Multi-personal creation in Genesis or exclusive?

Question

At some level, each part of the Trinity could be said to be involved in the "creation"—the Father presumably is aware of the creation and had furnished the designs or forms. However, I would like to explore more on the demiurgical context of creation.

On the one hand, we have a persuasive hermeneutic that the Holy Spirit portion of the Trinity was this force in Genesis 1:2, as this excellent question and answer lays out, accounting for much nuance along the way: Does Genesis 1:2 refer to the Spirit or a wind?.

While on the other hand, in the prologue of John, the notion that the Logos/Son aspect of the Trinity filled this role is also well-known and has a deep scholarship.

Cosmology and the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel

For ease of reference, John 1:3-4:

³ God created everything through [the Logos], and nothing was created except through him. ⁴ The Logos gave life to everything that was created.

Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect perfect alignment between OT and NT—after all Genesis itself has two cosmogonies.

And as God is Triune, the distinction between the Son and the Holy Spirit may merely be contrived.

However, the constituents of the Godhead do differ, and on occasion much emphasis is placed on these differences (with John 16:7 being an interesting example of this).

Question

With all this in mind, what might we be able to methodologically gloss from the accounts of different aspects of the Godhead carrying out the demiurgical function of God's creation: must we accept both Persons are viable or can we narrow the field by even a little bit?

Answer 1

We have the following:

• God created all things; Gen 1:1, Ps 33:6, 9, etc
• Jesus is creator of all things; John 1:3, Heb 1:2, Col 1:16, etc
• The Holy Spirit is the creator; Ps 104:30, Gen 1:2, 1 Peter 1:2, Titus 3:3, 4

Now, just how this was accomplished and which of these three did what is not described. Therefore, this question has no answer. The traditional view is that all three members of the Trinity were involved; just what their function was is not revealed. therefore, we cannot know because we are not told.

Answer 2

Patristic hermeneutics never cease to amaze me. Tertullian was grappling with this question long before I. Below are a few notable takes from him:

Prax. 16

But you must not suppose that only the works which relate to the (creation of the) world were made by the Son, but also whatsoever since that time has been done by God. For the Father who loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand, loves Him indeed from the beginning, and from the very first has handed all things over to Him. Whence it is written, From the beginning the Word was with God, and the Word was God; John 1:1 to whom is given by the Father all power in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:18 The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son John 5:22 — from the very beginning even.

Prax. 19

Inasmuch, then, as the heaven was prepared when Wisdom was present in the Word, and since all things were made by the Word, it is quite correct to say that even the Son stretched out the heaven alone, because He alone ministered to the Father's work. It must also be He who says, I am the First, and to all futurity I AM. The Word, no doubt, was before all things. In the beginning was the Word; John 1:1 and in that beginning He was sent forth by the Father. The Father, however, has no beginning, as proceeding from none; nor can He be seen, since He was not begotten. He who has always been alone could never have had order or rank. Therefore, if they have determined that the Father and the Son must be regarded as one and the same, for the express purpose of vindicating the unity of God, that unity of His is preserved intact; for He is one, and yet He has a Son, who is equally with Himself comprehended in the same Scriptures.

This alludes back to part of my premise on the slippery terminology that, given a Triune God, differences may be merely contrived. So it seems that as some Church Fathers see it, the scriptural references to inter-Personal differences don't apply or at least don't detract from the unity of the Triune God in terms of each Person having played a role in creation.

I thank all for their input, but I post my own answer because this is more along the lines of what I was trying to unpack (formally and historically).

More information is available at Against Praxeas.