What is shown by the next words in the Creed, “by whom all things were made?”
God the Father created all things by, or through (Greek dia), his Son and his Spirit, as by his eternal Word and Wisdom: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their array” (Psa 33:6 [32:6 LXX]; see Q092).
The early apologist Theophilus of Antioch repeatedly speaks of the Logos and Sophia, the Word and Wisdom, as God’s own agents in creation (Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, 2.18), and St Irenaeus gave the image its classic form:
In carrying out his intended work of creation, God did not need any help from angels, as if he had not his own hands. For he always has at his side his Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit. Through them and in them he created all things of his own free will; and to them he says, ‘Let us make man…’ (St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, IV.20.1)
