2

In Genesis 1:3 New International Version it is written:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Is this a figure of speech or did God actually utter the words "Let there be light" ? I assume since this is during creation no one else was around to hear it. So if it is an exact quote when did God pass on this information to a human so they could even know what God said at the time ?

4
  • Interesting question. One of Jesus' titles is "the Word" (Jn 1:1), and since He is the creator of all things that exist (Jn 1:3), the linkage between "word" and "creation" is obvious. Did the words, "Let there be light" have to come from a corporeal voice? No. Perhaps the language of God and His heaven--before the creation of the material universe, that is--was purely in the realm of thought or ideation, since God is spirit and has no need for a divine counterpart to the human brain, lungs, voice box, tongue, lips, etc., in order to communicate or express Himself. Commented Dec 29, 2013 at 5:41
  • Perhaps the words came to Moses by way of the Holy Spirit; hence they were God-breathed (theopneustos), and Moses simply wrote them down. Another possibility is that each pronouncement of "Let there be" in Genesis, chapter 1, is an anthropomorphism (i.e., an attribution of a human characteristic to the Godhead; in this case, speech) and is therefore not literal but figurative. Commented Dec 29, 2013 at 5:48
  • possible duplicate of How was documented dialog observed? Commented Dec 29, 2013 at 6:57
  • It is similar but not a duplicate. This is a specific, special case, and has different implications than dialog that involves at least one human. Commented Dec 29, 2013 at 8:22

2 Answers 2

1

Translation of the word from the original Greek to Said was only the choice of the translators. The actual word used was:

אָמַר

'amar (aw-mar') v. 1. to say (used with great latitude) [a primitive root] KJV: answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.

It could just as well have been translated into any of the above words, some of which (appoint, bid, desire, determine and so on) are not words indicating physical action. and since the original word used does not necessarily require any physical speech, it seems to me that we should also give it some latitude in translation

2
  • Just because a word has a large semantic range doesn't mean the whole range is valid in every context - usually only a small part of the range is! Can you identify which of those are appropriate for this context?
    – curiousdannii
    Commented Dec 30, 2013 at 10:42
  • @ curiousdannii I will not even hazard a guess as to what power God has, but I will say this the God I serve could just as well have desired or silently commanded those events.
    – BYE
    Commented Dec 30, 2013 at 13:52
0

Does god speak? Yes, of course. All prophets in the Bible heard the voice of God and wrote it down so that that we can read it.

How was it recorded? Simple, by writing it down. In some cases like the creation account in Genesis where no one was there to listen, God might have told to Moses what happened and Moses recorded it.

Does God have a mouth? Well, that's a tough one to answer since we don't have all information about God. We don't even know if God has a form or not. It is not necessary that God should have a mouth. For instance, an electronic loudspeaker can produce sound without having a mouth. If human can produce sound electronically, I believe that God has countless ways of producing sound and a better quality than what we can produce. What can you expect from those Bible authors who have never seen the electronic sound system? All they heard was a voice and they recorded it.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3, NIV)

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. (Genesis 1:1-3, NIV)

Some theologians would say that all the three persons of the Trinity were involved in the creation process. First, the Holy Spirit was present on the site where the creation work was to be executed. Second, God the Father gave the command. Third, the Word(the Son) came out from the Father and complete the work of creation. This would imply that when God said “Let there be light”, Jesus Christ the Word of God came out from God and executes the command just as a computer would execute computer programs. Jesus would be the program, God would be the computer and the Holy Spirit would be the electricity which provides the power required to make the whole system working. Just an analogy. :)

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .