Genesis 1:3

Chapter I (The Six Days of Creation)

• Vulgate Text: Genesis 1:1-31 — Full Vulgate text quoted

  "3. And God said: Let there be light, and light was made."

• Verse 3: And God said: Let there be light — God said by a word of the mind, an essential word common to the three Persons

  "3. AND GOD SAID -- by a word, not of the mouth, but of the mind, and that not a rational word but an essential one, common to the three Persons."

• Verse 3: And God said: Let there be light — Light was the noblest, most joyful, most useful quality created first

  "LET THERE BE LIGHT. -- Note that in Genesis and the creation of the world, light was formed before all other things, because light is the noblest, most joyful, most useful, most efficacious, and most powerful quality"

• Verse 3: And God said: Let there be light — What was this light? A luminous body, the material from which the sun, moon, and stars were later made

  "Thirdly, and best, Bede, Hugh, the Master, St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, Lyra, and Abulensis hold that this light was a luminous body"