Whenever the work of the Holy Spirit comes up for discussion, we immediately think of what he does in the hearts and lives of believers. We connect the Holy Spirit with regeneration and renewal of life. It is remarkable however, that already on the first page of the Bible we see the Holy Spirit come to the fore in quite a different framework. Genesis 1 proclaims to us God’s wonderful work of creation. About the creation of heaven and earth we read that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. This means that the Holy Spirit is involved in creation and that his work includes more than the regeneration and renewing of God’s children.

It is remarkable that the relationship between the Spirit and creation has received little attention in Christian thought about the Holy Spirit and his work. In the confessions of the church the emphasis is on his sanctifying and renewing activity. In Lord’s Day 8 of the Heidelberg Catechism the church speaks about the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. In Lord’s Day 20 we confess that the Holy Spirit makes us partakers of Christ and all his benefits and that he comforts us. Article 9 of the Belgic Confession calls the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier because he dwells in our hearts. Nowhere, however, do our confessions speak in so many words about the work of the Holy Spirit in creation. Of all the Reformed Confessions of the 16^th century, the Hungarian Confession is the only one that says that the Holy Spirit has shown his infinite power and activity already from the beginning of the world in the creation and preservation of all creatures.

That the work of the Holy Spirit received all the emphasis in the Reformed Confessions is probably connected with the struggle the Reformation had against Rome and the Anabaptists in the 16^th century.  The controversy was precisely on the point of the way man receives salvation.

Nevertheless, if we want to honor the Holy Spirit in all his work, we may not forget his active work in creation. Scripture does not record Genesis 1:2 without reason. We have to honor also the Holy Spirit as the Creator. Creation is the work of the Triune God.  Scripture teaches us that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit accomplished this great work.

The author of Genesis tells us first about the condition of the earth, after God had created heaven and earth. The word “earth” is emphatically mentioned first. In the rest of Genesis 1 the author announces how the LORD God prepared the earth as a dwelling place for man. Before man could take up residence on this earth, many things had to take place yet. For the earth was without form and empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep.

The expression “formless and empty” intensifies the word “empty.” It is impossible at this point for man to live there. The earth is still not inhabitable. It is all formless and empty. Light that is indispensable for life is totally absent. An impenetrable darkness lies over the surface of the deep. God has not yet separated the waters from the dry land. The whole earth is still covered with a flood of water, enveloped in darkness.

The LORD God, however, is already busy with this uninhabitable earth! Its formlessness and emptiness are not the end. God wants to make the earth into a glorious place for man to live.

Our text shows that the LORD God is already busy with the uninhabitable earth: “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Perhaps “and” can also be rendered “but.” Then our text shows a certain contrast: the earth was still uninhabitable, without form and empty, but the Spirit of God was hovering over this earth.

Deuteronomy 32:11 uses this verb “hover” for the eagle. When the young birds leave the nest, the mother hovers protectively over them. Deuteronomy 32 uses this figure to describe God’s preserving care over Israel in the exodus from Egypt.

I think that the author of Genesis in our text also expresses this preserving care of the Holy Spirit. Calvin writes: “Moreover, although no mention is made of the Spirit except in the history of the creation of the universe, nevertheless the Spirit is introduced here, not as a shadow, but as the essential power of God, when Moses tells that the as yet formless mass was itself sustained in him  [Gen. 1:2]. Therefore it then has become clear that the eternal Spirit had always been in God, while with tender care he supported the confused matter of heaven and earth, until beauty and order were added.” ¹

It has been rightly pointed out that our text also testifies to God’s majesty. It does not say at all that God has to fight a fierce struggle with the formlessness or with the mass of water that was enveloped in darkness. Many early Eastern creation stories relate a terrible struggle when the world was created. Our text speaks of majestic calm. The Spirit of God hovered, preserving and maintaining with tender care, over the waters.

Attempts have been made in Reformed theology to put into words the distinctiveness of the Holy Spirit in the work of creation. The origin of all things would be out of God the Father, the existence of all things would be through God the Son, while God the Holy Spirit would have given everything its form and destination.

I question whether we can make this distinction. All things are from the Father and through the Son (cf. 1 Cor 8:6) and by the Holy Spirit (cf. Ps 33:6).

I think that what “by the Holy Spirit” means concretely is very difficult to put into words.

Anyhow, it is very clear that also the Holy Spirit was involved in the work of creation (cf. Isa 40:13). After God had created heaven and earth in the beginning, the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, in tender and preserving care. In our text we see that there is no contrast between the Holy Spirit and the creation. He loves what has been created. It is also his creation!

The Anabaptists of the 16^th century did not understand this. Their “shunning” was rooted in their difficulty to connect the Holy Spirit with the created world. They wrote off this world and looked forward to a totally new world.

Also in the work of re-creation the Spirit comes to what is His. The re-creation is not a totally new world. It is the old world, renewed, cleansed and glorified.

Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected (cf. 1 Tim 4:4). One who is guided by the Spirit does not have to turn away from what has been created. Also sexuality is holy and good. Only now God’s children start to use creation in a new, consecrated way (cf. 1 Tim 4:4, 5). They know they are in God’s world, and enjoy all the good things God has created, in accordance with his purpose. The Holy Spirit does not draw us away from creation to put us in a corner by ourselves.  The world is his world over which he hovered in the beginning, full of caring and watching love.