On the surface some have read
this as alluding to creatio ex nihilo, “creation out of nothing.” This
is probably a mistaken reading. First, we should note that invisibility is not
necessarily the same as nonexistence. Second, some read the passage as
reflecting the platonic notion that the physical world derives from a
transcendent realm that cannot be seen, much like the earthly tabernacle was
patterned after an unseen heavenly one in 8:1-5 (which LDS would understand by
the concept that everything is created spiritually first, and physically
second). But even this is probably not the correct way to read the passage. As
the AB suggests, to properly comprehend the significance of the passage, we
must view it in its chiastic structure (which exists in Greek but is lost in
the ENG translation of the KJV):
A was
fashioned
B the universe
C by the word
of God
C’ by what
cannot be seen
B’ that which
can be seen
A’ came into
being
So, taking this parallelism into
account, the universe is that which can be seen; that which cannot be seen is
the word of God, the invisible power by which God created the worlds. (Kevin L.
Barney, “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews,” in Footnotes to
the New Testament for Latter-day Saints, ed. Kevin L. Barney, 2 vols.
[2007], 2:323 n. d)
