“God, Creation Ex Nihilo, and Immutability: Does God Change By Virtue of Creation?”

Here is an article published in Credo Magazine on the immutability of God. Here is the introduction:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1, NKJV). That God exists, causing the creation of the heavens and the earth is clear—exegetically, theologically, and logically. Creation came about from God, though it is not God. That which was not, came to be, because God caused it to be. That which came to be did so by God, and God alone. Creation has no material cause. There were no material entities (or anything else) God utilized to create. God is, therefore, creation’s efficient cause, causing that which was not to be without any change in him. He created ex nihilo, that is, from nothing but himself.

Some questions that will be discussed in this article include the following: What does creation ex nihilo mean? Does creation change God in any sense? These are important questions, but an even more important question is this: Who is this God who created? Since creation assumes God exists, then his existence is fundamental to creation and necessary to it. Without God there is no creation. Theology proper, therefore, is of first importance and fundamental. Since this is the case, we will consider God the Creator, creation ex nihilo, then whether God changes, in any sense, by virtue of creation.