The tradition of the four elements has been passed down through countless centuries, symbolizing cardinal directions and holding great significance in various traditions. For spirituality, philosophy, and physics enthusiasts, the four elements, including Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and the 5th element of Spirit, have an essential role. Today, we will delve into their importance in Pagan and Christian practices. In Pagan customs and rituals, the four elements play a vital role, representing unique aspects of life.
Let us delve into a brief overview of the four essential elements and their associated qualities. Air represents intellect, free-thinking, adventure, ever-changing, and the breath of life. Fire is associated with illumination, enlightenment, power, innovation, purifying, and modification. Water represents sentiments, emotions, devotion, recovery, clarity, empathy, and gloom. Finally, Earth is associated with solidity, directive, tangibleness, dwelling, prosperity, onsets, and cessations.
Most Christians must consider the concept of the four elements and may avoid it due to conflicting beliefs. What if the four elements are as fundamental to Christianity as to Paganism? What if a complete understanding of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth and how they all tie together is vital to our faith?
The five elements in Indian philosophy are Earth, Sky/ Space, Water, Air, and Fire. These are non-eternal created elements:
For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Akasa Sky (Space)
Vayu Air
Tejas Fire (Light, Brilliance)
Apa Water
Prithvi Earth
In the human body, the five elements are :
- Rigid Essence of Earth / Prithvi
- Liquid: Essence of Water / Jala or Apa
- Hot: Essence of Fire / Tejas
- Mobility: Essence of Vayu
- Perforated: Essence of Akash
Upon reviewing the first book of Genesis, it becomes apparent that the five elements are present in the creation story. The passage reads: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ There was light.” (Gen.1:1-3).
Although the Spirit of God is not an element but an entity of the triune God, His presence over the waters suggests the creation of air (Hebrew: ruach; Greek: pneuma; both mean “wind” and “air”). As previously noted, God created the framework in Days 1-3 and filled it with content in Days 1-4.
DAY 1: Light
DAY 2: Separation of Waters, Firmament
DAY 3: Dry land with vegetation( herbs and fruits) and seas;
DAY 4: Sun, moon, stars;
DAY 5: Aquatic creatures, fowls of the air;
DAY 6: Animals, Humans;
One can also see the creation narrative in light of the formation of the primal elements:
Day Work
1 Creation of the five elements: Earth, sky, water, air, and Fire.
2 Water formations
3 Earth formations
4 Light formations
5 Creatures of Water and Air
6 Creatures of Earth-soil
7 Sabbath/Rest
The use of down-to-earth illustrations can help clarify complex subjects. Yeshua or Jesus and the Apostle Paul used symbols to explain complex ideas. Similarly, the Holy Spirit is an invisible and incomprehensible God, and the Bible uses symbols such as water, wind, and Fire to help us understand His work. By examining these symbols, we can gain a deeper insight into the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives.
Wind
The wind and breath of God are significant in Genesis’s two creation stories. God animates all living things through the gift of the Spirit, Ruach, Hebrew for breath. God breathes life into us at creation and continues to do so. Breath symbolizes the Holy Spirit’s invisibility and crucial role in giving life, creating humanity, renewing the spiritual self, empowering apostolic missions, and inspiring the Bible.
Genesis 2:7, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Revelations 11:11 Now, after three-and-a-half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
Ezekiel 37:9 “Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.”
John 20:21-22 So Jesus told them, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:2: ” And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Water. The Spirit of God is often likened to water, representing its purifying and life-giving properties. If we genuinely know the Spirit this way, we must ask ourselves if we are experiencing his cleansing power to free us from our immoral tendencies. Moreover, He nourishes our souls, enabling us to produce streams of righteousness.
John 3:5: “Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Psalm 51:7: ” Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
Ezekiel 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and all your idols, will I cleanse you. “
John 7:37–38: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. As the scripture hath said, he that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
Jeremiah 2:13: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 17:13: “O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. “Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth Because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.”
John 4:10 Jesus told her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Genesis 8:1: “And God remembered Noah and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the Earth, and the waters assuaged;
Joshua 4:23, “For the Lord, your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:”
Fire: The word “light” may also indicate the presence of “fire, “At Pentecost, when the Spirit descended, there was not only a symbol in the “sound like the blowing of a violent wind” but another symbol in what seemed to be “tongues of fire.”
Hebrews 12:28-29 ” Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.”
Deuteronomy 4:23-24″ Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Exodus 3:2: ” And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
Exodus 13:21: “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or night.”
Acts 2:3: “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of Fire, and it sat upon each of them.”
Earth:
Genesis 7:4: “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the Earth forty days and forty nights, and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the Earth.
Matthew 16:18: ” And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
Psalm 18:2: ” The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Psalm 62:7: ” In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength And my refuge is in God.”
John 15:5: “Jesus is speaking. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Genesis 26:22, “And he removed from thence, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now, the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
Isaiah 29:6: “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring Fire.
The four elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth represent different aspects of God mentioned throughout the Bible from beginning to end. There are instances where more than one element comes together, such as when God appeared to Moses as the burning bush (Earth & Fire).
Exodus 3:2: ” And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
So is Matthew 3:11: ” I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with Fire:”
Exodus 15:22, “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.
Ezekiel Chapter 1 is a dramatic example of all four elements (and the fifth): the bridegroom, the Bride, and all four cardinal directions. This chapter is Ezekiel’s vision of God, full of typology and enigma.
Ezekiel 1:4: ” And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the Fire.
Ezekiel 1: 12-14 ” And they went everyone straight forward: whither the Spirit was to go, they went, and they turned not when they went.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of Fire and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures, and the Fire was bright, and out of the Fire went forth lightning.
Ezekiel 1:19, ” And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.”
Ezekiel 1:26-28, ” And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. I saw as it were the appearance of Fire, and it had brightness roundabout.
28 As the appearance of the bow is in the cloud on the day of rain, so is the appearance of the bright roundabout. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that spoke.
Yeshua, or Jesus, serves as a prime example of our connection to creation; He conveyed many of His teachings through parables, which are profound stories that unveil the nature of God and God’s reign. Jesus used earth-based language grounded in seed, fruit, and harvest metaphors, which His listeners could readily identify with.
Christ’s ministry also centers on elemental places, such as feasting on the Earth’s gifts at the table, His appearance on the mountain as a site of transfiguration, His encounters at the well, and His baptism in the Jordan River.
The Psalms employ the language of Spirit, Wind, Fire, Water, and Earth to describe the divine’s nature. They provide insight into the diversity of God’s qualities and celebrate a God who gets discovered within the matrix of creation.
By rooting our prayer in the elements, we acknowledge our connection to creation. We experience ourselves as part of the natural world’s matrix and as creatures like all other creatures. As we open ourselves to these metaphors for how God operates in the world, we encounter a God who dwells at the heart of all living things, sustains and transforms creation every moment and is an essential presence in the world.
