God Spoke the Worlds Into Existance??

Many times I have heard preachers say, "God spoke the worlds into existence". Yes, I know that Genesis 1 says, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light", etc. But does this mean that God spoke and that speech or sound created light? The picture I get from this is a God that is a big genie in the sky who creates things by magic. I think there is a better interpretation of this that corresponds with other scriptures.

First, we understand sound rather well in terms of pressure waves in a medium. It is difficult for me to believe such pressure waves created the earth, sun, moon, stars, and life.

Second, in John 1:1-3 we read concerning Christ, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." Christ's involvement in creation is further confirmed by Paul in Col. 1:16: "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."

When the scriptures use the word "God" it refers to the Father. 1 Cor. 8:6 "Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live."

If God (the Father) said, "Let there be _____" and that created it, there is no role for Christ in creation. A better interpretation is that God said, "Let there be _____" and Christ created it. The scripture does not give a clue as to how Christ created it except in the case of the birds, animals, and humans which were formed from the ground.

Notice that in Gen. 1:20 and 24, the creation of birds and animals, the same "And God said" phrase was used as in all the previous creation verses. However, the Lord God formed the birds and animals out of the ground: Gen. 2:19 "Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air." From this scripture it is obvious that God did more than "speak" the the animals into existance. Thus we may assume that in the other creation days there may have been similar creative activities not specified. God said it and the Lord God (Christ) did it. This fits the pattern of the above interpretation. We are not given the details of how God created the world.

I cringe every time I hear it said, "God spoke the worlds into existence".

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Vernon Sandel