- Creatio ex nihilo (Latin for “creation out of nothing”) is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act.
- The creation of the universe from nothing (creatio ex nihilo) is also not found in the Bible. In fact, in general, it does not exist anywhere until the 2nd century AD. The doctrine of creatio ex nihilo is a doctrine formulated by Christians in the 2nd century AD as a result of discussions with their opponents. Post-biblical, that is.
Originating out of 2nd/3rd century debates with Gnostics.
It is truly incredible that an idea that seems so natural to us and that we think is or might have been shared by all people throughout history has only sprouted in a very specific context.
This doctrine also plays an important place in early Christological debates:
“…early Christianity did develop an understanding of the world which was self-consciously in confrontation with ancient culture.”
It is not a new interpretation that there is no doctrine of creation from nothing in the Bible. In Genesis 1, the fact that deep waters (ἀβύσσο) and darkness (σκότος) already existed before God began to create does not escape the attention of the Roman Emperor Julian (d. 363), who wrote a refutation to Christians:
Christian Saint Justin Martyr (d. 165) also thought that creation was made not from “nothing” but from already existing formless matter, since the doctrine of creation from nothing had not yet emerged when he wrote his works:
“His goodness created everything from formless matter.”
As with these lesser divine entities, so also with the larger universe itself. In Genesis, God organizes what seems to be already to hand: empty and formless earth, primeval cosmic waters (Gen 1:1–2). Like gods and angels in the later narratives, these media, without apology, are just there. No idea of creation ex nihilo complicated the biblical stories—nor would it until long after Paul’s lifetime.
