Creation

Doctrine Concept

Classical Protestant confessions affirm the triune God as maker and preserver of all things. This is a broad overview: Protestant churches differ over how to read Genesis and describe providence.

Key points

God is the Creator; the world is created, good, and dependent on him.
The Augsburg Confession names the triune God as maker and preserver.
The Westminster Confession gives one Reformed account of creation and providence, not a universal Protestant definition.

Scripture

Genesis 1:1 — God creates heaven and earth.
John 1:3 — All things came to be through the Word.
Colossians 1:16-17 — Creation is through and for Christ and is sustained in him.

Primary sources

Athanasius writes:

Athanasius confesses that God brought the universe into existence from nothing through the Word.

out of nothing, and without its having any previous existence, God made the universe to exist through His word
— Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word (Chapter 3), trans. Archibald Robertson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 4

Passage context and translation

Athanasius argues against a rival eternal matter and cites Genesis 1:1, the Shepherd, and Hebrews 11:3. The excerpt records his theological interpretation; Genesis 1:1 alone is not presented as a grammatical proof of the full doctrine.

Before the excerpt

because God is not weak; but that

After the excerpt

as He says firstly through Moses

Archibald Robertson's 1892 translation, revised and edited for New Advent; excerpt from the discussion of pre-existing matter in section 3.

Athanasius also states:

Athanasius distinguishes the Word from the universe while describing the Word as present and active throughout it.

present in the whole of Creation, He is at once distinct in being from the universe, and present in all things by His own power — giving order to all things, and over all and in all revealing His own providence, and giving life to each thing and all things
— Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word (Section 17), trans. Archibald Robertson

Passage context and translation

Athanasius argues that the Incarnation did not confine the divine Word to a body or remove the Word's life-giving governance from the rest of creation.

Before the excerpt

the universe was [not] left void of His working and Providence

After the excerpt

including the whole without being included, but being in His own Father alone wholly and in every respect

Robertson translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 4; capitalization follows the linked edition.

Sources and further reading

Augsburg Confession, Article I (Lutheran confessional witness)
Westminster Confession, chapters 4–5 (Reformed confessional witness)

Related records

Creation from nothing (Doctrine Concept)
Providence and sustaining creation (Doctrine Concept)
The goodness of creation (Doctrine Concept)
Exodus, covenant, and liberation (Scripture Study)
Creation in Genesis and the Psalms (Scripture Study)

All records