Creation Ex Nihilo

Abstract

Hugh gives an extended gloss on the scriptural proclamation that “In the beginning God creates heaven and earth” (Gen 1:1): The philosophers of the pagans assumed, so to speak, a certain three principles of things without beginning: an artisan, matter, and form, maintaining that those things which were made were all fashioned from matter into form by an artisan. But they maintained that God is a maker only, not a creator. The truth faith, however, declares that there is one first principle only which always was, and that by this alone was that which once did not exist made to exist. And the virtue of its ineffable omnipotence, just as it could not have anything else coeternal with it, to assist it in making, thus reposed in itself while it wished, so that what it wishes, and when, and as much as it wished, might be created out of nothing. Therefore, God not only made all things that were made from matter, but He himself created the matter of all things from nothing.1 The doctrine of creation ex nihilo is a conjunction of two theses. The first thesis is that whatever exists besides God is created by Him from nothing. Unlike a sculptor fashioning a statue from a block of stone, God does not create things by working on preexisting material.2 The second thesis is that whether and what God creates anything from nothing is entirely a matter of divine fiat. God might not have created anything at all, or He might have created things other than those He actually did. Creation ex nihilo is a power God possesses in virtue of His omnipotence.