Creation ex nihilo

Definition and Meaning

Creation ex nihilo is the doctrine that God made the world out of nothing. It holds that no matter or principle existed eternally alongside God or apart from him; God alone is self-existent, and everything else has received its existence from him. The doctrine grounds the clear distinction between the Creator and the creature (that which has been made), and it underlies the doctrines of creation and providence.

Biblical and Historical Background

The biblical passages commonly cited in support include Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3 ("things which are seen were not made of things which do appear"); Romans 4:17; John 1:3; Psalm 33:6; and Colossians 1:16. Second Maccabees 7:28, which the Catholic and Orthodox churches accept as Scripture, is also frequently cited. Some biblical scholars, however, interpret Genesis 1:1–2 less as a direct statement of creation out of nothing than as a scene in which order is brought to chaos, and they regard the doctrine as a later formulation drawn from the witness of Scripture as a whole.

As a doctrine, it is generally thought to have been formulated around the second century by the Church Fathers, the theological leaders of the early church. Greek philosophy of the time held that a god had fashioned the world from preexisting matter, while Gnosticism regarded the material world as evil. Against these views, the Church Fathers taught that God alone is eternal and that matter, too, was created good by God. Augustine later systematized the teaching, and in 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council confessed that God created all creatures out of nothing.

Confession and Reception

The doctrine is expressed in the phrase "Maker of heaven and earth" in the Apostles' Creed, which is confessed in worship, and in the phrase "maker of all things visible and invisible" in the Nicene Creed. Chapter 4 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which Presbyterians hold as a doctrinal standard, likewise confesses that God created the world out of nothing. In Korea, the major Protestant denominations all accept the doctrine.

Denominations and theologians differ less over the doctrine itself than over the manner in which creation took place and the length of time it took. Views include reading the six days of Genesis as literal 24-hour days, holding to an old earth, and maintaining that God created through an evolutionary process. This discussion is treated in the article Creation and Evolution. Whichever view is held, creation out of nothing is generally shared as a common starting point.