The act of God by which the universe came into being. The Bible’s chief account of creation is that in (Gen 1:1-2:3). God is depicted here as a sole, sovereign master of the universe directing the work of creation by verbal command and a freely determined plan. God is said to make the world in six days, resting on the seventh (Exod 20:11). Christian authors introduced the idea of Christ as mediator and agent of creation (John 1:1-4; Col 1:15-16). In doing this they were drawing on earlier traditions that said that divine wisdom was the agent of creation, a tradition that appears both in the OT (Prov 8:25-27) and in apocryphal writings (e.g., Wis 7:24-25).
