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world was created, a matter without qualities and without form. But this is too puerile to be
worthy of serious consideration. Others took the expression “to create out of nothing” to mean
that the world came into being without a cause, and proceeded to criticize it as conflicting with
what is generally regarded as an axiomatic truth, ex nihilo nihil fit (out of nothing comes
nothing). But this criticism is entirely unwarranted. To say that God created the world out of
nothing is not equivalent to saying that the world came into being without a cause. God Himself
or, more specifically, the will of God is the cause of the world. Martensen expresses himself in
these words: “The nothing out of which God creates the world are the eternal possibilities of
His will, which are the sources of all the actualities of the world.”[Christian Dogmatics, p. 116.]
If the Latin phrase “ex nihilo nihil fit” be taken to mean that no effect can be without a cause,
its truth may be admitted, but it cannot be regarded as a valid objection against the doctrine of
creation out of nothing. But if it be understood to express the idea that nothing can originate,
except out of previously existing material, it certainly cannot be regarded as a self-evident
truth. Then it is rather a purely arbitrary assumption which, as Shedd points out, does not even
hold true of man’s thoughts and volitions, which are ex nihilo.[Dogm. Theol. I, p. 467.] But even
if the phrase does express a truth of common experience as far as human works are concerned,
this does not-yet prove its truth with respect to the work of the almighty power of God.
However, in view of the fact that the expression “creation out of nothing” is liable to
misunderstanding, and has often been misunderstood, it is preferable to speak of creation
without the use of pre-existing material.
d. Scriptural basis for the doctrine of creation out of nothing.
Gen. 1:1 records the beginning
of the work of creation, and it certainly does not represent God as bringing the world forth out
of pre-existent material. It was creation out of nothing, creation in the strict sense of the word,
and therefore the only part of the work recorded in Gen. 1 to which Calvin would apply the
term. But even in the remaining part of the chapter God is represented as calling forth all things
by the word of His power, by a simple divine fiat. The same truth is taught in such passages as
Ps. 33:6,9 and 148:5. The strongest passage is Heb. 11:3, “By faith we understand that the
worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of
things which appear.” Creation is here represented as a fact which we apprehend only by faith.
By faith we understand (perceive, not comprehend) that the world was framed or fashioned by
the word of God, that is, the word of God’s power, the divine fiat, so that the things which are
seen, the visible things of this world, were not made out of things which do appear, which are
visible, and which are at least occasionally seen. According to this passage the world certainly
was not made out of anything that is palpable to the senses. Another passage that may be
quoted in this connection is Rom. 4:7, which speaks of God, “who quickeneth the dead, and
calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Moffatt: “who makes the dead alive
and calls into being what does not exist”). The apostle, it is true, does not speak of the creation