What is Creativity According to the Bible?

In this short blog we’ll answer the question ‘What is creativity according to the Bible?’ This is part of our larger series concerning Christian innovation and design, and fits within the most recent conversation about creativity and innovation in the Bible. 

So, what is creativity according to the Bible? Overall, the Bible presents creativity as an expression of God’s power, wisdom, and purpose in bringing forth the world and humanity. It emphasizes the unique dignity of human beings and the importance of their choices and actions in relation to God’s plan for creation. 

Creativity is not limited to the physical creation of the world but also encompasses art, aesthetics, ethics, business, and spirituality. The narratives of Adam and Eve, Cain, and Noah (just to name a few) highlight the virtues and vices of those who apply their creative capacity, as well as God’s response to them. These stories illustrate the importance of human free will and the responsibility it entails.

Again, if we’re asking what is creativity according to the Bible, we have to remember that creativity is emulation of the Creator. It involves crafting something new, either the work of “fixing” (restoration and repair, often with additional embellishments) or “making” (bringing something forth for the first time, typically from existing materials). 

To differentiate between creativity and innovation in the Bible it is helpful to remember that creativity applied toward problem solving is ”innovation”, whereas creativity applied toward aesthetics is ”art”. 

What is the biblical meaning of creativity? In the scriptures, human creativity is undertaken in emulation of our Creator, God, and in obedience to the cultural mandate (Gen.1.28). Every time we create, we are perpetuating the Creator’s Creation as people embodying the divine image and likeness. And though it is possible for our creativity to stray from our Creator’s intention, at its purest creativity is a reflection of the character and nature of God.

A quick survey of the scriptures reveals more than just one Bible verse about art and creativity. Consider that many different art forms are found in the Bible, including dancing (Exodus 15:20), singing (Psalm 33:1–3), making music (2 Chronicles 5:12–13), writing (Psalm 45:1), painting (Ezekiel 23:11–15), decorative paneling (2 Chronicles 3:5–7), embroidery (Exodus 26:1), weaving (Exodus 29:5), spinning (Exodus 35:25), sculpting (Psalm 144:12), carving (1 Kings 6:18), engraving (Exodus 28:9–12), and ornamentation in gold (1 Kings 6:31–35) and ivory (Psalm 45:8).

What is an example of God’s creativity in the Bible? In the Book of Genesis, God creates the world and everything in it. This act of creation showcases God’s immense creativity and power in bringing forth the diversity and beauty of the natural world. Furthermore, God’s creation of man in the divine image and likeness gives human beings a unique dignity that extends to all generations and throughout the entire earth. This emphasizes the creativity of God in fashioning us with inherent worth and the capacity for creativity ourselves.

My favorite Bible stories about creativity are those in which people go to extravagant lengths to engineer an escape or a visitation. For example, Michal helped her husband David escape her father, Saul, by lowering David out the bedroom window. She then dressed up an idol to look like David in her bed, fooling her father and saving her beloved (1 Sam.19). Rahab did something similar with two spies from Israel, hiding them from her king and thus orchestrating victory for God’s people (Jos.2.15). Likewise, the newly converted Saul (who later became Paul) escaped death by being lowered out of a window by his newfound Christian friends. Yet my favorite Bible story about creativity has to be the ingenuity of the paralytic’s friends in Mark 2, who were so convinced that Jesus would heal their friend they cut a hole in a roof where Jesus was teaching and lowered the man into the very midst of the crowd. In truth, each of these stories centered around creativity applied toward problem-solving, which we call innovation, rather than creativity applied toward aesthetics, which we call art. Nevertheless, the imaginative cleverness in each story demonstrates how our creativity can be employed toward divine purpose, even if that requires an unconventional approach.

Here’s my top 7 bible verses about creativity:

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

– Genesis 1.27

”Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”

– Proverbs 22.29

”[God] has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.”

– Exodus 35.35 

“Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded” 

– Exodus 35:10

“You have a large number of skilled stonemasons and carpenters and craftsmen of every kind. You have expert goldsmiths and silversmiths and workers of bronze and iron. Now begin the work, and may the LORD be with you!” 

– 1 Chronicles 22:15–16

“David and the army commanders then appointed men from the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to proclaim God’s messages to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals.”

– 1 Chronicles 25.1

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters

– Colossians 3.23

What verse shows God is creative? There are countless Bible verses about creating art, describing God as an artist in the making and shaping of the world. 

These are my 5 favorite Bible verses concerning God’s artistic creativity:

“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

– Ecclesiastes 3.11

“I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. … What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’ How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, ‘Why was I born?’ or if it said to its mother, ‘Why did you make me this way?’ This is what the LORD says—the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands? I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.” 

– Isaiah 45.7-12

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

– Psalm 139.13-16

“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.”

– Psalm 8.3-9

”How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small.”

– Psalm 104:24-25 

Taken together, it is easy to see why Creativity is so important to God—it’s not only a manifestation of who God is, but equally of what God does; likewise, when we create we are fulfilling our God-given purpose to be like God.