Spirit as Refined Matter

Joseph Smith’s Teachings Expanding the Traditional Doctrine of Creation Ex Nihilo

In the Restoration, Joseph Smith provided a remarkable insight that enriches rather than overturns the classic understanding of creation. On May 16, 1843, he taught: “There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; we cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter” (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7–8). Earlier he described spirit as “a substance; that it is material, but that it is more pure, elastic, and refined matter than the body.” This revelation does not reject the biblical and Book of Mormon declarations of God creating “everything.” Instead, it simply expands our concept of matter itself, revealing that reality includes both coarse physical substance and infinitely finer spiritual substance. When this expanded view of matter is employed, Joseph’s teachings and the Book of Abraham harmonize perfectly with the concept of creatio ex nihilo and with the plain statements of the Bible and Book of Mormon.

The Scriptural Foundation: God Created Everything: Ex Nihilo in the Physical Sense

The Bible opens with the unambiguous declaration, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The New Testament reinforces this comprehensive creative act: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible… all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16; see also John 1:3). The Book of Mormon echoes the same truth. Lehi taught, “there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are” (2 Nephi 2:14). King Benjamin declared that God “created all things” and “hath created all things, both in heaven and in earth” (Mosiah 4:9; see also Alma 18:28–29).

When viewed through a strictly physical interpretation, the Hebrew verb bara’ (בָּרָא) in Genesis 1:1 aligns with the traditional understanding of creation ex nihilo, bringing the physical heavens and earth into existence from no preexisting physical materials. While the word can carry nuances of fashioning or forming in other contexts, in the opening of the creation account it describes God’s sovereign, divine act of origination. Nothing in the text indicates pre-existing physical matter from which God worked; the emphasis is on God’s unique power to call the physical cosmos into being where nothing physical had existed before. This is the long-held Christian interpretation: the visible, tangible universe had an absolute beginning through God’s creative word. The Bible and Book of Mormon’s repeated statements that God “created all things” stand as clear affirmations of His role as the ultimate source of everything physical.

Joseph Smith’s New Light: Expanding the Concept of Matter

Joseph Smith’s revelation about spirit as refined matter broadens our understanding of what “matter” and “elements” truly encompass. In the strictly physical lens of the Bible’s creation account, God created the coarse, visible universe ex nihilo. Joseph’s teachings open our eyes to an additional, eternal dimension: spirit itself is matter, only “more fine or pure.” This refined spiritual substance exists alongside and interpenetrates the physical, yet it can only be discerned by “purer eyes.”

Joseph’s insight expands rather than limits the scope of creation. The elements are eternal in the sense that, once called into existence by God, they persist and operate according to divine law. The “new idea” enlarges our cosmology: God’s creative act ex nihilo brought forth not only physical matter but the entire spectrum of reality, bringing forward the refined spiritual matter that constitutes spirits, intelligences, and the unseen realms. Creation remains an act of sovereign origination at the ultimate level, while the ongoing divine work involves organizing and forming these materials, both coarse and refined, into purposeful worlds, bodies, and kingdoms.

Refined Matter as the Essence of God’s Power, Glory, and Word

Possibly, this very refined spiritual matter, infinitely finer, purer, and more elastic than physical substance, constitutes the essence of God Himself: the medium of His power, the substance of His glory, and the living expression of His word. Doctrine and Covenants 93:36 declares, “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” That same light “proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space” and “is the light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things” (D&C 88:12–13). If spirit is matter refined beyond ordinary perception, then God’s creative word, His sustaining power, and the glory that radiates from His person may themselves be this exalted spiritual substance in action.

In this reverent view, when the Lord says, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), His utterance is not merely an abstract command but the outflow of refined spiritual matter that organizes and vivifies reality. His power operates through this eternal medium, enabling the divine council’s work of organization described in the Book of Abraham. Far from diminishing creatio ex nihilo, this perspective magnifies the majesty of the Creator: the God who originates every degree of matter, coarse and refined, also infuses His creations with His own essence, making the universe a living temple filled with His glory, power, and word.

The Eternal, Expanded View: Harmony with the Book of Abraham and Traditional Christianity

When we step back into this eternal, expanded perspective, Joseph Smith’s statements and the language of the Book of Abraham are not in conflict with the Bible, the Book of Mormon, or traditional Christian interpretation. Abraham 4:1 records that “the Gods organized and formed the heavens and the earth” (see my other essay on “god’s). This describes the divine council’s work of ordering and structuring the elements, now understood to include both physical matter (created ex nihilo in the ultimate sense) and the refined spirit matter Joseph revealed. Organization is the method of divine creativity after the fundamental origination has occurred. The elements’ “eternality” is not a denial of God’s creative act but a recognition of their perpetual endurance once God has spoken them into being.

There is therefore no necessary tension. The Bible and Book of Mormon declare the comprehensive truth that God created all things, a statement that holds firmly in the physical interpretation. Joseph’s revelations and the Book of Abraham supply the richer, eternal view that illuminates how that creation unfolds across refined and coarse matter alike. Traditional Christianity’s doctrine of creatio ex nihilo remains intact as the foundation; Joseph’s teachings simply add glorious depth, showing that God’s creative power extends across every degree of matter, visible and invisible.

Modern Science and the Expanded Concept of Refined Matter

Contemporary science offers striking parallels that expand our appreciation of Joseph’s vision. The standard model of conservation of mass-energy (E=mc²) reminds us that the fundamental “stuff” of reality is neither created nor destroyed in ordinary processes, consistent with elements that, once originated by God, endure eternally. Theoretical dark matter and dark energy, proposed to comprise 95% of the cosmos, constitute invisible “matter” that exert gravitational influence yet remain undetectable by ordinary means, much like spirit matter “can only be discerned by purer eyes.”

Quantum field theory reveals that even “empty” space is alive with underlying fields and virtual particles, suggesting reality rests on dynamic, refined layers far subtler than solid matter (see the article on Zero Point Energy). The quantum vacuum and plasma states behave almost like responsive, living media. These discoveries expand our concept of matter in ways that resonate with Joseph’s 19th-century description of spirit as “more pure, elastic, and refined.” While science cannot address ultimate origins, the proposed Big Bang cosmology itself requires a definite beginning of the observable physical universe, a “singularity”, harmonizing with ex nihilo in the physical interpretation, while leaving room for deeper, eternal realities beyond the visible.

Conclusion: A More Glorious Harmony

Joseph Smith’s teaching that “all spirit is matter” does not diminish the doctrine of creation ex nihilo; it magnifies it. By expanding our understanding of matter to include refined spiritual substance, it allows the Bible’s and Book of Mormon’s declarations that God “created all things” to stand in full strength under a strictly physical reading, while the Book of Abraham’s description of divine organization reveals the eternal, ongoing process within that created reality. There is no necessary conflict—only deeper harmony when the eternal, expanded view is employed.

In this light, the universe emerges not as a temporary stage formed from nothing in a narrow sense, but as the masterful work of a God whose creative power originates every degree of matter and then organizes it with infinite wisdom and love. Joseph’s revelations invite believers to embrace both the traditional foundation of ex nihilo and the breathtaking expansion of matter itself, enriching faith and wonder in the Creator who spoke both the visible and the invisible into being.