The First Law of Thermodynamics
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
(Hebrews 11:3) ESV
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
(Genesis 1:2) ESV
Genesis 1:2 gives us the conditions predicted to be necessary by scientific models of the beginning of the universe. A such, the first law of thermodynamics isn’t broken in the Biblical account of creation.
The existence of the deep means that the process of creation does not require God to create anything from nothing. This gives a way to show that nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) are Biblical. This allows us to understand today’s featured passage in such a way that we’re able to comply with the laws of Physics, foremost being the First Law of Thermodynamics.
The first law of thermodynamics is a version of the law of conservation of energy, adapted for thermodynamic systems. The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.
The first law is often formulated Δ U = Q – W
– Wikipedia
This means that when our featured passage tells us “so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible,” it’s not saying that God created the universe from nothing, Ex Nihilo, it’s telling us that God created the universe from something invisible. In this case the gasses Hydrogen and Oxygen which then combined as the watery matrix of the deep, Ex Abyssi. Theologically conservative Christians are going to have to reboot their basic beliefs, and atheist provocateurs are going to have to revise their playbook.
The First Law of Thermodynamics – Navigation
| Section | Title | Scripture |
| 1 | Introduction | Hebrews 11:3 |
| 2 | Visible and Invisible | Colossians 1:16 |
| 3 | God is a Spirit | John 4:24 |
| 4 | Truth and Error | 1 John 4:6 |
| Salvation | Romans 10:9-10 |
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
Read through the Bible in a year
| Reading plan | January 22 | |
| Linear | Exodus 19-21 | |
| Chronological | Genesis 30-31 |
Matty's Paradigm 