Where Is the Evidence?
Mark Driscoll claims that Christianity has always taught humanity was created out of nothing, wholly other than God, with no capacity to become like Him. He contrasts this with the Latter-day Saint teaching that humanity is God’s literal offspring, “gods in embryo.”
But once again we must replace the burden of proof.
Where does the Bible teach creation out of nothing?
Where do the apostles say humanity is not God’s literal offspring?
Where do the prophets restrict exaltation to mere moral likeness instead of real participation in divine life?
These are assumptions, not biblical facts.
What the Hebrew Actually Says about “Create”
Genesis 1 uses several Hebrew verbs for God’s creative work. None of them, by themselves, mean “from nothing.”
bārā’ (ברא) “create” in Genesis 1:1, 1:21, 1:27. This verb never explicitly means “from nothing.” It emphasizes divine initiation or appointment.
‘āśāh (עשה) “make, do” in Genesis 1:7, 1:16, 1:25, 1:31. Connotes fashioning or producing.
yāṣar (יצר) “form” in Genesis 2:7. This is potter language. God forms man from dust, signaling organization of existing material.
tōhū wābōhū (תהו ובהו) “formless and void” in Genesis 1:2. The earth is depicted as unorganized waste before God ordered it.
tĕhōm (תהום) “the deep” in Genesis 1:2. A primeval deep already present. God brings order, light, and boundaries.
Hebrew scholars across traditions acknowledge that Genesis 1 emphasizes God’s sovereign ordering, not metaphysical origination. Isaiah 45:18 even says that God did not create the earth “a waste,” stressing purpose and order.
What the Greek Actually Says
The Septuagint and New Testament use ktizō (κτίζω) and ktisis (κτίσις) for create and creation. These terms do not inherently mean “out of nothing.”
Hebrews 11:3 says “what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” This can mean from unseen or unobservable reality, not absolute nothing.
Colossians 1:16-17 affirms that Christ is the agent of creation and sustainer of all things. The emphasis is sovereignty, not philosophical origin.
2 Maccabees 7:28 is sometimes cited for ex nihilo: “God made heaven and earth not out of existing things.” But this is deuterocanonical, outside the Protestant canon Driscoll claims as authoritative.
Humanity as God’s Children
The Bible does not present man as a creature fundamentally unlike God. It presents us as His literal children.
Acts 17:28-29 says “For we are also his offspring.” Paul uses the Greek word genos, which means race, family, or species. Paul is not being metaphorical. He declares we are the same genos as God.
Romans 8:16-17 teaches that “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” To be a joint-heir with Christ means we are promised to inherit what He inherits, including the fullness of divine glory.
2 Peter 1:4 says we become “partakers of the divine nature.”
1 John 3:2 says “When he shall appear, we shall be like him.”
Revelation 3:21 says those who overcome will sit with Christ in His throne, just as He sits with the Father in His.
John 10:34 recalls “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”
If it is heresy to teach that humanity can become like God, then Jesus and Paul are guilty first.
The Early Fathers on Deification
The earliest Christian leaders boldly proclaimed the doctrine of deification, also called theosis or apotheosis.
Irenaeus (c. 130-202): “The Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, became what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.”
Athanasius (c. 296-373): “For He was made man that we might be made god.”
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215): “The Word of God became man, that you may learn from man how man may become god.”
Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-390): “Man has been ordered to become God.”
Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662): “The Word of God, wanting to make us sharers in divinity, assumed our nature so that having become man, He might make men gods.”
If this is heresy, then the Greek Fathers were the first heretics.
The Restoration’s Clarity
The Restoration reaffirms what scripture and the Fathers already taught.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:29 says “Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.”
Abraham 3 teaches that “intelligences” existed before the world.
Doctrine and Covenants 132:20 declares “Then shall they be gods, because they have no end.”
This is not a nineteenth-century novelty. It is the recovery of the biblical doctrine of divine sonship and inheritance.
Replacing the Burden of Proof
So here is the challenge to Mr. Driscoll:
Show us where the Bible explicitly teaches creation out of nothing.
Reconcile the Hebrew verbs that describe forming and ordering with the idea of ex nihilo.
Explain why Paul calls humanity God’s genos if we are not truly His children of the same race.
Explain why Paul teaches that we are joint-heirs with Christ if our destiny is not to inherit divine life with Him.
Demonstrate why the Fathers were wrong when they repeatedly taught deification.
Until those questions are answered, the claim that Latter-day Saints “exalt humanity too much” has no foundation. The evidence points the other way. It was post-apostolic Christianity that diminished humanity’s divine potential by importing Greek philosophy. The Restoration restores the original biblical teaching that man is God’s offspring, destined through Christ to become like Him.
Click for Part 4: Humanity: Created Beings vs. Gods in Embryo