‘On the Incarnation’ by St. Athanasius – ‘Creation And The Fall’ – Chapter I; part III, point 3; …
[St. Athanasius – III-IV Century A.D.; Alexandria, Roman Egypt]
“(3) Such are the notions which men put forward. But the impiety of their foolish talk is plainly declared by the divine teaching of the Christian faith. From it we know that, because there is Mind behind the universe, it did not originate itself; because God is infinite, not finite, it was not made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and out of nonexistence absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word.
He says as much in Genesis:
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;”
and again through that most helpful book The Shepherd,
"Believe thou first and foremost that there is One God Who created and arranged all things and brought them out of non-existence into being."
Paul also indicates the same thing when he says,
"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which we see now did not come into being out of things which had previously …More
"For God is good--or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything. Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ and of all these His earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked--namely the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise."
“(3) Such are the notions which men put forward. But the impiety of their foolish talk is plainly declared by the divine teaching of the Christian faith. From it we know that, because there is Mind behind the universe, it did not originate itself; because God is infinite, not finite, it was not made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and out of nonexistence absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word."