God’s Self-Existence
Originally posted on 1/23/2020
We made the claim in the last two chapters that God lies outside of the material world. He is so completely different from his creation that there is no way for us to know he exists if he did not reveal himself. More specifically, we saw that God is spirit and discussed exactly what that means. In this chapter we will examine further aspects of God’s essence.
God Is Self-Existent (Aseity)
While it is true that God is a spirit, we should point out that this feature — by itself — does not make God unique. Other spirits exist as well. The angels, both fallen and elect, are also spirits. We are given an interesting glimpse into the warfare that takes place between these two groups of spirits in Rev 12:7-9 (see also Daniel 10:12-13, 20-21).
Human beings, while possessing a body made of matter, are not solely made of matter. We have spirits as well. The apostle Paul asks, " For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him?” (1 Cor 2:11) C. S. Lewis describes the relationship between the body and the spirit brilliantly in "The Screwtape Letters."
Humans are amphibians — half spirit and half animal.… As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an internal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change.[1]
If human beings did not possess an eternal spirit, Jesus's command to worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24) would make no sense. Animals cannot worship God because they are trapped solely in the material world. Only beings that have spirits may make a connection with the spiritual world. Since God is spirit, we must worship him with our spirits as well. While the body is important and often affects the spirit, it is with our spirits that we reach out to God. In fact, it is to our spirits that the Holy Spirit speaks. "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children" (Rom 8:16).
Still, even though there are other beings that may rightly be called spirits, God is unique among all the spirits, indeed among all the created order. For everything else in the created order has been… well… created. All that is not God has been brought about by God. He alone is uncreated. That fact alone makes him totally unlike everything else. In fact, it is quite correct to divide all that is into two — and only two — categories: God, and everything else.
Just as everything in the created order depends upon God for its origin, everything in the created order depends upon God for its continued existence as well. Only God is not dependent upon anything other than himself for his being. He is the only truly independent being that exists. The source of God's being is completely within himself. He is self-existent.
Once again we need to recognize how unlike us God really is. When we try to catalog the items upon which we are dependent, the list gets long in a hurry. Most of us will only last about 3 minutes without air. We will make it about 3 days without water. Somewhere between 30 and 50 days is the most we can go without food. We need shelter to survive the heat and the cold. We need things outside of ourselves in order to survive. God, in contrast, needs no one but himself to sustain his existence.
The technical name for this attribute of God is aseity (uh-SEE-i-tee, from the Latin a se, “from self"). When we speak of divine aseity we are referring to that aspect of God's nature that makes him a truly independent being.
Biblical support for God’s aseity is found in Exodus 3:14, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The name Yahweh (vs 15), usually translated as LORD in all capital letters, is just another form of the Hebrew verb translated "I am" in verse 14. This verb carries the primary idea of the self-existence of God. We could just as easily translate it, "I am the One who is.”[2] That God would choose this for his name shows how important this doctrine is.
We also see the doctrine of God's aseity in the NT. Jesus says in John 5:26, "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself." Interestingly, even though God the Father is given priority (we will discuss the economic Trinity later on), both the Father and the Son possess the attribute of self-existence.
Not only is God self-existent, he is the only being that can make this claim. The biblical evidence precludes the existence of another like God. In Isaiah 46:9, God declares, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” The apostle John proclaims, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3). Please notice that John is making two claims. First, all things were made. Everything, other than God, has been created. Only God remains uncreated. Second, because "Through him all things were made" there cannot be another self-existent being like God. He is the cause of all other things.
While it may sound like this is a purely academic argument, in reality there is at least one important truth that flows from God's aseity that the believer should always remember. Because God has life in himself, he is never afraid of death. Because all other beings depend on God for their very existence, no one may ever intimidate God. Those situations that frighten us, never frighten God. He hears no threats, he sees no danger. When we are terrified, God remains calmly unafraid.
All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” (Dan 4:35)
God's self-existence also requires other aspects of God to be true as well. Some of these attributes are listed below.
God Is a Simple Being
We humans are complex beings. Our bodies are complicated, an intricate network of interconnected systems like the nervous system, the immune system, the skeletal system, and so forth. Each of these systems are composed of a combination of parts, and each part is complicated in and of itself. We may keep drilling down until we reach the molecular level, which is composed of atoms that are composed of subatomic particles that are composed of quarks, and on and on it goes. Each of these parts are dependent upon other parts in order for us to maintain life. We are indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).
In contrast, God is not a complex being. God is a simple being. This means that God is not composed of parts. While this attribute is not directly stated in Scripture, it logically flows from God's aseity. For God to be truly self-existent it must also be true that he is dependent on no thing for his existence. He cannot be independent and dependent at the same time.
As stated above, we are dependent on a whole host of internal parts. Take one of those parts away, and we will die. This is not true of God. God is an independent being. Therefore, he cannot be dependent upon parts within himself. There is nothing we can take away from God that will cause him to cease to be. To be clear, we are not saying that God is too powerful for anyone to take anything from him, although that is certainly the case. What we are saying is that nothing exists that may be taken away. God exists as one simple being.
We have already seen that God is a spirit, which means he is unrelated to the created cosmos of matter, energy, time, and space. Since God is not a physical being he is not composed of physical parts. God is also external to time. Therefore, there are no past, present, or future parts to him.
Now, at this point some are undoubtedly thinking that this is simply a mental exercise which has no practical application. Nothing could be further from the truth. For understanding the simplicity of God helps us to think about God in an entirely new way.
Since God is an indivisible unity, being one simple being not composed of parts, it follows that we cannot take a sample of God. Again, he is not like us. Someone may take a sample of your blood, or your saliva, or your hair. But that is not true of God. Because he is an indivisible unity, we either have all of God or none of God. We can never have part of God. We never need to pray to get more of God, because we already have either all of him or none of him.
It is certainly true that God may have more of us. We may grow in our faith and, as a result, become more obedient to him. We may receive more of God's power for special ministries he has ordained for us. But, while all this remains true, we cannot get more of God. When he gives himself to us, he gives all of himself for that's all he can do.
The Immensity of God
We agreed with Anselm that God is the greatest of all conceivable beings. For this to be true, God must be without any limits in every aspect of his being. If this were not true, then we could imagine a greater being than God. All we would have to do his step across whatever imaginary line we have drawn. For example, if God could be more loving, or more holy, or if he could know more or have more strength, and so forth, then we could imagine a being greater than God.
Let's consider this aspect of God with regard to his presence. God exists outside of his created order. Time and space do not affect him in any way. As a result, God is without limits and therefore cannot be measured. Because God is an indivisible unity, his whole essence is, in its entirety, in and yet beyond any point of any limit imaginable.
This is confirmed over and over again in the Scriptures. In 1 Kings 8:27 Solomon prays, "but will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you." God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, asks, “‘Am I only a God nearby,’ declares the LORD, ‘and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD” (Jer 23:23-24).
Omnipresence
The fact that God exists in every point of space and time it is usually called God's omnipresence. We should note, however, that omnipresence is not properly an attribute of God since it isn't eternally true of God. In eternity past, before God began his creating work, only the Trinity existed. Because there was no space or time (because they weren’t created yet— see Isa 51:13; Zech 12:1; Eph 1:4; Heb 1:10) there was nothing to be present in. While God has always been without limits, he hasn't always been omnipresent. It was only when he created the cosmos that there was someplace to be present in. Therefore, omnipresence should be considered merely the relationship of God's immensity to creation.
The practical application of God's omnipresence maybe summed up in a simple sentence that is always true regardless of the circumstances. Speaking of God, we may always say, "he is here." Because God is a simple being, we may say "all of God is here." Since God exists in every point of time in the past, present, and future, we may expand that sentence to say, "All of God is here right now and he will never leave me no matter where I go."
If you are in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, this statement should drive away all fear. It should provide contentment in your present circumstances, no matter what they are. The author of Hebrews commands us to "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Heb 13:5)
We may expand the statement above even further. Nothing ever intimidates God or makes him afraid. No one can “hold back his hand or say to him what have you done?” (Dan 4:35) Therefore, we may say, "All of God is here right now and he will never leave me no matter where I go so there is never a reason for me ever to be afraid."
What makes you afraid? There is something, isn't there? Fear is an emotion that all of us face at one time or another. But when we understand who God really is, there is never a reason to be afraid. And isn't that good news?
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters with Screwtape Proposes a Toast (New York: MacMillan, 1961), 36-37.
[2] This has been the view of conservative scholars for a long time. Some more recent theologians take issue with this translation, preferring the phrase, “He who causes to be.” The main argument for this translation is that the Hebrews of this time were too primitive to grasp the concept of self-existence. This argument must be rejected for it assumes that the religion of the Hebrews, particularly their view of God, changed over time, an assumption clearly at odds with a plain reading of the OT. For a more in-depth discussion of this issue see John J. Davis, Moses and the Gods of Egypt, 2d ed (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1986), 72-73.