by Mike Richardson
Creation ex nihilo is the doctrine that God created all that now exists (outside of himself) from absolute nothingness. In explaining this view, the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04470a.htm) distinguishes it from the creation of a thing from pre-existing materials (a.k.a. creation ex materia) and creation out of God’s own being (creation ex deo).
The appeal of this view is clear, it allows God to be unlimited by any pre-existent or co-existent reality. God can create however and whatever he wants, including the laws that govern matter—while himself remaining indivisible and external to his creation. If God created out of his own being, it is argued, he would be either divisible or inextricable from his creation. On the other hand, it is argued, if God created out of pre-existing matter, his creation—and thus he himself—would be limited by the nature of the matter from which he created.
There have been many arguments for and against this position throughout the ages, many philosophical in nature, and others exegetical. The question seems unanswerable from an appeal to either logic or biblical scripture.
Logic fails us because conclusions depend on the acceptance of first premises—premises that rest on assumptions or beliefs (often dogmatic). For example, believing in a God that can draw from his own nature in creating (e.g. procreation) is only problematic if we assume that such creation diminishes God—which of course would only be possible if God were not infinite. Even finite nature suggests that life is capable of infinite expansion. The child draws from the substance of the parent without diminishing her. A cell expands even as it divides. Mathematically this is also true; there is no division without multiplication, no subtraction without addition. Equilibrium reigns over the operations that flow into and from it.
Given the existence of evil, it may be more difficult to explain how a good God might extract himself from a creation ex deo that includes evil—that is, only if we first assume that a creation from the substance of God is thus indistinguishable or inseparable from God. Or that it must retain all of its godly properties, attributes, and nature once separated from its source. We have many examples in nature of how a part of a thing, once separated, does not always retain the qualities of the whole (e.g. oxygen and hydrogen separated from one another no longer retain the nature of water). Would this sort of separation diminish God? Only if we assume that his nature, substance and being are finite. An infinite God could not be diminished by creation ex deo, even if such creation meant (perhaps temporarily) separation from something that was once part of himself.
Logic also fails to prove that a God who created ex materia must then be limited by the nature of co-existent material. This argument must assume first that matter has certain limitations that would otherwise not apply to God, and that those limitations can then be imposed on God’s will as he shapes matter. But if matter is co-eternal with God, it may also be likewise infinite. The laws that inform, or flow from, God’s nature may also inform, or flow from, the nature of matter. Matter may also be just as malleable as God demands it to be, just as obedient as he commands, or it may be (in its most fundamental, purest form) of a like nature with God. For example, if God is light embodied, and the material of creation is light, then God is not limited by the nature of light since it is one with his own nature. If light is infinite, then God, as a being of light, is also infinite, and vice versa. Creation ex materia is only problematic if we assume that the material of creation is limited, and in turn limits God.
Biblical scripture also fails to prove creation ex nihilo. At best, according to the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, the idea “that the material of which the universe is composed was created out of nothing is the implicit, rather than specifically explicit, statement of the Bible” (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04470a.htm; Arguments for creation, 2). However, the idea that the Bible implies (or explicates) the opposite is also tenable. For example, in describing the creation of the earth, one can argue that it is from a formless substance, not from nothing, that God creates the present earth (Genesis 1:2). And it is largely from this earth and its waters that other creations are brought forth. An exception might be found in the creation of light, which is called forth by Him who is called the Light of the World. Human life is also special, created in God’s image by one who is himself described as Life (see John 14:6; John 1; Genesis 1), with bodies formed of dust, and the breath of life breathed into them by God himself (Genesis 2:7). The Bible also clearly testifies that we are children of God (Psalms 82:6; Romans 8:16). So if creation ex nihilo is implied somehow, both creation ex materia and creation ex deo are explicitly taught in the Bible.
Joseph Smith taught that matter and spirit were of one substance in different levels of refinement, and that this substance was co-eternal with God. He also taught that intelligence/mind, or spirit is co-eternal with God—and that the mind of humankind differs from the mind of God primarily in terms of level of intelligence, elevation, and refinement. These teachings suggest that mind (spirit) and matter are of one infinite and eternal substance—a substance shared by God in a much greater measure of intelligence, enlightenment, perfection, refinement, and power. Thus when God creates ex materia—as Joseph also taught—he is not diminished or limited by that creation because the matter of creation is not only co-eternal with God, it is also likewise infinite and in its pure and primeval form, of like nature. It is also perfectly subject to God because of all mind/matter, he is most elevated, intelligent, and refined.
God organizes mind/matter in such a way that it can advance toward him by drawing upon his infinite wisdom and power. But advancement entails also the possibility of regression—a step forward of necessity entails the possibility of a step back. And thus by God’s creative action which enables our advancement, we become free to choose liberty and eternal life, or captivity and death (2 Nephi 2: 27).
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