Way·yō·mer ’ĕ·lō·hîm, taḏ·šê hā·’ā·reṣ de·še, ‘ê·śeḇ maz·rî·a‘ ze·ra‘, ‘êṣ pə·rî ‘ō·śeh pə·rî lə·mî·nōw, ’ă·šer zar·‘ōw-ḇōw.
“And God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.’” That God created plants ‘according to kind’ seems to militate against a strictly nominalist reading of creation. Genus and species are ordained by God, not imposed on reality by minds. We name them, yes, but the names allow us to abstract from the actual plants to the idea of the plant. This allows us access to God’s providential arrangement of His creation. Strict nominalists maintain that there are no ‘kinds’ of things. This is contrary to the Biblical worldview.