"God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners"

Søren Kierkegaard’s observation that God “creates out of nothing” draws on the foundational idea in Christian theology that the universe itself sprang forth from the void by divine power, a feat often regarded as the ultimate act of creative might. Creating being from non-being is, to human imagination, almost unthinkable. Yet Kierkegaard goes further. He contrasts the awe-inspiring notion of creation ex nihilo with something he considers even more extraordinary: the transformation of sinners into saints.

To make “saints out of sinners” is not merely an act of creation from emptiness, but a re-creation against the grain of corruption, brokenness, and rebellion. Sinners, by definition, are those who have turned away from God, who have damaged or distorted the relationship for which humanity was intended. That God does not simply create new, perfect beings in their place, but instead works within and through the flaws, scars, and complexities of real human lives, amplifies the wonder. Redemption is not erasure, but transformation; grace does not discard the sinner, but raises them up.

This feat surpasses mere creation from nothing because it represents the victory of love over resistance, of hope over despair. It suggests that divine grace does not require a blank slate, but operates most profoundly where need is greatest. The making of saints is not an impersonal act; it is the painstaking, continuous work of drawing light from darkness, of cultivating virtue from vice, patience from pride, humility from self-assertion.

Kierkegaard’s words invite a reflection on divine mercy: it is not only a creative force, but a restorative one. Humanity’s failings become not barriers to God’s work, but the very raw material in which the miraculous occurs. To turn sinners into saints, for Kierkegaard, is the “still more wonderful” miracle, both humbling and hope-giving, proof that grace can reach into the heart of brokenness and bring forth unexpected holiness.