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The Early Church Fathers on Creation out of Nothing.

Early Church Fathers
From the Scriptures

— St. Hermas, (A.D. c.40-100)
— Aristides of Athens, (A.D. 110-180)
— St. Theophilus of Antioch, (unknown - A.D. c.186)
— St. Irenæus of Lyons, (A.D. 125-202)
— Tertullian, (A.D. 160-218)
— St. Hippolytus of Rome, (A.D. 170-236)
— Origen of Alexandria, (A.D. 184-253)

St. Hermas, (A.D. c.40-100), author of the book called "The Shepherd" (A.D. c.90-c.150): a work which had great authority in ancient times, considered a valuable book by many Christians.

Believe first of all that God is one, that he created all things and set them in order and brought out of nonexistence ito existence everything that is, and that he contains all things while he himself is uncontained.

The Shepherd, 2:1:1 [A.D. 80]

Aristides of Athens, (A.D. 110-180), Greek; second century Greek Christian author who is primarily known as the author of the Apology of Aristides.

Let us proceed, then, 0 king, to the elements themselves, so that we may demonstrate concerning them that they are not gods but corruptible and changeable things, produced out of the nonexistent by him that is truly God, who is incorruptible and unchangeable and invisible, but who sees all things and changes them and alters them as he wills.

Apology 4 [A.D. 140]

St. Theophilus of Antioch, (unknown - A.D. c.186), Patriarch of Antioch, born pagan but embraced Christianity by studying the Holy Scriptures, especially the prophetical books. Wrote against idols, made contributions to Christian literature, polemics, exegetics, and apologetics.

Furthermore, inasmuch as God is uncreated, he is also unchangeable; so also, if matter were uncreated, it would be unchangeable and equal to God. That which is created is alterable and changeable, while that which is uncreated is unalterable and unchangeable. What great thing were it, if God made the world out of existing matter? Even a human artist, when he obtains material from someone, makes of it whatever he pleases. But the power of God is made evident in this, that he makes whatever he pleases out of what does not exist, and the giving of life and movement belongs to none other but to God alone.

To Autolycus 2:4 [A.D. 181]

St. Irenæus of Lyons, (A.D. 125-202), Asia Minor; bishop, missionary, theologian, defender of orthodoxy. Though by birth a Greek, he was Bishop of Lyons in the second century. He tells us that, in his early youth, he learned the rudiments of religion from St. Polycarp, the disciple of St. John the Apostle. He wrote several works, of which only a few fragments are now known, with the exception of his Treatise against Heretics which we have in five books.

Men indeed are not able to make something from nothing but only from existing material. God, however, is greater than men first of all in this: that when nothing existed beforehand, he called into existence the very material for his creation.

Against Heresies 2:10:4 [A.D. 189]

Tertullian, (A.D. 160-218), North African; ecclesiastical writer, Christian apologist and lawyer, son of a centurion and contemporary of St. Irenæus, a native and citizen of Carthage. The zeal and ability with which he defended the Christian cause, and vindicated its faith and discipline, have immortalized his name, though it has suffered by his adoption, around the year A.D. 200, of some of the Montanist's errors, whose cause he is thought to have supported until his death. His works are numerous, and are written with great ability and erudition, but in an harsh style.

The object of our worship is the one God, who, by the word of his command, by the reason of his plan, and by the strength of his power, has brought forth from nothing for the glory of his majesty this whole construction of elements, bodies, and spirits; whence also the Greeks have bestowed upon the world the name Cosmos.

Apology 17:1 [A.D. 197]

There is, however, a rule of faith; and so that we may acknowledge at this point what it is we defend, it is this precisely that we believe: There is only one God and none other besides him, the Creator of the world who brought forth all things out of nothing through his Word, first of all sent forth".

The Prescription Against Heretics 13:1 [A.D. 200]

St. Hippolytus of Rome, (A.D. 170-236), Roman; bishop and martyr, probably a scholar of St. Irenæus of Lyons.

Then shall the righteous answer, astonished at the mighty and wondrous fact that he, whom the hosts of angels cannot look upon openly, addresses them as friends, and shall cry out to him, "Lord, when saw we you hungry, and fed you? Master, when saw we you thirsty, and gave you drink? You Terrible One, when saw we you naked, and clothed you? Immortal, when saw we you a stranger, and took you in? You friend of man, when saw we you sick or in prison, and came to you? You are the ever-living One. You are without beginning, like the Father, and co-eternal with the Spirit. You are he who made all things out of nothing".

Discourse on the End of the World 43 [A.D. 217]

Origen of Alexandria, (A.D. 184-253), Alexandrian; born in Egypt, philosopher, theologian, writer.

The specific points which are clearly handed down through the apostolic preaching are these: First, that there is one God who created and arranged all things and who, when nothing existed, called all things into existence.

On First Principles 10:4 [A.D. 225]

The Early Fathers also taught that God created everything out of nothing. They believed that our complex universe was the creation of an intelligent being and not the result of a series of random accidents.

The Church's Scriptures that support Creation out of Nothing:

A mother speaking to her seven sons says the following.

22 "I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws." . . . . 28 I beseech you, my child, to look at the Heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being.

2 Maccabees 7:22-23, 28

God's Promise realized through Faith

17 As it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations" — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Romans 4:17

From out of the darkness in our heart we give glory to God.

6 For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," [Genesis 1:3] who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6