It has been pointed out that the Spirit hovering over Mary was the same Spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis. Jesus was incarnated in the womb of the virgin ex nihilo. The womb of Mary was formless, void, and dark. The Spirit hovered, God spoke, and the Word became flesh.
But this works backwards as well.
The creation of the universe was a virgin birth. The virgin cosmos, formless, void, and dark, came to life by the hovering of the Spirit, God speaking, and the Word becoming flesh.
The heavens declare the glory of God, the Psalmist says: they are words that can be understood in every tongue, every language. They are living words of the Word of the Father.
Creation is itself incarnation, a lesser, derivative incarnation to be sure, but incarnation nevertheless.
Valerie (Kyriosity) says
Was the Incarnation completely ex nihilo, or was it more like the creation of Eve — starting with existing material, in this case an egg — and creating from that?
Toby says
Obviously the latter, Valerie. Good point. But I guess I’d still want to argue that there’s still an ex nihilo aspect to the incarnation. The virgin womb of Mary was empty/barren without the Spirit bringing something into existence from nothing, (as opposed to evolutionary thought).
Valerie (Kyriosity) says
I’d agree, just as there was an ex nihilo aspect to the creation of Eve. The product was definitely greater than the sum of the physical components — ex rib+nihilo, ex egg+nihilo.