Creation Ex Nihilo: Part 2, Creator of Heaven and Earth

Again, some have argued that the doctrine of creation ex nihilo creates so much of a theodicy problem we should reject the doctrine. But if we did so, how could we confess that God is the "Creator of heaven and earth"?

The argument revolves around how we read the opening lines of Genesis.

Specifically, there are two different ways to punctuate the opening of Genesis, each leading to different theologies of creation. Here is Genesis 1.1-3 (KJV):

1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And God saw the light, that it was good...

The issue has to do with how Genesis 1.1 relates to 1.2 and/or 1.3. In traditional readings 1.1 sets up 1.2. In this reading the first act of creation (1.1) is God creating a chaotic and formless world--the deep (found in 1.2). From there God begins to impose order on the chaos (1.3 and following).

But there is a second reading of these opening verses, one that originated with Jewish theology, where 1.1 is not read as an act of creation but read as a sort of Preamble or Chapter Title: "This is the Account of How God Created the Heavens and the Earth." The formal creation account then starts in 1.2 rather than in 1.1. Such a reading sets up like this:

This is the Account of How God Created the Heavens and the Earth:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

In this second reading--where the creation account formally beings with Genesis 1.2 rather than with 1.1--the chaos and void are there with God at the beginning of creation. The origin of the chaos and void is left unspecified.

Additional evidence for this reading is observed in that the timing of creation is synchronized with the artistic acts which start in Genesis 1.3. The clock doesn't start with Genesis 1.1 and 1.2. We don't read: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The first day."

In light of this second reading, how can we confess that God is the Creator of heaven and earth? We start with the first act of creation in Genesis 1.3: The bringing of light. And this act of creation isn't creation ex nihilo but bringing order to chaos. And so is each subsequent act of creation. Creation is imposing artistic order on the chaos, the making of something beautiful and "good" out of that which was previously "formless."

To summarize, in this second reading, the creative acts of God recounted in Genesis 1 are less acts of creation ex nihilo than the artistic and moral ordering of chaos. Creation, in this biblical reading, is turning chaos into something "good." God is Creator of heaven and earth not because God created heaven and earth ex nihilo, but because heaven and earth are orderings and structures God brings out of chaos:

And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.