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.

As was noted by Barmby,

Commentators who perceive here a reference either to the formless void (Genesis 1:2) out of which the present creation was evolved, or a reference to the Platonic conception of eternal ideas in the divine mind, read into the text what is not there.[4]

To be sure, "Aristotle held to the eternity of matter; and said that it was the common opinion of naturalists that `Nothing can be made out of nothing'"[5] Also, Greek speculation about the formation of the ordered world out of formless matter, according to Bruce,

had influenced Jewish thinkers like Philo and the author of the Book of Wisdom; (but) the writer of Hebrews is more Biblical in his reasoning and affirms the doctrine of "creatio ex nihilo", a doctrine uncongenial to Greek thought.[6]

God made the world out of nothing, a fact perceived through faith and by no other means; nor is there any support for a contrary view in the technical meaning of the word "framed." The word from which "framed" is translated actually means "produced," according to Macknight, who also admitted that the word can be used for the placing of the parts of any body or machine in their right order, as in Ephesians 4:12; but he also said that:

It means "to make" or "produce" simply (Hebrews 10:5; Matthew 21:16) ... In the passage under consideration this word is used to express, not the orderly disposition of the parts of the universe, but their "production."[7]

This verse coincides with Paul's words:

For in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him and unto him (Colossians 1:16).

Boatman's paraphrase of Hebrews 11:3 is:

By faith in the divine revelations, we understand that the worlds were produced by the command of God from nothing; so that the things which are seen, the things which compose this visible world, were not made of things which then did exist, but without any pre-existent matter to form them of.[8]

This paraphrase expresses the true meaning; for, after all, the holy scriptures everywhere set forth the doctrine that God made the worlds out of nothing. From the Septuagint version (LXX), we have this beautiful example of such teaching:

By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth ... For he spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast (Psalms 32:6,9).

- This corresponds to the KJV's Psalms 33:6,9.

[4] J. Barmby, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 21, Hebrews, p. 298.

[5] R. Milligan, op. cit., p. 302.

[6] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), p. 281.

[7] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 560.

[8] Don Earl Boatman, Helps from Hebrews (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1960), p. 343.