Chapter 10: God as Creator

1. Introduction
   • The Universe Is Not an Emanation
     • The ancient philosopher Plotinus (d. 270 AD) believed that the universe was a necessary emanation from the divine nature in the way that light is a necessary emanation from the sun.
       • “The primary classical exponent of emanationism was Plotinus, wherein his work, the “Enneads,” all things phenomenal and otherwise were an emanation from the One” (WikiPedia, s.v. Emanationism).
     • If the universe were such an emanation, it would be “eternal” in the sense of having no beginning and no end; it would always exist, because God always exists, and it would be an unwilled expression of the divine nature.
     • In contrast to the view of Plotinus, we have the doctrine of creation “ex nihilo,” that is, from nothing. Note that among ancient peoples, this view of creation was unique to the Jews:
       • “It is a simple and startling fact that no human mind on earth ever conceived the idea that the entire universe, visible and invisible, was created out of nothing . . . by a single all-powerful God” (Kreeft, “Catholic Christianity,” p. 44).
     • The Jews received the doctrine of creation as a revelation from God, so we know with certainty that the universe is willed by God and, as such, it is necessarily His creation rather than an “eternal” emanation.
     • As we saw in chapter 3, the universe had to be created, for there is nothing in the universe that can account for its own existence (54-3).
   • Scripture and Creation
     • That God created the universe:
       • “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1).
     • That the universe was made from nothing:
       • “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 Mac 7:28)
       • “[He] calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Rom 4:17).
       • “Let all your creatures serve you, for you spoke, and they were made” (Judith 16:14).
     • That things exist by God’s will:
       • “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you did create all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev 4:11).
       • “[He] accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:11).
2. Why God Created the Universe
   • The Universe Does Not Profit God
     • Recall the fact that God is infinite existence and, as such, He lacks nothing. This means that the created universe brought God “no profit, no increase, for there was nothing in it that was not already in Himself in greater . . . perfection” (127-1).
     • Since God could receive no benefit from Creation, why did He create the universe?
     • If we consider the question with respect to God, we can say that the universe exists for His honor and glory, for all things in the universe necessarily glorify God by their very existence, and “[no] element of [the universe] could have any other reason for existence” (127-2).
     • But that doesn’t answer the question as to why the universe was created because, as we have already stated, the created universe could provide Him with neither gain nor loss, neither increase nor decrease (127-1, 2).
       • Note, creation is capable of glorifying God both actively and passively.
         • All of creation glorifies God passively, for everything that exists necessarily points to His omnipotence.
           • “For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen” (Wis 13:5 NAB).
         • Rational creatures, angels and men, are capable of glorifying God actively by their freely-willed morally-good acts.
   • Our Gain Is a Motivation for God
     • We find the motive in what Sheed calls the staggering concept found in John 3:16”
       • “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
     • This verse tells us that God could love things that were infinitely less than Himself and He could act to give creatures the pleasure of existence (128-2). In this we find God’s motivation for the creation of the universe (128-2).
       • God is Supreme Goodness, and “it is … the nature of goodness . . . to spread [itself] outward, to confer itself [on other beings]” (128-2).
         • “It belongs to the essence of goodness to communicate itself to others” (Summa III, q. 1, a. 3).
       • Since the universe came forth from God, it is an act of self-giving and, thus, an act of love. Hence, we rightly say that God created the universe out of love for angels and man, the two types of creatures that can glorify God actively.
     • In the Book of Proverbs, we read: “The Lord has made all things for himself” (Prv 16:4), which may sound like a contradiction to what has just been said. But it is not a contradiction. Rather, it tells us that God is the proper end of rational creatures. They find their fulfillment in Him alone.
       • Rational creatures actively find their fulfillment in God. For other creatures, this is true only in a passive sense, or in an indirect sense, for they are made for the benefit of man, who glorifies God by their proper use.
     • Sheed has a different take on Proverbs 16:4, saying that it means the Lord made all things “for His own pleasure. But it was His pleasure to bring into existence things which could take pleasure in their existence” and in Him as well (128-2).
       • In speaking like this, Sheed is employing an anthropomorphism, for God, who is immutable, cannot actually receive pleasure from His creation.
3. The Universe: A Work of the Divine Nature
   • Creation: How Follows Why
     • The first and most important question about anything, is “why does it exist,” for “until we know why a thing exists [i.e., its purpose] we cannot properly know anything else about it” (129-1).
       • Our interpretation of whatever details we might learn about a being must be guided by knowledge of the being’s purpose, or we are likely to misinterpret the details we discover (129-1).
     • Having examined the question regarding the “why” of the universe’s existence, we naturally turn to the question “how” (129-1).
     • Note that our question about how the universe came into existence is not the same question asked by the scientist in his study of the origin of the universe (129-2).
     • The scientist is interested in what material thing existed at some moment before the existence of some other material thing at some later moment, as he works backward in time.
     • “Our present inquiry undercuts [the scientist’s question]” (129-2).
     • When the philosopher or theologian asks “why” anything exists, the alternative he has in mind is “nothing.” “Since there might have been nothing, why is there something” (129-2). Why isn’t there nothing?
       • This is a question that science does not and cannot ask, for it can only deal with material beings. If, in chasing his series of moments, he comes upon “nothing,” he would have to call upon philosophy and theology (129-2).
         • Read excerpt from Jastrow’s “God and the Astronomers,” p. 115.
       • A legitimate criticism of scientists, in general, is “that they have a tendency to treat questions which science cannot handle as if they were by that very fact not questions at all” (129-2).
     • Recall from an earlier lesson that God exists because it is His nature to exist. He is existence. He cannot not exist (130-2).
     • The universe, on the other hand, is entirely contingent. It can only exist if God confers existence on nothingness (130-2).
       • He cannot make it “out of” Himself, for He is utterly simple, having no “parts” from which anything could be made (130-2).
       • Rather, God willed the universe into existence: “He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created” (Psalm 148:5).
     • The answer, then, to the question “How God created the universe,” is that God brought forth the universe from nothingness by way of a freely-willed act of omnipotence.
   • Made from Nothing
     • When we say God made the universe, we are not saying that He used nothingness as a kind of material that He fashioned into the universe. Rather, we are saying that He did not use any created thing in His bringing of the universe, spiritual and material, into existence (130-3).
       • Some astrophysists are currently taking this erroneous approach (e.g., see Edward Feser’s review of “A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing”
         • (https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/06/not-understanding-nothing)
       • Empty space itself is not nothingness; space, and whatever potentialities it holds, was created.
   • Imagination and Omnipotence
     • “Upon the act of creation, our habit of relying upon the imagination lets us down most evilly” (131-1).
     • We tend to attempt to picture what it means to make something of nothing, forgetting all the while that there is no image for nothingness (131-2).
     • The imagination cannot help us here. We must use the intellect to grasp the concepts involved, without recourse to the imagination, and the concepts are very simple (131-2):
       • God is infinite.
       • There is no limitation to His being
       • There is no limitation to His power
       • Hence, there is no limitation to His power of making
     • A skilled carpenter can only be idle if there is no material (i.e., wood) on which to ply his craft. Such is not the case for the omnipotent God (131-2):
       • “[He can] send his call to that which has no being, as if it already were” (Rom 4:17 Knox).
   • Creation, an On-Going Activity
     • We must not think of the creation of the universe merely as something that happened once in the distant past (132-2).
     • The reason for this is that there is an emptiness at the heart of every created thing because every created thing is made of nothing. This is why God cannot even for a moment just leave us on our own (132-2).
       • “Each and every creature must be preserved by God if it is to continue in existence. And this preservative action . . . is simply continued creative action” (Garrigou-Lagrange, “Reality,” 130).
     • There was indeed a creation event in the distant past, but the very fact that the universe is made of nothing means that God must continually hold creation in existence or else it would return to what it is made of: nothing (132-2).
       • A carpenter can make a table and then leave it with the knowledge that the table will suffer no loss in his absence. He relies on the material he used in the making of the table to sustain its form (132-2).
       • The universe is not like that, for if God left creation to itself for even a moment, relying on its being sustained by that from which it was made (i.e., nothing), it would suffer instantaneous annihilation (132-2).
       • The image in a mirror provides another analogy: My image can be seen in a mirror only as long as I am present to the mirror. When I move away from the mirror, my image ceases to exist.
       • My presence to the mirror sustains my image in the mirror. Similarly, God’s presence to the universe sustains its existence. Take God away from the universe and the universe ceases to exist (132-2).
     • In order to see reality correctly, we must see, along with the universe, the presence of God by whom the universe is held in existence from moment to moment by nothing but His continuing will to hold it in existence (133-3).
       • “Not to see [this] is to be in error, tragic or comic or sheerly farcical, about ourselves and everything else” (133-3).
       • Recall from chapter 1: “God is not only a fact of religion: He is a fact. Not to see Him is to be wrong about everything, which includes being wrong about one’s self” (25-2)
     • Because God must be present to the universe in order for it to remain in existence, we can further state that “at the very center of our being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are living their infinite life of knowing and loving” (133-3).
       • Note that this is the “natural” presence of God, not His indwelling presence. We will begin to speak of the indwelling presence in chapter 13.
   • The Universe Really Is, But Contingently
     • The universe, then, is nothingness made into something by God’s omnipotence. The result is not merely a “thought” in the mind of God. Rather, He has given real existence, real being to the universe He created (133-4).
     • “The universe is not a system of ideas thought by God; it is a system of things made by God. The universe really is” (133-4).
     • However, note the difference between the absolute being of God, and the relative or contingent being of created things; philosophers call this the analogy of being (134-1).
       • Of God, we can simply say “He is.” Of created reality, we must always add qualifiers: It is . . . because . . . but it was not . . . but it might not have been, etc.
         • The qualifiers are limitations that subtract from the fullness of what “is” can mean.
       • On the other hand, when we say of God, “He is,” we have already said everything. Whatever we might add to that sentence merely draws out for consideration some particular perfection of God that is already contained in “He is” (134-1).
         • For example, He is omnipotent; He is omniscient, all-merciful, etc.
       • Note: The concept expressed by “being” is analogical. That is, it is not equivocal (ambiguous), as is the word dog, which can refer to multiple things, for example, an animal or a constellation, and “being” is not univocal (applying to one specific thing) because while it applies to all things, it does not apply to all things in precisely the same sense (Edward Feser, “Aquinas,” 32).
     • “Nothing else [i.e., no created thing] is with all that is can mean: it is only some of what is can mean. Nothing else is good with all that goodness can mean. Only God is absolute Good, absolute is” (134-1).
       • Note that the universe plus God does not add up to something greater than God. This is because the universe is made of nothing. Its existence is purely an expression of His omnipotence. If He were to decide to no longer express His omnipotence in the manner of a created universe, the universe would vanish (134-2).
     • The universe really “is.” It possesses real being, real (created) existence, but it does not have the fullness of existence that God possesses.
       • In fact, the existence possessed by the universe is infinitely less than the existence possessed by God; if the universe had that fullness of existence, it would be God.
       • Nevertheless, the universe is “not simply a thought or dream or illusion. It is really something, not simply nothingness masquerading as something” (135-1).
   • Maintaining the Proper Balance
     • Maintaining the proper balance between the relative existence of the universe and the absolute existence of God is a difficulty for some.
       • For example, both the pantheist and the illusionist err in regard to the created universe possessing real being, real existence. The former credits the universe with too much existence, while the latter gives the universe too little existence:
       • Pantheism: The belief that identifies the Deity with the universe and its phenomena. The Pantheist sees the universe as a mask of God (135-1).
       • Illusionism: The belief that the material world is an immaterial product of the senses. The Illusionist sees the universe as a mere illusion (135-1).
     • Both recognize the inferiority of created being compared to the infinite majesty of infinite being. “What they fail to grasp is the majesty of created being in comparison with nothingness” (135-1).
       • The gap between infinite being and created being is infinite.
       • The gap between created being and nothingness while not infinite is immeasurable.
     • We must keep both truths before us, if we are to see reality as it truly is (135-2).
       • On the one hand, created being is as nothing compared to the Uncreated:
         • “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness” (Is 40:17).
       • On the other hand, God sees all of creation and especially man as being good:
         • “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31)
         • “[He] so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16).
     • In the Book of Wisdom, we find a passage where these two truths are balanced perfectly:
       • “Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales, and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground. But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things, and you overlook men’s sins, that they may repent. For you love all things that exist, and have loathing for none of the things which you have made, for you would not have made anything if you had hated it” (Wis 11:22-24).
         • Psalm 5:5 should not be seen as in contradiction to Wisdom 11:24:
           • “The boastful may not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers” (Ps 5:5).
         • God made man, but God did not make the sinner. That is, man is good as made by God, but evil to the degree that he engages in evil things.
4. The Universe: A Work of Father, Son and Holy Spirit
   • Created by One Divine Principle
     • We have established the fact that God created the universe from nothing through His omnipotence, and we did this by way of human reason without resorting to Divine Revelation (136-1; see chapter 3).
     • “But there is a further answer to the question “how,” which we can give only because God have given it to us: creation is the work of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit” (136-1, 2).
     • We know this to be true because (1) nature is the source of operations (2) there is only one divine nature in God, and (3) it is fully possessed by all three persons. Hence, the work of creation is necessarily the work of all three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (136-2).
       • From the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and the Council of Florence (1439):
         • Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one principle of all created things (Lateran, 1215).
         • Father and Son are one principle in the spiration of the Holy Spirit; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one principle in the creation of the universe (Florence, 1439).
       • It follows that we have the following sequence in the order of being (not in the order of time):
         • The Father as the one principle of origin generates the Son
         • The Father and Son as one principle spirate the Holy Spirit
         • The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as one principle, create the universe
   • Creation and the Law of Appropriations
     • Despite the universe having been created by all three divine persons, creation comes under the Law of Appropriations in two ways:
       • First, creation is attributed to the Father. We find the Father universally referred to as “creator,” in Scripture, in the Creeds, and in the writings of the Church Fathers.
         • Consequently, “to Him who is Origin within the Godhead, the origination of all things external to the Godhead is naturally attributed” (136-3).
       • Second, creation is attributed to the Son. An examination of this appropriation leads to an understanding as to why it was the second person of the Blessed Trinity who became our Redeemer.
     • Scripture clearly speaks of the appropriation of creation to the Son as well as the Father in both the Old Testament and the New (137-2, 4):
       • “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn 1:1-3).
       • “When He [Father] compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when He balanced the foundations of the earth; I [Wisdom, Son] was with Him [Father] forming all things” (Prv 8:29-30).
         • Note the error in the book on page 137-2: “Prov 8:24” should be “Prov 8:30”.
       • “In these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb 1:2).
       • “For in Him [the Son] were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible” (Col 1:16).
     • “The fitness of attributing creation especially to the Father is obvious: He is origin and omnipotence within the Godhead, and the origination of the finite universe is naturally appropriated to Him” (137-3).
     • But why should creation also be attributed to the Son? Scripture points to two elements of creation: omnipotence and wisdom (138-1).
       • What we see here is that the Father creates, but He creates by or through the Son; creation comes about by the Father’s will as executed by the Son (137-4).
       • “Omnipotence was needed to make something from nothing; so that it might not be just anything, but an ordered, purposeful system of things, Wisdom was needed too” (138-1).
       • Hence, as a work of Omnipotence, it is attributed to the Father; as a work of Wisdom, to the Son” (138:1).
     • We can see this more clearly by considering what the word “making” means in terms of the two words Scripture gives us for the second person of the Blessed Trinity, Son and Word..
       • First, with respect to Son: making is an act of self-expression by the maker. The maker expresses himself in the things he makes (138-2).
         • Recall that in the uncreated order the Son is the Father’s infinite expression of the divine intellect whereby the Father knows Himself infinitely. There is no question of “making” here; the Father generates the Son by way of knowledge.
         • That infinite act of knowing is mirrored in finite reality when the Father expresses Himself in the created order to the degree that nothingness can receive His self-expression. In doing this, He brings forth the universe (138-3).
         • Consequently, we can see that the Father’s self-expression in the uncreated order generates the Son, whereas His self-expression in the created order produces the universe (it is necessarily a limited self-expression) (138-3).
       • Second, with respect to Word: The maker expresses himself in accordance with an idea in his mind.
         • Recall that when the Father expresses Himself in the uncreated order, the idea in His mind is His self-expression in the uncreated order (i.e., the Word, the Son) (139-2).
         • Because the Father expresses Himself fully in the Word by way of knowledge, the Word contains the Father’s knowledge of Himself which must include the knowledge of every being the Father could create (139-2).
         • “Thus the second person expresses the idea of all creatable things as they are in the divine nature. That is why St. Thomas [Aquinas] can say that in the Word, God utters both Himself and us” (139-2).