Creation ex nihilo

An essential Christian doctrine is Creatio ex nihilo, Latin for “creation out of nothing.” This doctrine stipulates that time, space, and matter are not eternal but had to be created by the divine creative act as recorded in Genesis One. Genesis 1:1 records God creating time, space, and mass in the perfect order of creation. In science, this is known as the time-space-mass continuum. God is a perfect Scientist. He starts the Bible the way a perfect scientist would start it.

The verb in Hebrew used to describe how God created is bara and may only be used to describe the actions of the Creator God. Humans cannot bara. God is the Creator of heaven and earth, meaning the entire universe. But, more than that, He is the Creator of everything in the seen and unseen universe, all the natural and supernatural things. Hebrews 11:3 states: “By 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.” [1]

This belief has been a pivotal point throughout Christian history. In 1649, Puritan clergymen wrote: “It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.” Westminster Assembly. 1649. The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition.

In the fourth of the eight creation psalms, Psalm 33, verses 6 and 9 tell us: “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.”

God spoke everything in the universe into existence because He is the Sovereign God; He is El Shaddai, most often translated as “God Almighty,” but literally meaning “The Many Breasted God.” Why? Because El-Shaddai is the One Who nourishes, supplies and satisfies; He is the One Who fills and makes fruitful; He is the One Who pours out all sustenance and blessing upon us abundantly. He is the all-sufficient, self-sufficient, all-bountiful, all-powerful, Almighty One! He is able to create to the uttermost.

For many in the West, the idea of sovereignty has been diminished because we have not had a King, Queen, Emperor, or Tzar in recent history. The concept of human sovereignty is total, complete, absolute, supreme power and authority over land and life. When the Sovereign orders something done, there is no hesitation, no question, no ifs, no ands, and no buts. The God of the Bible is the Sovereign of the universe.

Where did the universe and all it contains come from?

The secular evolutionary worldview is that everything is eternal without a beginning and without an end. Or, as James Hutton concluded in his book, Theory of the Earth, “There is no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”

The only other view is that it all had a beginning at the same time by the action of a Designer, Creator, Eternal God.

When an evolutionist is asked where everything came from, he argues back to what is called the First Cause. Various evolutionists would say the First Cause was the now disproven “Big Bang.” Others would simply say that the universe has simply always been.

When presented with the same question, the creationist logically argues back to the Uncaused Cause - the eternal Creator God who always existed and alone is the First Cause of all things. He is not a created being, nor does He answer to any higher authority, nor is He a part of the creation. He is separate from the creation, as He ordered it into existence. He is transcendent. Therefore, the Bible and science are consistent in that nothing begets nothing, and the universe had a beginning!  

Where did the universe and all it contains come from?

God spoke it all, natural and supernatural, into existence in a series of six days, just as we experience today, about 6,000 years ago. Before He spoke it into existence, there was no preexisting time, space, or matter. The Scriptures declare this from one end to the other.

For example, after the original creation account, we may read:

"You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You.” Nehemiah 9:6

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” Psalm 33:6

“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created [bara]. He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away.” Psalm 148:5-6 [Emphasis added]

The following verse I use when I autograph my books:

“For by Him all things were created [ktiso, to create, produce from nothing], both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created [ktiso] all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” Revelation 4:11

God spoke everything in the universe into existence, and He was not diminished in any way by doing it. The universe did not come out from Him, nor was it a part of His essence. Early Christian commentators emphasized this in their writings.

“Let us proceed then, O King, to the elements themselves that we may show regarding them that they are not gods, but perishable and mutable, produced out of that which did not exist at the command of the true God, who is indestructible and immutable and invisible.” [Emphasis added] Apology of Aristides Chapter 4.

“God, who dwells in the heavens and made out of nothing the things that exist.” Shepherd of Hermas, Book 1, Chapter 1.

“While men, indeed, cannot make anything out of nothing, but only out of matter already existing, yet God is in this point pre-eminently superior to men, that He Himself called into being the substance of His creation when previously it had no existence.” [Emphasis added] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 2, Chapter 10, Section 4.

“… all things God has made out of things that were not into things that are, in order that through His works His greatness may be known and understood,” Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, Book 1, Chapter 4.

“There is one only God, and that He is none other than the Creator of the world, who produced all things out of nothing through His own Word.” Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heresies, Chapter 13.

Modern science uses the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics to tell us the same thing.

Creatio ex nihilo is an essential Christian doctrine. All things were created by the sovereign act of the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnijudicious Creator God by the simple act of His ordering it to be done. He is not a part of the creation, nor is the creation a part of Him. He is the transcendent Almighty Creator God!

[1] - All Scripture quotations are from New American Standard Version (1995)