«All Things Were Made Through Him, and Apart From Him Nothing That Exists Was Made» (Jn. 1:3)

Having depicted the divine nature of the Word as it is in the holy Trinity, the holy John points to his creativity and transfers us from the contemplation of the beginningless trinitarian divinity to the contemplation of how from the beginningless all creatures received their beginning.

“«All things were made through him.»” The same is said as by the Apostle Paul: “«that through him all things were created—things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or authorities or powers or dominions; all things were created through him and for him»” (Col. 1:16). Or in another place: “«You, O Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands»” (Hebr. 1:10). Or again: “«yet for us… there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things »” (1 Cor. 8:6).

To create, to give existence, can only he who by nature is the self-existent one—God beginningless and infinite. But that he not again give occasion to separate him from the Father and the Holy Spirit, the holy John, deepening the thought about the divinity of the Word, adds: “«and apart from him nothing that exists was made.»” No creature has received existence without him, apart from him, without his participation (as Holy Hilary expresses it in his treatise on the Trinity). The Son of God is not the creator apart from the other hypostases of divinity, but jointly acting with them. God the Word created all in communion of one divine creative nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The actions of divinity outward are the undivided actions of the three hypostases. Therefore, Creator Father, Creator Son, Creator Holy Spirit, yet not three creators but one Creator, by one creative action of divinity. The Prophet David, depicting this in one utterance, sings: “«by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their host»” (Ps. 32:6). Our weak thought, in contemplating almightiness in creatures, is ready to attribute it to God the Father; in contemplating wisdom, is ready to attribute it to God the Son; in contemplating life-giving power, is ready to attribute it to God the Spirit: but sound confession does not dare distinguish in the work of creation separate acts of the divine hypostases, but believes that creation is the work of God worshipped in the Trinity, undivided. The Son and the Holy Spirit are not cooperators with the Father in creation, but undivided co-workers with him. By one act of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit was creation accomplished. Therefore in creation there are no traces that reflect the separate actions of the hypostases: but there is a sharp trace indicating the trinity of persons. This universal, passing through all degrees of creatures, threefold character: three cosmic forces—light, heat, weight; three planetary—electricity, magnetism, chemical affinity; three elemental seats of these forces—air, water, earth—and three divisions of inorganic bodies; three functions in plants and three of their main divisions; three functions in animal organisms, over the three plant functions; three parts in mankind—spirit, soul, and body, and three functions in each; and of the angels we know that they have three main orders, each of which again divides into three. Is not this threefoldness a witness to the trinity of God the Creator?

What moved God to create? God the Trinity, as the fullness of being and perfections, is self-sufficient in himself and all-blessed; he cannot have any need in anything, for he has all. If then he was moved to create the world and all that is in it, he did this not from any necessity but from completely free will, “«according to the purpose of his will»” (Eph. 1:5). There can be no talk of compulsion from without here. If there were some internal necessity, in the form of some need of the divine nature, so that creativity were an inseparable essential attribute of divinity, then the act of creation would have to be recognized as beginninglessly or eternally active in God, and creation as coeternal and cobeginningless with God, which cannot be allowed.

By the creation of this immeasurable world, nothing was added to divine fullness nor was anything diminished from it. And yet the world is not foreign to God but his own. The goodness that willed the beginning of the world underlies both the continuation of its being. An expression of this is the utmost blessedness of all creatures, which constitutes the fundamental idea of the order of the world and the fundamental tone of the movement of the phenomena of the world’s existence, both physical and moral. In this consists the purpose of God’s providential actions, which faith indicates and to the clear vision of which, though unsuccessfully so far, the mind strives, not losing, however, hope for success. For this one must see through the visible into the invisible; but the visible stops and blocks the path to sight—therefore all is dark. Only faith firmly believes that finally all will appear in the light of perfect excellence and blessedness.

It too, joining this hoped-for end with the beginning, sees the predetermined plan of all existing and occurring in the original plan of the world. When and how in eternity all that is temporal was predetermined and then realized—this is God’s mystery. But it was predetermined, and what now exists and occurs exists and occurs according to that predetermination. In this lies God’s wisdom. And divine wisdom itself speaks of herself in the words of the Wise one: “«The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts long ago:»” and then adds: “«when he established the heavens, I was there, …when he marked out the foundations of the earth, I was beside him like a master worker. I was delighted every day, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world»” (Prov. 8:22-23, 27, 29-31). Thus the beginning, the continuance, and the completion of creation—all according to the wise predetermined plan, established before the ages. When, completing creation, God said: “«behold,»” all “«was very good»” (Gen. 1:31)—this meant that all fully corresponded to God’s wise plan and intentions. To set the seal of approval on all that is occurring or the movement of the world’s existence, the time has not yet come. Only the all-seeing eye of God sees how all is directed toward this, so that at the end of all movement it may be uttered: “«behold,»” all “«was very good,»” so that all may see and confess it—and this will be. How one would wish the mind to grasp all this and express it definitely! But this is not given to it. No words in human language exist for its expression. And Revelation falls silent, saying but little of this hidden mystery of God. Accept then this with all your soul and, being content with that for now, await fuller explanation in the age to come.

From all that we know about the beginning of the world and from the beginning of the world until now, we can confidently say that the material world is destined to be the arena for the development of rationally free creatures, being also transformed along with their elevation to higher degrees of perfection. The rationally free creatures are destined to godlike perfection and, as a result, to living communion with God and all-sided blessedness; yet so that this destiny is to be attained through struggle with trials on the path to this goal. A limited rational freedom cannot be established in the beginning in doing what is pleasing to God except through experiences of struggle with that which can lead away from it. Struggle is the means; but since it stands foremost, it becomes the immediate goal, beyond which the further, final one appears. And one can say that this struggle has served as the norm for the ordering of the world and its governance. All is directed toward the fact that rationally free creatures could stand firm in struggle against adversities. It is not the will of God that there be no adversities for rational freedom, but that it might stand firm against them, however strong they may be. And thus throughout the entire extent of the world there is struggle, in the current period of the world’s existence. And the first-created, shortly after creation, encounter struggle, and in the world of spirits it existed before that. Since then until now and from now to the end of the world everything will be struggle. The closing act of it is indicated in the following words: “«To the one who conquers I will give a seat with me»” and to the one who conquers “«I will give… a crown»” (Rev. 3:21, 2:10)—and so forth and so forth. Struggle then; do not dream of rest while breath remains in you, looking upon the great reward.

Our progenitors, as soon as they were introduced into life and began to act, at once encountered struggle and battle. They did not stand firm; but if they had stood firm, struggle would not have ceased but would have accompanied them step by step—it would have accompanied their offspring too. After the Fall, only the manner of struggle changed, and in aid to those struggling there were required extraordinary divine actions and institutions; the very substance of human life or the task of life remained the same: struggle. Struggle more eagerly and earnestly all the more because for your success in this struggle the Son of God was incarnate and suffered. According to the Apostle, even “«before the foundation of the world»” you were chosen to this, because you were chosen to holiness and blamelessness, which are unthinkable without struggle (Eph. 1:4-5).

Thus everything is from the Lord for you: you are created by him, redeemed, adopted, called to eternal blessedness, and furnished with means to attain it. Love him then and surrender yourself to him with all your soul, all your thoughts, and all your heart, and serve him, sparing not your life.