God made us in His image (Genesis 1:27), which is why we are able to create. He has gifted specific people with different creativeabilities, including music, dance, visual art,poetry and storytelling.

The Bible reveals much about creativity, artand beauty, and you can see parallels between

the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.Jewish artists and sages have made thought-provoking statements about them as well. Mostof the quotes offered in the third column are notmeant to parallel Scriptures, but they do addsome spiritual insights.

While creativity, art and beauty are not

interchangeable, they are a group of relatedblessings from God that transport us beyond theordinary. In this chart, we refer to themcollectively. These two pages are not meant to becomprehensive. We hope you’ll continue thestudy on your own, with a good concordance anda nice cup of coffee or tea.

“Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hasshown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisibleattributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”(Romans 1:19–20).

“This is an exceedingly strange development, unexpected by all but the theologians. They have always accepted the word of the Bible: In thebeginning God created heaven and earth . . . [But] for the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a baddream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; [and] as he pulls himself over the final rock, he isgreeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”—Robert Jastrow (an American Jewish astrophysicist, as quotedfrom God and the Astronomers [New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1978]

“There is an inner connection between music and the spirit. Whenlanguage aspires to the transcendent, and the soul longs to break free ofthe gravitational pull of the earth, it modulates into song.” —Chief Rabbi (UK) Jonathan Sacks

“The whole world is nothing more than a singing and adancing before the Holy One, blessed be He. Every Jew isa singer before Him, and every letter in the Torah is amusical note.” —Nathan b. Naphtali Herz

2 Chronicles 20:21–22 demonstrates this unusual battle strategy, as King Jehoshaphat “appointed those who should singto the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: ‘Praise theLORD, For His mercy endures forever.’” And the results: “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD setambushes against the people . . . who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (v. 22).

“O Music! miraculous art! A blast of thy trumpet, andmillions rush forward to die; a peal of thy organ, anduncounted nations sink down to pray.” —Benjamin Disraeli

“Music can name theunnameable andcommunicate theunknowable.” —Leonard Bernstein

The “beauty of the Lord” is desirable and something that we equate with His presence andour well-being (Psalm 27:4–5).

David was called to sing and play when King Saul had a “distressing spirit”; hearing the musicSaul would become refreshed and well (1 Samuel 16).

“The artist creates his arts to soothe his nerves. . . . He writes, paints,sings or dances to shake off an oppressive burden of ideas andfeelings.” —Nordau

“When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of breadwith one, and a lily with the other.” —Anonymous

Miriam (mother of Jesus) sang in response to thenews of the child she would miraculously conceive(Luke 1:46–55).

Communicating to one another with psalms andhymns and spiritual songs goes hand in hand withsinging to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).

The new heavens and new earth are described as very beautiful (seeRevelation 21). Whether or not these descriptions are metaphorical, theyconvey that magnificent beauty beyond imagining will be the eternal settingfor enjoying the presence of God.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were praying and singing in jailwhen a great earthquake shook loose everyone’s chains andall the doors. This led to a series of events that resulted inthe salvation of the jailer and his whole family.

Jesus often used parables, creative storytelling, to convey spiritual truths (see especially the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 13, 21, 22).

Jesus referred to the bronze serpent as having been prophetic of His crucifixion (John 3:14–15).

Jesus referred to how beautifully the lilies of the field are “arrayed” to assure people of God’s care and provision for them (Luke 12:27–28).

The crucifixion itself was a drama that God staged to show His judgment on the sin of the world, as well as toconvey His mercy in taking the consequences of sin upon Himself.

There is a connection between wisdom, grace and sharing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs withone another as we sing to the Lord with grace in our hearts (Colossaians 3:16).

There is an inner, incorruptible beauty that a quiet, gentle person possesses, that is said to beprecious to God (1 Peter 3:3–4).

Testifies to God’sexistence andcharacter

Gives us ways to express/share our joy with Godand one another

Provides a fit setting for worship

As worship is useful for battle,be the battle physical, spiritualor both

Communicates God’smessages powerfully, andsometimes prophetically

Has positive,refreshing effects on us

Can becomea temptationto disobeyGod

What the Bible & Jewish culture tell us aboutcreativity, art & beauty

God commanded the use of an artistically rendered bronze serpent in Numbers 21:8. It was His way of healing the Israelitesfrom the fiery serpents He had sent as a judgment during the wilderness wanderings, but it had significance beyond that.

Nathan created a story to confront King David in the matter of David’s sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 12).God often used “performance art,” staging His prophets in various ways to make a dramatic statement or prediction, as withEzekiel (chapters 4, 5, 12, 20, 21 and 24).

The Psalms convey praise, worship, spiritual seeking and repentance with intricacy and intensity, as poetic works of art(examples too numerous to list).

God especially gifted some people to create artistic works for the tabernacle (e.g., Bezalel, Exodus 35:10, 30–34).

Solomon used precious stones in the temple for beauty and employed all kinds of carving and artwork (see 2 Chronicles 3).

Holiness is linked with beauty and worship. (See Psalm 29:2.)

Moses and the children of Israel sang a celebration song to the Lordafter being redeemed from Egypt (Exodus 15:1–19).

Miriam added dance to the celebration song (Exodus 15:20–21).

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and thefirmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

“The heavens declare His righteousness, and all thepeoples see His glory” (Psalm 97:6).

HEBREW SCRIPTURES NEW TESTAMENT JEWISH QUOTESASPECTS OF CREATIVITY, ART & BEAUTY

Part of the temptation Eve succumbed to was that the fruit “was pleasant to the eyes”(Genesis 3:6).

We are warned in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) to worship God alone and not to worshipwhat He has made, or, by extension, our own art (images of what He’s made). Ironically, thecreation and worship of the golden calf proved this warning all too necessary (Exodus 32).

The bronze snake of Numbers 21 was eventually smashed because the people had made it into an idol (2 Kings 18:4).

Proverbs warns against temptation to lust after a beautiful but adulterous woman (Proverbs 6:25).

Romans also warns about the temptation to worship thecreation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:22–24).

The dance of Herodias’ daughter shows the potential to use artseductively, which can tempt people to do wicked things (Mark 6:21–28).

“Beauty aims at neithermorals nor truth.” —Spingarn, CreativeCriticism, 1917