creatio ex nihilo
Definition
Creatio ex nihilo (Latin: “creation from nothing”) is the classical theological doctrine that God created the world without using any pre-existing material — from absolute nothing, by his word alone. The doctrine was formulated in response to dualistic cosmologies (the Greco-Gnostic principle of eternal matter) and has its classical scriptural basis in Gen. 1:1, Heb. 11:3, and 2 Macc. 7:28. In this corpus creatio ex nihilo is not a neutral commonplace: Stephen Jones uses it as the basis for a juridical ownership argument, while Watchman Nee reads Gen. 1 as a restoration-creation (where verse 1 describes the original ex nihilo creation and verses 3-31 a later restoration). Bullinger presupposes it implicitly in his teleological creation theology.
Uses per Author
Stephen Jones
For Jones, creatio ex nihilo is primarily a legal foundation: the Creator is the Owner. All possession is derivative; no one has the right to permanently alienate themselves or their land from the Creator:
“God’s ownership of all the earth rests in His creation. No one can permanently sell the land; no one can permanently sell himself as a slave — for all things belong to the Creator. The Jubilee always restores the original ownership relationships, because creation establishes absolute title.”
(Creation’s Jubilee, Chapter 1)
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
Nee nuances the classical ex nihilo doctrine by reading a “gap” in Gen. 1:1-2: verse 1 describes the original creation, verse 2 (“without form and void”) a subsequent catastrophe, and verses 3ff. the restoration-creation. Thus creatio ex nihilo applies only to the initial creation (Gen. 1:1); what the six creation days describe is a restoration:
“God is restoring the earth that had become desolate and empty. All material things in this restoration-creation are types or shadows of Christ as the reality — they all point to him as the true substance.”
(The All-Inclusive Christ, Chapter 1)
E.W. Bullinger
Bullinger presupposes creatio ex nihilo as an axiom: the infinite perfect Creator acts only in perfect order. The lawfulness of creation — numbers, harmony, chemistry — is evidence of a Mind that created from himself alone, not from pre-existing material:
“The infinite, perfect Creator can only act perfectly. His way is perfect; all His works are done in the right way, at the right time, in the right order, and in the right number.”
(Number in Scripture, Introduction)