Can you expand on John 1, regarding the concept of the Word creating?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Creator and the Creation Stories’ (2001).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

So, I’m asked to expand on the idea of the Word creating.

First of all, it refers to the second person of the gracious tri-unity, who became flesh. We know him as Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. He is called the Word of God because he is the expression of God—of the mind, heart and character of God.

So the universe created by him is an expression of God. He who made it is called the Word because, in his creatorial activities, he spells out the mind, heart and character of God.

Secondly, the Bible says of Jesus Christ our Lord, ‘For in him all things were created . . . all things have been created through him and for him’ (Col 1:16 NIV).

The first of those—‘in him all things were created’—is exceedingly significant. If, for instance, you looked at some great building going up on the skyline and you asked, ‘Where did it have its beginning?’, it wouldn’t be exact to say it had its beginning when the builders arrived, pegged out the ground and dug the foundation. That would be the beginning of the actual process of construction. But the building itself began in the mind of somebody who decided that there should be a hospital built in the area. So, having decided that, they asked some architect to design the thing. It first of all took shape in his mind and then he committed his design to paper, and so on. Long before the builders got anywhere near it to start building, it began in the mind of its author and designer.

So, all things were created in Christ—they began in his mind. And as I look at you, I’m tempted to say that you are his idea. Sometimes we come across something funny in life, and we say, ‘Whose idea was that?’ Sometimes people look at me and say, ‘Whose idea was he?’ And I return the question to you, ‘Whose idea were you?’ The answer to that question, of course, is that you were Christ’s idea. He thought you up as an expression of God’s will and purpose.

The Bible says that he created all things by his word: ‘He commanded, and it stood firm’ (Ps 33:9). Being God, he spoke by his creative power and it was done. In biology, we find that the cell and the DNA¹within the cell is carrying information. The marvellous double helix of the DNA within the cell carries information through its chemicals. The chemicals are not themselves the information; they carry the information that helps to design the human body, control the materials and the timing of the development of the foetus in the womb, the time of birth, and the development of the new born infant right through adulthood to the end of its days.

The remarkable thing is that the information is then carried on by the next generation. Although the original chemicals that carried the information from the parents are long gone, the information carries on. And therefore, in the opinion of many scientists, the DNA is a code, like a language, carrying information. And that is a very interesting thing, because it’s not just matter in the universe, but matter that is carrying information; or, if you will, the purpose and mind of God and his design implanted on nature, so that, just as letters on a page carry the information of the author who was sending the message to somebody, in biology matter is carrying information necessary for the development of the particular life, and necessary as the expression of God’s intention.

¹ Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.