2. Nature and Concept of creation.
In contrast to the pagan pantheism, according to which the world is an outflow from God, that is, God himself (emanatism), and in contrast to the pagan dualism, according to which one assumes an eternal matter (νλη, νλη άμορφος, το μη δν) fashioned into the world (κόσμος) by the Godhead (ο νους, το δν),1439) the Holy Scriptures teach that the Triune God created all that is apart from God, the universe, from nothing by His mere will. The "nothing" is not to be understood as substance, nihil positivum (Plato's μη δν, chaos), but as real nothing (nihil negativum, materiam excludens), because according to Gen. 1:1 before the creation of the world there was nothing at all apart from God. "In the beginning," בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית [HEBREW], means when things began to be apart from God. According to Scripture, God, as distinct from things apart from God, has no beginning. This is expressed especially emphatically Ps. 90:2: וּֽמֵעוֹלָ֥ם עַד־ ע֝וֹלָ֗ם אַתָּ֥ה אֵֽל בְּטֶ֤רֶם ׀ הָ֘רִ֤ים יֻלָּ֗דוּ וַתְּח֣וֹלֵֽל אֶ֣רֶץ וְתֵבֵ֑ל [HEBREW] Likewise Col. 1:17: αϋτός εστι προ πάντων. However, for men it is true: De nihilo nihil fit [“Nothing happens out of nothing”], but not for God. Rather, of God applies Rom. 4:17: καλοῦντος τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα.
According to this, the creation of the world from nothing is a characteristic of God."1440)
1438) Cf. about the disagreement among the geologists Luthardt, Apologie I, 68 ff, although Luthardt himself makes almost throughout unseemly concessions. In our own publications, this subject has often been treated, e.g. L. u. W. 44, 364 ff.: "about the age of the earth." Geikie on the "paleontological difficulties", which have not been solved so far and whose sure solving is not to be expected in the future, L. u. W. 59, 71.
1439) Cf. Philippi, Glaubenslehre II, 225 f., citing Baier-Walther II, 98.
1440) When Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 427, says, "that a creation out of nothing is not directly taught in the canonical writings of the Bible, not even Hebr. 11:3 (and Rom. 4:17); there is only the address of an elevation out of nothingness into existence", then it is clear that the last sentence completely cancels the former. The elevation from nothingness into existence is precisely the creation out of nothing. Cf. on "nothingness" Twesten, Vorlesungen über die Dogmatik der ev.-luth. K. II, Abteil. 1, 75 f.; cf. Baier-Walther II, 97 f.
572 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Creation of the World and of Man. [English ed. pgs. 468-469]