For it is only when you grasp what it means for God to be a Trinity that you really sense the beauty, overflowing kindness, the heart-grabbing loveliness of God.
— Michael Reeves
Why would a God who needs nothing create anything? Marduk Image
The God of the Bible creates not because He wants to be submitted to slavishly, but because He is love and wants to share His very life.
God didn't start loving when He created. He has always been love. Creation is what happens when that love overflows.
Creation is: From the Father, Through the Son, By the Spirit, For the Son, To the sons
1. From the Father
1 Corinthians 8:6
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist….
Creation flows out of the Father's will.
Revelation 4:9–11
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
Creation exists because The Father wanted it to exist.
Creation is not an act of divine necessity, but of divine will.
— Sinclair Ferguson
You are not accidental, unwanted, or random. You are intended, desired, and purposed.
2. Through the Son
1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
John 1:3
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Through Him = everything the Father willed, the Son brought into being.
Genesis 1:3
And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.
John 1:1, 3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him…
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…
3. By the Spirit
Genesis 1:2
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Job 26:13
By his Spirit the heavens were made fair…
Psalm 104:30
When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
Genesis 2:7
then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
He kisses the dust into life.
4. For the Son
Colossians 1:16
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Hebrews 1:2
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
The Father's overflowing love for the Son is what moved Him to create, and creation is His gift to His Son.
— Michael Reeves
5. To the sons
Romans 8:16–17
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
Hebrews 2:10
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.