Creatio ex dei, ex materia, or ex nihilo?

by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #101 posted August 12, 2019, edited March 10, 2021.

Preamble

Perhaps the most important sentence ever written is the first sentence in the Bible, which, reading the Hebrew chracters from right to left, says, “Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz” (Genesis 1:1). The same sentence in the Latin Vulgate, reading from left to right, says, “In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram,” and in the English King James Version, also reading from left to right, says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

The subject of this verse, of course, is the origin of Universe, which means “everything.” In the 1^st millenium AD, most people, whether Jewish, Christian, or later Muslim, agreed that God had created Universe. There was, however, considerable disagreement among theologians concerning whether God created Universe (a) ex nihilo (out of nothing),[1] (b) ex materia (out of pre-existent, eternal matter), or (c) ex dei (out of himself). There is, of course, at least one other alternative, which has become increasingly popular in the 21^st century: (d) God does not exist, and Universe has existed forever.

For me, there is only one way to make sense of Universe. An omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omnicompetent God exists. He conceived of Universe in his mind – i.e. he designed its physical form and then scripted what would happen in it – just as L. Frank Baum conceived of the Land of Oz by imagining its physical form and then devising stories about what would happen within it. Then God made Universe in conformity with his design and is managing Universe’s life so that it follows his script.

The above is exactly what the Bible describes, which is why I believe what I do. A Triune God, consisting of God-the-Father, God-the-Son, and God-the Holy Spirit, exists. He is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnicompetent, as well as possessing many other, unlimited attributes. God-the-Father conceived Universe’s design and script, put them in a book entitled the Decrees of God, and then handed the book to God-the-Son, who, with the help of God-the-Holy Spirit, set about producing Universe and ensuring that what happens in it conforms with God-the-Father’s script.

Ontological Orders

In my blog of February 27, 2017, Natural History 2 – an introduction to biblical cosmology continued, I wrote the following, which comprises the rest of this section (I won’t try to insert the many, appropriate quotation marks):

Based on a careful reading of Genesis 1-3, the Ancients discerned a series of ontological orders that together provide a comprehensive view of reality. This view can be found in the work of Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas. It has been resurrected by Wolfgang Smith,^[1] with whom I disagree slightly, but to whom I owe much. Here is what I imagine Creation looks like from God’s perspective. It is divided into three domains containing seven orders, as follows:

Domain 1 – The Elemental World

The elemental world is the most fundamental world. It consists of the three orders which we perceive with our minds – not with our unaided senses – (1) the Primordial Realm, (2) the Possible Realm, and (3) the Probable Realm.

Order 1 – The Primordial Realm is the Ancients’ materia prima. It is the most fundamental realm and corresponds to the primordial chaos in Genesis 1:2a, which is tohu-wa-bohu – i.e. “without form and void.” It is the “face of the deep” in the same verse and “the face of the depth” in Proverbs 8:27, upon which God would subsequently set his compass.^[2] The primordial is the realm of undifferentiated “stuff.”

 Order 2 – The Possible Realm is the Ancients’ materia secunda. It is the next order and corresponds to the realm of potency or potential, on which God has set his compass. It is imbued with mathematical, geometric, logical, informational, and statistical structure that is the subject of investigation by the abstract sciences. It is sometimes called the signata quantitate. Its structure determines what can happen, not what will happen. It is analogically equivalent to the Euclidean plane before the geometer constructs anything (a point, a line, a circle, a square, etc.). Order 2 is the realm of possibilities (i.e. it determines what structures and processes are possible).

Order 3 – The Probable Realm is the physicists’ quantum world (unknown to the Ancients) and what I call the materia tertia. It is the next order and corresponds to the realm of intellectual constructs, such as waves, atoms, sub-atomic particles, etc. It is the analogical equivalent of the Euclidean forms, such as the circle, the ellipse, the parabola, etc., which lack any essence, any corporal content. An operator (using instruments, if he is a man) acts on these constructs and thereby transforms something that is potential and imperceptible in the sub-corporal domain into something actual and perceptible in the corporal domain. Examples of such constructs are mass, energy, particles, waves, space, time, etc. These constructs cannot be reified; they are products of the operator’s mind and the instruments which he uses to study them. They are not something which moves from potency to actuality. Order 3 is the realm of probabilities (i.e. it determines what structures and processes are probable).

Domain 2 – The Natural World

 The natural world is the actual, physical world in which we live. It is a world of unique forms and substances – i.e. no two objects in it are completely alike. It consists of the two orders which we perceive with our unaided senses (although the process by which this perception occurs is a mystery) – (4) the Inorganic Realm and (5) the Organic Realm.

Order 4 – The Inorganic Realm consists of the inorganic compounds that make up the Mineral Kingdom. This order exhibits a spatial hierarchy – geometric in nature.

• • Earth – the terrestrial sphere (the residue of the waters below the firmament). It is probably located at the order’s center.
  • 1^st Heaven – the firmament, the expanse, or interstellar space, in which the sun, moon, and stars are located. It is a spherical shell which is above and surrounding the Earth. It is a plenum probably consisting mostly of plasma.
  • Upper Waters – the waters above the firmament. It is a spherical shell of water above and surrounding the 1^st
  • 2^nd Heaven – a sphere of unknown content above and surrounding the Upper Waters. Its outer edge is the boundary of Universe.

Order 5 – The Organic Realm consists of the organic compounds which make up the three kingdoms of life. It is physically located within Order 4 (in the biosphere at the surface of the earth), but it is an ontological level higher than Order 4. Its prime characteristic is the presence of coded information (DNA), which could not have arisen from the inorganic Order 4 but required an intellect to design it – let alone the myriad of living forms which it describes.  It too possesses a hierarchical order: plants exhibit less complexity and abilities than animals, and animals exhibit less complexity and abilities than humans. ^[3]

• • 5a – The Vegetable Kingdom is embodied in plants or fauna, which are living, but apparently inanimate. ^[4] Alfred Korzybski calls them the energy-binding form of life, because they bind up the energy of the sun in their structure and thereby provide sustenance to the higher forms of life.
  • 5b – The Animal Kingdom is embodied in animals, birds, fish, insects, and creeping things which are living and animate, excepting humans. Korzybski calls them the space-binding form of life, because they can move across the terrestrial surface in search of food, shelter, etc.
  • 5c – The Human Kingdom contains humans who are living, animate, and reflective. Korzybski calls them the time-binding form of life, because, through scientific investigation (research), applied science (technology), record keeping (libraries), etc., they can progress through time, creating ever more sophisticated art, artifacts, social structures, etc.

Domain 3 – The Supernatural World

 The supernatural world is the world outside Universe which we perceive with our minds and our spirits after God reveals to us that the Bible is his Word Written and Jesus of Nazareth is his Word Incarnate. I surmise that it is the 3^rd heaven to which Paul referred in 2 Corinthians 12:2. It contains two spiritual orders: (6) the Celestial Realm and (7) the Divine Realm.

Order 6 – The Celestial Realm is embodied in angels and demons.

Order 7 – The Divine Realm is embodied in the Godhead.

Back to the Three Alternatives

Interestingly, the three terms used in the theological debate concerning origins are not mutually exclusive. Each of them applies to some aspect of Universe’s creation.

Creatio ex dei describes how Universe’s design and script originated in the mind of God-the-Father before Universe was created.

Creatio ex nihilo describes how Universe’s Primordial Realm, which the Ancients called materia prima, originated from the verbal command of God-the-Son, who spoke Universe into existence. Before He spoke, it wasn’t. After He spoke, it was. Before He spoke, there was nothing. After He spoke, there was something. Moreover, whatever this something was, it must have originated in Him. Hence, creatio ex dei applies here as well.

Creatio ex materia describes the origin of the Possible Realm, which the Ancients called materia secunda.^[5] As I explained above, God set his compass on the materia prima, thereby transforming it into the materia secunda. It corresponds to the realm of potency or potential. It is imbued with mathematical, geometric, logical, informational, and statistical structure that is the subject of investigation by the abstract sciences. It is sometimes called the signata quantitate. Its structure determines what can happen, not what will happen. It is analogically equivalent to the Euclidean plane before the geometer constructs anything (a point, a line, a circle, a square, etc.). Materia secunda is the realm of possibilities (i.e. it determines what structures and processes are possible).

The Fourth Alternative

I must comment on the atheists’ belief, that God does not exist, and Universe has existed forever. I was an atheist for twenty-two years, and I believed just that. Now it make no sense to me.

• • First, scientists depend on identifying a cause for everything they study. Yet atheistic scientists duck the issue when Universe itself is the subject of their study.
  • Second, wherever scientists look in Universe, whether in the macrocosm or the microcosm, their tools reveal an awesome complexity, creativity, and order that defies any explanation outside of the existence of a Divine Designer. When you see a clock, you know that someone designed it and someone made it. When you look at Universe, you see signs of creativity, complexity, and functionality that dwarf those evident in any clock.

Loath to acknowledge the existence of a Divine Designer, people use “chance” to explain what is otherwise inexplicable. That too no longer makes any sense to me for two reasons.

• • First, while attempting to understand the behavior of a portion of Universe, atheistic scientists are assuming that the subject of their studies will behave in an orderly and rational manner, all the while maintaining that this order and rationality is the product of chance and might change in the next minute. That is just illogical.
  • In addition, when atheistic scientists encounter a seventy-story building or a supersonic airplane or a neutron microscope, do they consider for a moment the possibility that it was the product of a hurricane that (a) blew through a building-supply warehouse or a machine-tool shop, (b) snapped up a chance selection of thousands of parts, from small screws and electronic, computer components to large pieces of sheet metal, glass, etc. (c) assembled the resulting artifact in the air by chance, and then (d) set it down on the ground quietly – in the case of a building, to be occupied by thousands of office workers, in the case of an airplane, ready to be flown by a human pilot, and in the case of the microscope, ready to be put to use by a nuclear physicist? Of course not!

Complex, working things require intelligent designers – particularly things that display irreducible complexity, which is a state that requires several, uniquely designed, interlocking and interdependent parts to be in place and working before the whole can function. Imagine how vulnerable any creature would be while running around with eyes that cannot see.

My Conclusion

The only alternative for the origin of Universe that makes sense to me is that an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omnicompetent God designed and created Universe with the power of his Word, which is exactly what Genesis 1:1-2:3 describes. Thus creatio ex die, creatio ex nihilo, and creatio ex materia all make perfect sense to me. Moreover, whenever I contemplate the unimaginable amount of power which God put into creating materia prima, materia secunda, and materia tertia, I am forced to drop to my knees and cry out, “How great Thou art!” [6]

© 2019 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] Clarification – To create anything, mankind must reform something that already exists. A potter can only make a pottery vase by reforming a lump of clay and then baking it. God, on the other hand, does not need preexisting material. He can create something using only his mind and his power, both of which are unlimited. In the past, people have described God as creating Universe ex nihilo (out of nothing in English), but that is only true if it is clear that ex nihilo refers only to something (some physical material), but not to someone (an omniscient, omnipotent, omnicompetent being such as God). Man needs some physical material (something) with which to create, God needs only someone – Himself – with whom to create. Nor can Universe spring into existence ex nihilo – i.e. out of nothing. The word “nothing” has no objective referent. There is no such thing as “nothing” – anywhere.

[2] My acceptance of the ontological orders of the ancients owes much to three books by Wolfgang Smith: Cosmos & Transcendence – Breaking Through the Barrier of Scientific Belief, Sophia Perennis, San Rafael CA, 2008; Quantum Enigma – Finding the Hidden Key, The (1995), Sophia Perennis, Hillsdale NY, 3^rd edition 2005; and Wisdom of Ancient Cosmology – Contemporary Science if the Light of Tradition, The, Foundation for Traditional Studies, Oakton VA, 2003.For help in understanding these orders, see my “E02-V3 Table 6A – The Ancient’s Ontological Orders.”

[3] “…I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth…” (KJV Proverbs 8:27).

[4] Here I make use of the classes of life suggested by Alfred Korzybski in his Manhood of Humanity, (1921), International Non-Aristotelian Library Publishing Company, Lakeville CT, 1950.

[5] I say apparently because not everyone agrees. Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird argue in The Secret Life of Plants, Harper & Row, New York, NY, 1973, that plants are animate and aware.

[6] “…I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth…” (KJV Proverbs 8:27).

[7] The amount of energy which God transferred into his creation is literally unimaginable. In my blog of August 5, 2019, I pointed out that Einstein’s equation e = mc², where “e” = energy, “m” = mass, and “c” = “the speed of light through space, is the formula for the destruction of matter, in which a small amount of matter is converted into an enormous amount of energy. A particle physicist, Adam Jacholkowski, once determined that the destruction of one atom of uranium-235 generates 202.5 million electron volts, which “…is about 2.5 million times more than the energy released from burning coal” (Wikipedia, July 9, 2019, at https://www.quora.com/How-much-energy-does-1-uranium-atom-release-if-split). Now imagine running this process in reverse, where 202.5 million electron volts is converted into one atom of uranium-235 and then try to imagine the amount of energy required to create all the atoms in Universe. If you think about the foregoing carefully, you will get some idea of just how inconceivably powerful the God of the Bible is. If you ignore him, you do so at great peril.

 

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