"Ex nihilo" redirects here. For creation from pre-existing matter, see Creatio ex materia.
Creatio ex nihilo (Latin for "creation out of nothing") is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act.[1] It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe came to exist. It is in contrast to creatio ex materia, sometimes framed in terms of the dictumEx nihilo nihil fit or "nothing comes from nothing", meaning all things were formed ex materia (that is, from pre-existing things).
^Bunnin & Yu 2008, p. 149,"The doctrine of creation ex nihlo maintains that matter is not eternal and that no matter existed prior to the divine creative act at the initial moment of the cosmic process."