Basil of Caesarea on tohu wa-bohu Gen 1:2

[Stirling Bartholomew]

Gen. 1:2a והארץ היתה תהו ובהו

Gen. 1:2a ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος

Basil in Hexaemeron (Homily 2) takes issue with Origen and others about the condition of the cosmos represented in Gen 1:2a.


Postscript: What this thread isn't about.

Just for laughs here is a link to Waltke who addresses the same text. This is "early-Waltke" and not intended to start a discussion about late-Waltke. Basil is the focus of this thread. He has a geocentric world view. Who cares? I don't. He addresses the question of matter being eternal and other related questions. His geocentricity isn't the focus of this thread. If want to discus Darwin do it elsewhere.

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[Stirling Bartholomew]

Basil Hexaemeron Homily II §2 ln 1

But the corrupters of the truth, who, incapable of submitting their reason to Holy Scripture, distort at will the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, pretend that these words mean matter. For it is matter, they say, which from its nature is without form and invisible — being by the conditions of its existence without quality and without form and figure. The Artificer submitting it to the working of His wisdom clothed it with a form, organized it, and thus gave being to the visible world.

If matter is uncreated, it has a claim to the same honours as God, since it must be of equal rank with Him.

Ἀλλ' οἱ παραχαράκται τῆς ἀληθείας, οἱ οὐχὶ τῇ Γραφῇ
τὸν ἑαυτῶν νοῦν ἀκολουθεῖν ἐκδιδάσκοντες, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ
οἰκεῖον βούλημα τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν Γραφῶν διαστρέφοντες,
τὴν ὕλην φασὶ διὰ τῶν λέξεων τούτων παραδηλοῦσθαι.
Αὕτη γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἀόρατος τῇ φύσει καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος,
ἄποιος οὖσα τῷ ἑαυτῆς λόγῳ, καὶ παντὸς εἴδους
καὶ σχήματος κεχωρισμένη, ἣν παραλαβὼν ὁ τεχνίτης τῇ
ἑαυτοῦ σοφίᾳ ἐμόρφωσε, καὶ εἰς τάξιν ἤγαγε, καὶ οὕτω δι'
αὐτῆς οὐσίωσε τὰ ὁρώμενα.

Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀγέννητος αὕτη, πρῶτον μὲν ὁμότιμος τῷ Θεῷ, τῶν αὐτῶν πρεσβείων
ἀξιουμένη.

Basil is focused on the question of eternal matter. He claims it has disastrous theological implications, undermining the ontological framework of Biblical Theism: The Creator : everything else distinction.