ChnMind 1.2 Creation Ex-Nihilo and the Confounding of the World

Before the Creation

Genesis begins with some of the most momentous words ever uttered--which is fitting since it is the commencement of God's self-revelation to man, the creature made in His image: "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . ."

Being in God's image, however, means that immediately our minds beg a question: what was, or what existed, before the beginning? The answer comes back, from the Scriptures, that nothing apart from God existed before the beginning, before God created the heavens and the earth. It is precisely here that the unbelieving mind begins to baulk. It is here that the unbelieving mind is confounded.

We assert that every unbeliever naturally, instinctively, or overtly holds that something has always existed--and that the "something" is uncreated by god. How do we know this to be so?
It is true by definition. Simply, that if an unbeliever who claims not to recognize the God of Scripture also believes in a Creator who created all things of nothing (creation ex-nihilo) then he has ceased to be an unbeliever. But since unbelievers obviously genuinely exist the very genuineness of their unbelief conditions them to insist upon something existing for all time, apart from any god or eternal being.

The phrase "the creation" refers to all reality apart from God. The clause, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . . " means that there is no atom or sub-atomic particle anywhere, in any place, that has not come into existence by His will and command. But it also means that all dimensions, such as space and time, and all natural laws, such as cause and effect, did not exist either. They had simply not come into being, since He had not created them.

Since we are part of the creation, human beings cannot conceive or discuss meaningfully and truly a reality where nothing existed apart from God (there was no before and after, no cause and effect, no here and there)--since we cannot avoid, being creatures, imposing creaturely constructs upon God and the nothingness-apart-from-Him. See how the phrase "and the nothingness-apart-from-Him" has already introduced a conceptual reality existing distinct from God. So our conceptual framework and our language are both limited and, consequently, very dangerous. We can only proceed, if at all, with tentativeness, many qualifications, and by negation (for example--before the creation, nothing existed apart from God, but it is impossible for us to conceive any positive notions about that, without denying it, or destroying the very notion itself).

Nevertheless, and wonderfully, we do know a great deal about God's existence before the creation of all things--because God has condescended to tell us many things, using terms and concepts we can understand, so that we are sure we can know truthfully, albeit incompletely. (More on this later). Only God could reveal Himself in such weak and limited creaturely terms, yet utterly meaningfully and truthfully. But for our part, conceiving God's Being and Existence before the creation of the world is something we are utterly incapable of doing, without creating errors, lies, falsehoods and idols--which fallen men have done every moment of their lives from the time of Adam and Eve onwards.

Of course there is another reason why sinful mankind inevitably insists upon a reality, any reality, upon something existing with god before the beginning of the world. The essence of sin, after all, is rebellion against God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism so pithily has it: "sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the Law of God." If, by God's mercy and grace, our rebellion is subdued, our eyes are opened, and we come to believe that God created all things of nothing, we must also believe that everything depends utterly upon Him for its original and continued existence, and that in Him we live and move and have our being. It is precisely this which the unbeliever will never, ever accept. Unbelief or belief in these things has nothing to do with evidence, or reason, or argument. Rather, it has everything to do with willful blindness, invincible ignorance, and stubborn denial--since the unbeliever will not have God rule over him come what may. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God has made it evident to them. . . . For even though they knew God, they did not honour Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened . . ." (Romans 1:19--21)

Creation Ex-nihilo in the Scriptures

Below is a selection of biblical references to the creation, all of which testify to its coming into existence out of nothing by the power of God's speaking, or commanding the creation to come into existence.

Hebrews 11:3: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

The word "worlds" (aeons, ages) refers to the historical succession of both space and time--that is, to the continuing existence of the creation order itself. These were prepared (made, supplied) by the (spoken) word of God; the successive ages of the world which are tangible and experienced by human beings were not manufactured out of pre-existing matter or stuff (things which appear, phenomena), but by God's word.

Revelation 4:11: “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed and were created.”

The universal totality of the language is striking: all things are created (no eternal pre-existence of anything); they exist because of the will of God. But more to the point, this assertion is given as a reason for the worthiness of God to receive declarations of glory, honour, and power. If it were so that "matter and stuff" co-existed with a god, then that god would be co-relative, co-circumscribed, finite, and limited to, at, and by the "matter and stuff". That god would not be worthy to receive worship and praise for his glory, honour and power.

Romans 11:34--36: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counsellor? Or who has first given to Him, that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen!"

This passage asserts the complete and radical independence of God from anything or anyone else. He has not learnt, depended upon, nor received anything from any entity, ever. Rather, all things apart from Him come from Him: "from Him and to Him are all things." Therefore, all things are "to Him"--that is, for His plan and purposes. All things are completely dependent for their initial and continued existence, moment by moment, upon Him. Therefore (and only, therefore) to Him belongs all the glory for all eternity.

I Corinthians 8:6: “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

Note the implicit antithesis in this reference: Paul is discussing the manifold deities and gods which influence every corner of the ancient world. Idolatry is ubiquitous (as it is today). But for the Christian it is different. For the Christian there is only one God, from whom are all things. Therefore, all other conceptions of god and the deity are falsehoods. The sole point of our existence, therefore, is for the purposes and service of the Living God. Moreover, there is only one Lord Jesus Christ (Caesar Saviour Messiah) through whom all things have come into existence.

Idolatry, or the conceiving and honouring of false gods (whether abstract conceptions such as "love", "truth" or "justice", or generalised conceptions such "Mankind", or folksy conceptions such as "the big guy up there") to be the source of truth, meaning, purpose, or existence is the greatest lie and the greatest wickedness of all. Our whole culture is utterly, supinely, steeped with it. It is only the covenant Christian community, having had its blind eyes opened by God's mercy and grace, that stands apart and against the great lie: "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things . . . "

Colossians 1:15—17 “. . . for in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him."

Once again, the Bible reiterates creation ex-nihilo. Everything in the universe, whether seen or unseen, tangible or intangible, has been created by Him.

John 1:3 “All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

The famous prologue to John's Gospel puts the same concept by way of negation--so that no-one will miss the point! Anything that does exist only does so because He brought it into being. Believe that, and in principle you are a Christian. Deny it, and you do not believe in the one true Living God.

Psalm 33: 6—12 "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. . . . For He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance."

Not only did God "make all things of nothing, by the word of His mouth, in the space of six days, and all very good" but from that creation ex-nihilo inevitably comes the corollary--that all things are run out according to the plan and the will of the Lord. The warp and woof of human history, from the rising and falling of nations and empires, to the course of the smallest sparrow, to the rolling of the dice is to His counsel and plan, all is from Him, to Him, and through Him. “He frustrates the plans of the peoples; the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.

“From His dwelling place He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all . . .” (Psalm 33:14,15).

The Christian and the unbelieving mind stand in sharp antithesis at this point. The unbeliever, the modern Athenian, cannot and will not accept that God is Who He has revealed Himself to be--the Creator and sustainer of all things, out of nothing. For to do so would strike at the taproot of their unbelief--which at heart is nothing other than a wilful expression of rebellion against their Lord and Maker. Therefore, the unbeliever is implacably insistent that the God of Scripture cannot possibly be true. Anything else might be true--and the modern Athenians are most open minded, objective, and condescendingly neutral towards any other possibility. They naturally welcome a discussion of any alternatives--from the most extreme forms of rationalism to extreme irrationalisms.

But one thing the modern Athenian asserts with all his might is that there cannot be (read, must not be) a God Who created all things out of nothing by the speaking of His voice. For then they would be utterly exposed, confounded and condemned. So there is far too much at stake.

But it has ever been the joy and delight of God to heal the blind and unblock the ears of the deaf. And so thousands daily, from every tribe, tongue, race, and culture, are converted from unbelief to belief as our gracious God calls out a people to Himself, as His own possession.

Creation Ex-nihilo and the Philosophers

A brief sampling of non-Christian philosophers illustrates how the unbelieving matrix of thought is driven to posit the co-eternity of something alongside their god(s).

As Pierre Bayle observes: "There was among the Natural Scientists of Paganism a great diversity of opinions on the origin of the World, and on the nature of the element or the elements from which they claimed that particular bodies had been formed . . . . : but they all agreed on this one point--that the matter of the World was not a product. There was no dispute among them on the question of whether something was made out of nothing, but they all agreed that this was impossible. . . . [A]ccording to the system of all the pagan philosophers who believed in God [sic], there was an eternal and uncreated Being [sic] distinct from God [sic]: this was matter. This Being [sic] owed its existence solely to its own nature. It depended upon no other cause either as regards its essence, or as regards its attributes and properties." (Cited by Thomas Pangle, Political Philosophy and the God of Abraham, (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2003), p.32.)

Montesquieu sought to argue that laws of Nature are necessary because they have a relationship with the wisdom and power of god. He suggests that creation only appears to be an arbitrary act; it actually presupposes rules as invariable and inflexible as the fates of the atheists. "It would be absurd to say that the Creator without these rules, could govern the world, since the world would not endure without them." (Pangle, ibid., p. 31.) For Montesquieu the "rules" govern and control the creator as well as the creation.

Descartes: “I pointed out what are the Laws of Nature; and without resting my reasons on any other principle, than the infinite perfections of God, I tried to demonstrate all those about which one could have any doubt, and to point out that even if God had created several worlds, there could not have been any in which they would fail to be observed . . .

“In this way, although He had not, in the beginning given any other form than that of Chaos, provided that, after establishing the Laws of Nature, he had lent his aid in order to act according to her custom, one can believe, without doing outrage to the miracle of the creation, that by this means alone all the things which are purely material would have been able, in course of time, to render themselves such as we observe them to be at present. And their nature is much easier to understand when one seems them being born little by little in this manner, than were one to consider them as all complete.” (Pangle, ibid. Emphasis, mine; note the personal pronoun starting to be applied to Nature.)

The God of the Scriptures--no matter how much formal acknowledgement to Him is given, no longer exists in the world of Montesquieu and Descartes. The god of the philosophers is a being who learns the laws of Nature through studying and discerning what intrinsically is in Nature, then establishes Laws accordingly. He gives aid to Nature. But Nature is self-determining; It could have got there on its own. And in fact It is much easier to understand and comprehend if we work on the gradualist premise.