Word and Deed

Genesis Chapter 1 portrays the transcendent God creating the world through speech. At the pinnacle of God’s creation is humanity. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” is the decree God imparts to the male and female in Genesis 1:28. Genesis chapter 2 depicts a more intimate God, physically handling materials and transforming them into his creations. The dust of the newly created earth becomes an aspect of mankind. “By means of the mysterious ed [moisture], the dry, dead earth became admamah, living Earth.” (Kessler and Deurloo, A Commentary on Genesis, p. 42)

In Genesis 1, God creates through speech; in Genesis 2, God fashions life through his hands. All that exist comes into being through word and deed. In the same way, the New Testament portrays Jesus bringing life through both command and action. In Luke 5 he instructs the paralytic to get up and go home. While a few verses before, Jesus touches an unclean leper and orders him to be clean. But, my favorite story is that of the Centurion, found in Luke 7 and Matthew 8, who astonished Jesus with his faith. In this narrative work and command are tied together through the job details of a pagan official. When the Centurion commands, action is demanded. This is a fact from his daily life. Faith, then, for the Centurion is not a personal preference, it is a fact. If he can command action, the creator of the universe can work beyond earthly expectations. One may surmise how the Centurion holds an integrated faith and work theology, being able to see through his work, the shape of kingdom life.

For Christians, stories, poems, commands, warnings, and songs shape our lives. Words work their way into our being and doing. Through them God speaks truth, but he also gracefully eases his wisdom through our daily activities of work, play, and worship. The Centurion understood how all of life comes under God’s sphere of influence. Perhaps he perceived, like the psalmist, how the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands; how day after day they pour forth speech. Psalm 19 tells us the “commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” God’s commands, his words to us, illuminate the works of Jesus, Word and Flesh. Artists rely on both God’s words and his deeds in order to abundantly create through both.

--Maria