B. Hebrews 11:3—“By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear” = the world was not made out of sensible and preëxisting material, but by the direct fiat of omnipotence (see Alford, and Lünemann, Meyer’s Com. _in loco_). Compare 2 Maccabees 7:28—ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων ἐποίησεν αὐτὰ ὁ Θεός. This the Vulgate translated by “quia ex nihilo fecit illa Deus,” and from the Vulgate the phrase “creation out of nothing” is derived. Hedge, Ways of the Spirit, points out that Wisdom 11:17 has ἐξ ἀμόρφου ὕλης, interprets by this the ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων in 2 Maccabees, and denies that this last refers to creation out of nothing. But we must remember that the later Apocryphal writings were composed under the influence of the Platonic philosophy; that the passage in Wisdom may be a rationalistic interpretation of that in Maccabees; and that even if it were independent, we are not to assume a harmony of view in the Apocrypha. 2 Maccabees 7:28 must stand by itself as a testimony to Jewish belief in creation without use of preëxisting material,—belief which can be traced to no other source than the Old Testament Scriptures. Compare _Ex. 34:10_—“_I will do marvels such as have not been wrought_ [marg. “_created_”] _in all the earth_”; _Num. 16:30_—“_if Jehovah make a new thing_” [marg. “_create a creation_”]; _Is. 4:5_—“_Jehovah will create ... a cloud and smoke_”; _41:20_—“_the Holy One of Israel hath created it_”; _45:7, 8_—“_I form the light, and create darkness_”; _57:19_—“_I create the fruit of the lips_”; _65:17_—“_I create new heavens and a new earth_”; _Jer. 31:22_—“_Jehovah hath created a new thing._” _Rom. 4:17_—“_God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were_”; _1 Cor. 1:28_—“_things that are not_” [did God choose] “_that he might bring to naught the things that are_”; _2 Cor. 4:6_—“_God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness_”—created light without preëxisting material,—for darkness is no material; _Col. 1:16, 17_—“_in him were all things created ... and he is before all things_”; so also _Ps. 33:9_—“_he spake, and it was done_”; _148:5_—“_he commanded, and they were created._” See Philo, Creation of the World, chap. 1-7, and Life of Moses, book 3, chap. 36—“He produced the most perfect work, the Cosmos, out of non-existence (τοῦ μὴ ὄντος) into being (εἰς τὸ εἶναι).” E. H. Johnson, Syst. Theol., 94—“We have no reason to believe that the Hebrew mind had the idea of creation out of _invisible_ materials. But creation out of _visible_ materials is in _Hebrews 11:3_ expressly denied. This text is therefore equivalent to an assertion that the universe was made without the use of _any_ preëxisting materials.” 2. Indirect evidence from Scripture.