The Father and Son in Creation

One of the natural questions we might ask about the Creation is this: what roles did the Father and the Son play? The Come, Follow Me manual quotes Elder Christofferson who said, “Whatever the details of the creation process, we know that it was not accidental but that it was directed by God the Father and implemented by Jesus Christ.” In the account recorded in Moses we read this: “I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest” (Moses 2:1). Both of these suggest that God the Father was in charge of the creation, but it was through His Son that it took place. As we continue in the account in this chapter, we see that God spoke and various parts of the creation took place. For example, “And I, God, said: Let there be light; and there was light” and “And again, I, God, said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and it was so, even as I spake” (v3,6). Rather than supposing that the Father spoke and it simply happened with no effort from anyone, I believe these suggest that He spoke and His Son implemented His directions. In other words, the Father spoke the words and The Word (Jesus Christ) worked to make them come to pass.

                Many scriptures highlight Jesus as the Creator, and I believe that is because He was, as Elder Christofferson said, the one who implemented the plan of creation. For example, the angel told King Benjamin, “And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning” (Mosiah 3:8). Samuel the Lamanite similarly taught, “And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning” (Helaman 14:12). When the resurrected Savior came to the Nephites, He described Himself this way: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning” (3 Nephi 9:15). In our dispensation He also said this: “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” (Doctrine and Covenants 14:9). The Living Christ document sums it up this way: “Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made’ (John 1:3).”   

                These verses seem to make it clear that the Savior did the main work of Creation under the direction of His Father. What about the creation of man and woman? In the account in Moses after all of the other physical creation has taken place we read this: “And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so” (Moses 2:26). I think this suggests a slightly different approach to this final act of creation: they did it together. Other scriptures do suggest that both were involved. For example, in the revelation recorded with the organization of the church we read this: “By these things we know that there is a God in heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things which are in them; And that he created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness, created he them…. Wherefore, the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son, as it is written in those scriptures which have been given of him” (Doctrine and Covenants 20:17-21). This states that it was the Father who created man and woman. But when the Savior revealed Himself to the Brother of Jared He said this after declaring Himself to be Jesus Christ: “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 3:16). This clearly states that it was the Son who created man. I believe it was simply both: for the greatest of all creations, the Father and the Son worked together to form man and woman.