This is an age-old question, and to say it right from the start—the answer is difficult for us to comprehend and accept. Still, the Bible does give us numerous hints, leads towards and proofs for the correct understanding.
When someone were to ask where the Bible talks about the beginning of creation, many who know Scripture would turn to Genesis 1:1, where it says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This statement identifies God as the Creator, and “God” describes more than one Person—the Hebrew word “Elohim” is a plural word, followed here by a singular verb, revealing the fact that God is a Family, consisting of the Father and the Son. We read that God the Father created everything through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 8:6 states:
“… for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”
Hebrews 1:1-2 confirms:
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.”
In this last passage, the reference is to the physical creation, as it is also the case in Genesis 1:1. But in 1 Corinthians 8:6, quoted above, creation is expanded to the spiritual world, as God created “all things” through Jesus Christ. This aspect is also revealed in Colossians 1:15-16:
“He [the Son, cp. verse 13] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
The next verse is very revealing:
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
So, Christ existed before anything was created (“all things”). And Christ is described as “being the brightness of His [God the Father’s] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.”
The fact that Christ is upholding “all things”—the universe included—by His great power is confirmed in Isaiah 40:26:
“Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.”
As Christ was before all things, it follows that the Father was before all things as well. They created everything which is visible and invisible to the human eye. In addition, Philippians 2:5–7 explains that Christ was in the “form of God” and “equal with God” the Father, but that He took the “form of a bondservant,” and came “in the likeness of men.” We read in John 17:5 that Christ had glory before the world existed–showing that Christ existed as a glorious Being before the world was made. As Philippians 2:6 says, He existed as a divine Being—He was EQUAL with God and therefore God.
Some claim that Christ—the Son—is a created Being; that the Father created the Son, and then created everything else through the Son. But this is not what the Bible teaches. We read in Revelation 3:14 that Christ was “the Beginning of the creation of God.” A better rendition would be, “the Beginner.” Compare our Q&A https://www.eternalgod.org/q-a-1997/
We find this revelation about Christ, also known as Melchisedek, the king of righteousness and of peace, in Hebrews 7:3: “…without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like (better: “resembling,” compare RSV) the Son of God, remains a priest continually.” He is identified, not as a mortal man, but as one who lives (cp. verse 8).
We also read in Micah 5:2 about Christ:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Christ had no beginning; rather, He IS the “beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). God the Father had no beginning either. As we said earlier, this may be difficult for us to comprehend, as we are used to thinking in terms of a “beginning.” Things just don’t exist without a beginning, and this is very true when applying this to physical or even spiritual “things.” The existence of “things” demands the existence of someone who brought them into existence. In other words, creation demands a Creator.
The universe (the “heavens” in Genesis 1:1) must have had a beginning; somebody must have brought it into existence. The idea which has been propagated by the world’s leading ”scientist,” that the universe created itself is preposterous to us; still, even this concept requires the idea that the universe had a beginning when it “began” to create itself.
God, however, had no beginning. Whatever we might define as “beginning,” God existed “before” that.
We asked the question above where the Bible speaks about the beginning of creation and answered that most people would turn to Genesis 1:1. Actually, that is not the Scripture which reports the earliest time of God’s creation. Apart from the fact that it does not seem to refer to the spiritual realm, but just to the physical world (the heavens and the earth, having been created at approximately the same time, “in the beginning”), it still makes a reference to God’s existence at the beginning, whenever that was.
Another passage makes clear that whatever we might refer to as “the beginning,” God had already existed before then.
We read in John 1:1-3:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
The “Word”—“Logos” in the Greek—describes the Spokesman—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But He was also God—the Second Member in the God Family. “All things”—visible and invisible—were made through Him. And He—the Word—became flesh and dwelt among us (verse 14). He was “Immanuel”—God with us (compare Matthew 1:23).
He had no beginning. He existed already when creation began.
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible states the following:
“What he [John] saith of him [is] enough to prove beyond contradiction that he is God. He asserts… his existence in the beginning: In the beginning was the Word. This bespeaks his existence, not only before his incarnation, but before all time. The beginning of time, in which all creatures were produced and brought into being, found this eternal Word in being. The world was from the beginning, but the Word was in the beginning… the Word was God: a distinct person…”
In Genesis 1:1, we read that Elohim created heavens and earth in the beginning. But in John 1:1 we read that Elohim already existed “in the beginning”—before ANYTHING was created. We also read in Hebrews 11:3 how God created the physical world: “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Another translation has here: “God created everything out of nothing” (Luther Bible 1984).
We need to have faith to believe this, as we need to have faith that God exists who created all things (verse 6: “… he who comes to God must believe that He is.”). But we are not talking about blind faith, but faith which can be understood and proven. Romans 1:19-20 explains:
“… what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse…”
Only foolish atheists deny the existence of God and believe instead in the fairy tale of evolution—the most juvenile and stupid “explanation” of the existence of the physical world. Psalm 14:1 says: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Many times, an “atheist” knows, deep down inside, that his belief is foolish, but he wants to avoid accepting any responsibility for his lifestyle. Psalm 10:4 explains: “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.” Psalm 53:1 adds to this: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good.”
It is the Will of God to give us eternal life, through Jesus Christ. John 3:15 declares: “…whoever believes in Him [Jesus] should not perish but have eternal life.” Christ confirmed in John 6:58: “This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” Also in John 8:51: “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” In Romans 6:22-23, we are given the following assurance:
“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
This is something our human mind may grasp… to an extent. Living forever—the dream of mankind! But not living forever in misery, pain and heartache, but in peace, joy and abundance. Not in the flesh, but as immortal Spirit Beings together with the Father and the Son where there is joy forever more. As we read in Revelation 21:4: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
And Revelation 22:5 adds: “And they shall reign forever and ever.”
That we can live and reign forever and ever, without end, as God will live forever and ever, is something the human mind can appreciate. We can agree with what we read in Revelation 10:6 about God, that He “lives forever and ever.” Jesus said about Himself: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18). And we can believe that this will apply to us as well, if we make it into His Kingdom.
This is perhaps so as God has revealed this fact to mankind, and by faith we embrace this Truth. We read in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He has put eternity in their hearts…” They can and do know in their hearts that everlasting life is something which God can, may and even wants to grant them.
When it comes to appreciating the fact that God has always existed “forever,” from all eternity, before there was any time or anything created, the human mind is somewhat at a loss. But why is that the case?
Maybe we cannot quite comprehend that eternity applies not only to the future, but also to the past. As we read in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
We may think that God has revealed to us that He and we will live forever, but not that God has lived forever. But the Truth is that God has revealed this to us as well.
We read in Revelation 21:6 about God the Father: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End…” In Isaiah 48:12, we read: “Listen to Me, O Jacob, And Israel, My called: I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last.”
If He is the End and the Last, why then can we not comprehend that He is also the First and the Beginning? Nothing—no god or idol outside the God Family will come after Him; and nothing—no other god or idol was before Him. He existed before anything and everything else. In passing, the above-quoted Scriptures in the book of Isaiah have been rightly understood to refer to idols which cannot help; they do not say that there is only one God Being or that God—the God Family—is not reproducing Himself through man. Compare the discussion of Isaiah 45:5 in one of our Q&As. https://www.eternalgod.org/q-a-9801/ . See also our Q&A on the God Family https://www.eternalgod.org/q-a-9824/
God had no beginning. As He will live forever and ever, so He HAS lived forever and ever. The Bible makes this fact very clear.
We read in Psalm 90:2:
“Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”
Also note Psalm 93:2: “Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” This applies to the Father and the Son (compare again Micah 5:2).
God has and will have everlasting life (as we will have), but He also had everlasting life in the past. This is also confirmed in Habakkuk 1:12: “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?” The word for “everlasting” in this passage means, “what is before (in time or place).”
God is “from everlasting,” from eternity, without beginning of days or end of life. Hebrews 7:3, describing Jesus Christ or Melchizedek, is rendered in the Living Bible as follows: “He was never born and he never died…,” except of course for the three days and three nights in the grave, as Jesus Himself confirmed in Revelation 1:18, quoted above.
God the Father was not created by anyone, and the same is true for Jesus. Nobody was there to create God, and He did not create Himself either. This we understand “by faith.”
Lead Writer: Norbert Link