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Creatio ex nihilo (Latin, 'creation out of nothing') or nihilogony is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe came to exist. It is in contrast to creatio ex materia, sometimes framed in terms of the dictum ex nihilo nihil fit or 'nothing comes from nothing', meaning all things were formed ex materia (that is, from pre-existing things).
In ancient near eastern cosmology, the universe is formed ex materia from eternal formless matter, namely the dark and still primordial ocean of chaos. In myth this cosmic ocean is personified as the goddess Nammu "who gave birth to heaven and earth" and had existed forever; in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish, pre-existent chaos is made up of fresh-water Apsu and salt-water Tiamat, and from Tiamat the god Marduk created Heaven and Earth; in Egyptian creation myths a pre-existent watery chaos personified as the god Nun and associated with darkness, gave birth to the primeval hill (or in some versions a primeval lotus flower, or in others a celestial cow); and in Greek traditions the ultimate origin of the universe, depending on the source, is sometimes Oceanus (a river that circles the Earth), Nyx, or water.
Similarly, the Genesis creation narrative opens with the Hebrew language phrase , which can be interpreted in at least three ways:
Though option 1 has been the historic and predominant view, it has been suggested since the Middle Ages that it cannot be the preferred translation based on strictly linguistic and exegetical grounds. Whereas our modern societies see the origin of matter as a question of crucial importance, this may not have been the case for ancient cultures. Some scholars assert that when the author(s) of Genesis wrote the creation account, they were more concerned with God bringing the cosmos into operation by assigning roles and functions.
In the first century CE, Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenized Jew, laid out the basic idea of ex nihilo creation, albeit inconsistently. Philo rejected the Greek notion of an eternal universe, maintaining that God created time itself. In other places, it has been argued that he postulated pre-existent matter alongside God. Later scholars, such as Harry Austryn Wolfson, interpreted Philo's cosmology differently, arguing that the so-called pre-existent matter was indeed created.Institute for Christian Studies (1994). 9780819195449, University Press of America. . ISBN 9780819195449
Saadia Gaon, a late 9th- and 10th-century Middle Egypt-Palestinian rabbi, gaon, philosopher, and Exegesis, formally introduced ex nihilo creation into Judaism Tanakh interpretation with the Book of Beliefs and Opinions, the first systematic theology of Rabbinic Judaism. Today, religious Judaism asserts creation ex nihilo, although some Jewish scholars maintain that allows for the pre-existence of matter to which God gives form.
In the present, some Christian theologians argue that though the Bible does not explicitly mention creation ex nihilo, it gains validity from the tradition of having been held by so many for so long. Some have proposed alternatives to creatio ex nihilo, like the idea of God creating the universe from Godself ( ex ipse), which suggests the universe is similar to God. Others argue for creation from pre-existent matter ( ex materia), implying the world does not rely on God for existence. The notion of creatio ex nihilo underlies some modern arguments for the existence of God among Christian and other theistic philosophers, especially as articulated in the cosmological argument, as well as its more particular manifestation in the Kalam cosmological argument.
Augustine of Hippo affirmed an allegorical interpretation of the six-day account of creation in the book of Genesis.According to the De Genesi ad litteram, for example, attributed to Augustine of Hippo, the story of creation in six days should be understood in an allegorical sense. God did not create the universe in six days, but rather in a single eternity instant outside of time, inserting into the entities the reasons for their causality (called rationes seminales) that subsequently governed their development according to divine law. Creation should be interpreted in the light of according to which God creates things with "order, weight and measure" (cf. Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram 4,21,3. He argues that the number 7 is significant and serves as a symbol of the perfection of God's creative work. He suggests that the first three days of creation cannot be considered perfect because the Sun was created on the fourth day. Additionally, he notes that the night of the sixth day is not mentioned in the biblical account. Augustine further contends that the notion of God Shabbat is questionable, as God is characterized as possessing all forms of wealth and is eternally unchangeable; thus, a change in state between the sixth and seventh days is deemed illogical. He emphasizes the concept of divine immutability and asserts that nothing can be added to the divine essence at any point—in relation to the unity of the Triune God worshipped in Nicene Christianity—while recognizing the distinct persons within the Trinity. Quote: "For both Jewish and Christian exegesis, the seven days of creation are not real days, as Augustine teaches - and, on his account, Galileo -, even if some moderns seem to ignore the basic rules already known to ancient exegesis. 'Could God have rested for one day?' - argues Augustine. 'No, this is obviously impossible and for this reason those days must be understood in a non-literal sense'."
According to Ambrose of Milan, God's rest follows the creation of humankind because God rests in the human being, which allows for a relationship of love to be established. In this context, God's rest is understood as a realization of love for his creatures, which is further connected to the concept of redemption in Christian theology. Ambrose distinguishes a link between the 'rest of God' and the 'rest' of Jesus on the cross. Hexameron, IX, 10. Quote: "The Lord rested in man's innermost being, rested in his mind and thought: for he had created man endowed with reason, capable of imitating him. ... I read that he created man and that at this point he rested, having a being to whom he would forgive sins. Or perhaps already then the mystery of the Lord's future passion was foretold, by which it was revealed that Christ would rest in man, he who predestined to himself rest in a human body for man's Redemption."
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