you read earlier in Sirach 24:23, Wisdom is identical to the Torah. The Torah is explicitly the spoken Word of God given to Moses. Therefore, if:

Wisdom = Torah
and
Torah = Word of God
then,
Wisdom = Word of God

They are synonymous. And if you think about it, that is just… logic. Logic? That word came from the word logos. It’s all coming back to full circle.

_{This is how I realized, as I’ve said in How I read the Bible, that the Word of God is divine reason and order.}

Later on, in Colossians 1:15-17, Paul writes that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation and in him all things hold together.

This theological background is what allowed early Christians to bridge the two terms. When John wrote the prologue to his Gospel, he combined all these histories into a single sentence. “In the beginning was the Word.” However, the description of this Word—existing before creation, being with God, acting as the light of humanity, and coming down to dwell on earth—is an exact mirror of how Wisdom is described in Proverbs 8 and Sirach 24.

Logos meant the rational principle or cosmic reason that rules and orders the universe. John used this precise cultural concept to explain Jesus’ natural, cosmic role in a way the broader world could immediately grasp.

John took the Jewish concept of God’s abstract, active word and claimed it became a literal human being. By identifying Jesus as the Word, the New Testament simultaneously claims he is the ultimate incarnation of God’s Wisdom. He is the divine mind (Wisdom) expressed as a creative act (Word), walking among humanity in human flesh. Jesus, who worked as a physical craftsman building earthly structures in Galilee, is the very same Divine Wisdom who acted as the master craftsman building the entire universe.

For traditional Judaism, God’s word is strictly a part of the one God. Christianity built upon this by arguing that because the Word is God’s own eternal essence, Jesus is both distinct from the Father (as the spoken expression) and yet fully God Himself (sharing the same divine essence).

However, I should take note, for you, that not every “word”, “message” or “wisdom” that is written in the Bible always mean a hidden code for Jesus. You have to understand the whole passage in order to discern these. God can simply be communicating information, giving a specific command, or granting practical intelligence. As I have said about amar, God simply spoke. But He spoke a Word, and by Word he created things.

Returning to the earlier point about the unique relationship between the Old and New Testaments: we would not have recognized that God’s Word is the second person of the Trinity from those first three lines of Genesis—or, frankly, from anywhere else in the Old Testament, given how Jewish tradition understood God’s words—had it not been for Jesus’ life on earth. He lived among us with such profound mystery, revealing His divine wisdom by explaining the very laws He had given them.

Finally, to close this point, I give you:

• Psalm 107:20

  He sent out his word and healed them;
  he rescued them from the grave.

Jesus was sent out from heaven into the physical world, healed the sick, rescued humanity from death by His resurrection, and declared on the cross, “It is finished”—returning to the Father only after His mission was perfectly complete (Isaiah 55:11).

• Genesis 1:3:

  And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

• John 8:12

  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

• John 12:46

  I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.