CHAPTER 1: THE ORIGINAL TWO SPIRIT BEINGS #

!What scripture provides the earliest snapshot in the timeline of history? Most people might say Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But there is another passage that precedes this account. It is John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

!This brings us to the first fundamental fact about the spirit world: the existence of two distinct spirit beings who are both “God”! One is revealed in the Bible as God the Father. The One with Him is called the Word. Essentially, the term Word means that He is a spokesman. The Word is also described as God. Like the Father, the Word is also divine—a God being in every way. “In the beginning” both were already there, having existed for all eternity!

!## How God created all things

!At some point, these two great spirit beings began creating all things. The Bible reveals both were involved in creating, but each had a different role. The Father is the Creator, but He created through the Word.

!Notice John 1:3 in reference to the Word: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” This includes the spirit world.

!Just think of our own Milky Way galaxy. It is impossible to comprehend the vastness and cumulative energy of all its billions of stars and planets. Yet the Father and the Word created countless billions of galaxies besides. The Father and the Word are both unfathomably and infinitely great.

!## The Word became flesh

!Next, we see that the Word is the One who later divested Himself of His spirit power and glory to come to earth as the human Savior, Jesus Christ.

!Notice what the apostle John went on to say about Him: “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (verses 10, 14).

!The apostle Paul documents that God the Father and Jesus Christ (before He became flesh) created “all things.” Paul said that he had the privilege to share “the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9, emphasis added throughout). Many do not realize that Jesus was with God the Father from the beginning.

!On the eve of Christ’s great sacrifice of suffering and death, He prayed to the Father. Notice His reference to His preexistence with the Father: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).

!Hebrews 1:2 also refers to God the Father and to the Word, who became known as the Son when He came to earth in human flesh. It tells us God “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.”

!Before His birth, when He “became flesh and dwelt among us” as Immanuel (John 1:14; Matthew 1:23), Jesus Christ was the God who communicated with the patriarchs and prophets in the Old Testament and had hands-on dealings with Israel. For example, He was the One who led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. Referring to that event, the apostle Paul said, “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4).

!## A harmonious relationship

!Another incredible fact about the Father and the Word is that for all eternity One has been greater than the other in terms of authority. The Father is sovereign, or supreme in authority, and the Word—Christ—has always willingly been subject to Him. They have always worked together harmoniously.

!This is revealed in many scriptures. One example is in 1 Corinthians 15, where the apostle Paul writes about Christ’s future return to set up God’s Kingdom on earth and what will transpire:

!“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father . . . Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (verses 24, 28).

!Another related scripture is John 14:28, where Jesus clearly stated, “The Father is greater than I.”

!Jesus Christ is the supreme example of humility and submission. And this is the way of life He instructs us to follow.

!## The deep significance of *Elohim*

!We see both of these spirit beings present in the Genesis 1 creation account. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image’” (verse 26).

!The Hebrew word for God in this chapter is Elohim. This is a plural word (denoting more than one). The reference to God being “Us” is also in Genesis 3:22 (“Behold, the man has become like one of Us”) and Genesis 11:7 (“Let Us go down and there confuse their language”).

!Since there are two beings in the Godhead, the word God in Scripture can refer to the Father (Acts 13:33; Galatians 4:6), Jesus Christ the Son (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1, 14; Titus 2:13), or both (Romans 8:9), depending on the context.

!To study more about what the Bible says about God the Father and Jesus Christ, as well as how it describes the Holy Spirit, download our free booklet Getting to Know the God of the Bible.

!To summarize the first fundamental fact about the spirit world, there are only two spirit beings who were not created and have eternally existed: God the Father and the Word, Jesus Christ. They had no beginning. All other life-forms, including all spirit beings, were created by God.

!The remainder of this booklet will focus on these created spirit beings.

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