How did God create the world from nothing?
How did God create the world from nothing?
Is this not worthy of praise unto God? How much more then should we stand in awe of Him who made the starry hosts by the breath of His mouth (Psalm 33:6).
Creation reveals what God can do and has done.
“Never show anyone. They’ll beg you and they’ll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up … you’ll be nothing to them.” – Alfred Borden, The Prestige (2006)
A quote from one of my favourite movies which features two illusionists trying to out do each other’s brilliant tricks as they vie to be the world’s greatest. Now the difference between God and illusionists is that while an illusionist seeks to charm the audience by deceiving the eye into believing an object has evidently defied the laws of physics that the system, in which we live, is subject to, God does the real thing! God glorifies His Name through His creation. As Borden puts it, there’s nothing great about an illusionist whose tricks the mind has comprehended. However, I am quite confident that our limited minds would never be able to fully grasp the unlimited magnificence of God. But when we do glimpse even just a shadow of His glory, He’ll become everything to us. To Him be all praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!
I would like to begin by saying that Genesis was not written with the intention of being a scientific textbook. Rather, it is a theological narrative written to reveal the God of creation, which means its emphasis is on God and not creation.
The Scientific Approach
Naturalism is the worldview which believes that matter comes forth from natural processes, without aid from any supernatural entity. In this system of belief, matter and life are created by chance. This leaves us with an infinite regress of cause and effect, or the incredulous teaching that everything we see came out of nothing with no causal force or purpose. Evolutionary theory recognizes that man came from matter already existent on the earth, but it is unable to determine how that process took place.
To take a more scientific approach, particle physics and quantum chemistry define ‘matter creation’ as a process inverse to particle annihilation (“total destruction” or “complete obliteration” of an object). It is the conversion of mass-less particles into one or more massive particles. By the law of conservation of momentum (The total momentum of any group of objects remains the same unless outside forces act on the objects) and the law of conservation of energy (the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant), in a system that is un-acted upon, energy and momentum cannot be altered or created. By Einstein’s famous equation, E = mc2 (E – Energy; m- mass; c – speed of light), only if a force is applied to an object in the direction of motion, will the object gain momentum and energy. Hence, even if we want to convert matter from one form to another, a proportionate force is required.
To put in simple terms, it is impossible to make anything that has mass and occupies a position in space, by just saying so! (Imagine if we could!)
That pretty much leaves the question of creation unanswered.
The Biblical Approach
Biblically, we realize that God’s power was able to do what is naturalistically impossible: bring forth life from lifeless matter. God created the substance (matter) of the universe out of nothing.
The biblical creation story tells us that an eternal, necessary first cause (God), created the universe and all that is in it. The law of causality demands that all effects (matter) need a cause, and that these changes take place in the current space dimension in which we live. God is eternal (Psalm 90:2) and is subsequently apart from His creation as the necessary first cause.
The Bible teaches that God made creation out of nothing. In Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” This teaching negates the possibility of evolution and an eternal universe, or some form of matter out of which creation was made. Also, it means that the state of creation was “formless and empty” in Genesis 1:2 cannot refer to some matter that God used to make creation out of, but rather that “formless and empty” simply means that the earth was created from nothing but was not yet formed in such a way that it could sustain human life and was therefore empty of human life.
So then where did creation come from?
Genesis 1:1 portrays God creating all of creation from nothing. Therefore, creation came not from pre-existing matter but rather out of nothing.
What God had made from nothing was then prepared for human habitation by the powerful spoken word of God. (Gen 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26).
Genesis 1 portrays God’s word as the most powerful force in all of creation. Therein, God’s word brings order, makes things good, creates an environment in which life can exist, separates things, comes with unparalleled authority, and accomplishes exactly what God intended it to. God brought creation out of nothing and prepared it for us because He cares for us. The final act of creation in Genesis 1-2 is the making of our first parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:7, 22). Genesis artfully paints the creation of the man and woman who are God’s image-bearers on the earth as a very special and personal event done by God’s metaphorical hands as He was intimately and delicately involved in the knitting together of human life. Psalm 139:13 echoes the sanctity of human life made by God’s hand, saying, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
The Implications
The question of origins has implications for everything else. For example, Genesis says that there was a beginning to history which means there will be an end. Genesis says that creation comes from God which means it belongs to God. Genesis says that people come from God which means that people will stand before God in the end.
Furthermore, the Bible adds, creation leaves man without an excuse to doubt the existence of an eternal God. (Rom 1:20)