Creation Without a Body

The scriptures teach us that God created the earth.  Many verses that speak about the creation, such as the very first verse in the Bible—"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"—do not specify whether or not it is referring to God the Father or God the Son.  But there are other verses which do specifically state that Christ is the Creator.  For example, at the beginning of the book of John we read of the Word who was with God, clearly referring to Christ who was with the Father.  John then testified, "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3).  Paul told the Ephesians that God the Father "created all things by Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9).  We similarly read in the book of Moses, "And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten" (Moses 1:33).  God the Father was of course in charge, but He called on the Savior to actually create the earth.  In a verse clearly speaking of the Savior, Paul wrote, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible" (Colossians 1:16).  In the Book of Mormon, Moroni testified, "I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are" (Mormon 9:11).  We know from other passages such as 1 Nephi 19:10 that this "God of Abraham" is specifically referring to Christ.  And in even more direct terms, Christ Himself testified to the Nephites when He came down among them, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are" (3 Nephi 9:15).  In our dispensation the Savior was just as clear, telling the Prophet Joseph, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth, a light which cannot be hid in darkness" (D&C 14:9). 

As I think about this principle that Christ created the earth, there's naturally a question that arises.  How did He create the earth without a body?  We know that before He came to earth He did not have a body.  We learn this, for example, from His encounter with the brother of Jared before the meridian of time.  He told the brother of Jared, "Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image.  Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh" (Ether 3:15-16).  There He emphasized both that He had only a "body of spirit" and that He had indeed created man.  So how did He create the earth and man, physical things, without even having a physical body Himself?  He couldn’t put things together with His hands like we would normally think of as part of the creation process.  Perhaps part of the answer is found in Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:3).  Christ created the world through faith; I’m sure that I don’t fully understand what that means, but in some way Christ was able to use His perfect faith and the power of His words to bring about creation.  I think this is what Mormon taught us when He spoke of how the elements obey God: “For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.  Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake.  And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley. Yea, by the power of his voice doth the whole earth shake” (Helaman 12:8-11).  The elements obey His voice now, and surely that was how He originally created the earth; He had enough faith and power such that the creation was a process of planning and commanding the elements.  And the lesson that Mormon wants us to learn from this is that just as the elements obey Him perfectly, so should we.