Commenting
on whether Gen 1 teaches creation from nothing, Tremper Longman III wrote:
Creation
from Nothing?
I want to briefly address a controversial
subject that relates to the teaching of Genesis 1-2 on creation by asking
whether Genesis speaks about creation from nothing (creatio ex nihilo). That is, does Genesis 1 in particular talk
about God starting with nothing and then creating matter and finally taking the
matter and forming it into something organized and functional? Or does Genesis
1 begin the description of creation at the point when there is unformed and
unorganized matter that God then shapes into something habitable for humanity?
This second view would not explicitly teach that God created everything from
nothing.
The debate begins at the level of
translation. This is not the place to get down to the details of Hebrew
grammar, so let me just start by stating that most Hebrew scholars would admit
that the Hebrew could support either perspective, as might be illustrated by
comparing the NIV translation with the NRSV. The NIV translates Genesis 1:1-2
as follows:
In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface
of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
The NRSV takes a different approach:
In the beginning when God created the heavens
and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of
the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Notice how the NRSV translation presumes that
the earth was in a disorganized state at the point that (“when”) God began the
creation process. The emphasis is on bringing this formless void into a
functional state. The NIV translation starts the description of creation before
the existence of formless matter, so the process moves from nothing to
disorganized matter and then finally to a functional cosmos.
Since the grammar does not definitively support
one or the other of the possible translations, other considerations are
operating in the minds of the translators. For those who adopt the NRV
approach, the fact that other ancient Near Eastern accounts all begin with the
idea that the creator god utilizes preexistent matter indicates that in the original
cultural context, what John Walton calls the Bible’s “cognitive environment,”
the question of where the original stuff came from was not of interest . . . I
personally lean toward the NRSV understanding of the opening of Genesis 1 and
believe that one cannot dogmatically assert that Genesis 1 presents a picture
of creation from nothing. (Tremper Longman III, Confronting Old Testament Controversies: Pressing Questions about
Evolution, Sexuality, History, and Violence [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker
Books, 2019], 48-50)
To be fair,
Longman, as does John Walton and others, argue that the Bible elsewhere teaches
creation out of nothing:
For those who instead adopt the NIV approach,
later biblical teaching that God created from nothing is determinative . . .
Later biblical texts clearly teach hat God created everything, so the biblical
doctrine of creation from nothing stands secure. (Ibid., 50).
Furthermore,
in a footnote (p. 50, n. 50), he writes that:
For the best defense of the alternative view
that Genesis 1 does teach creation from nothing, see Copan and Craig, Creation out of Nothing.
Respectfully,
Longman et al are just wrong on this score. For more, as well as a devastating
refutation of Copan and Craig’s book, see:
Blake T. Ostler, Out of Nothing: A History of Creation ex Nihilo in Early Christian Thought
See also:
James Patrick Holding refuted on Creation Ex Nihilo
Thomas Jay Oord, ed. Theologies of Creation: Creatio Ex Nihilo and its New Rivals