GOD IS SELF-EXISTENT

GOD IS SELF-EXISTENT

"I AM THAT I AM"

 

 

The first and most important attribute of God setting forth His greatness is that of SELF-EXISTENCE. Though some recognition of the importance of this attribute is indicated by theologians, yet it is remarkable how little atten­tion is given to the development of this particular idea.

1. The declarations of the Scriptures concerning the existence of God are clear. Certainly, no thinking person can read the Scriptures without con­cluding that the existence of God is assumed throughout. In one passage, at least, it is clearly asserted that God exists, and on this basis alone men seek after God (Heb. 11:6). God has not left His existence without witness (Acts 14:17), and this witness leaves men without excuse in turning away from God (Rom. 1:19-20). Indulging themselves in a philosophic atheism, some men have demonstrated themselves as fools (Psa. 14:1; 53:1), while others have dared to display a practical atheism by living as though there were no God (Tit. 1:16).

But the Scriptures declare that God exists in a certain sense that distinguishes Him from all other persons and things. There is no other who is like Him or equal to Him (Isa. 40:25). "I am the Lord: that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images" (Isa. 42:8). The Lord insists: "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God" (Isa. 44:6; 45:5-6; 46:9). As God, the Lord is separate and apart from the universe of which He is the creator and sustainer (Isa. 48:12-13).

In a more limited and particular sense, God is asserted to be self-existent. In identifying Himself to Moses, so that he would in turn be equipped to face the Hebrew people, he was informed by the Lord, "I AM THAT I AM," and instructed to say to the children of Israel, "I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. 3:14). The Hebrew original in this verse not only describes God as self-conscious and self-determining, but also as self-existing. This is the un-created God. He is un-caused. He "hath life in himself" (John 5:26).

In this sense God stands in contradistinction from all other persons and things. He is the uncaused cause of everything else. He is life and therefore He is the source of all life. He is the "fountain of life" and in His "Light we shall see light" (Psa. 36:9). He is "the fountain of living waters" from whose inexhaustible store there is an everlasting source to support and sustain every living thing (Jer. 2:13).

2. Further explanation is in order, so that no false impression may be formed concerning this important and fundamental attribute, and to the end that its truth may be conceived insofar as this is possible. The self-existence of God means that the ground of His being is in Himself. Some state that God is His own cause. But this method of expression may be slightly inaccurate. It is true, though, that God is the uncaused being, and in this sense He differs from all other beings; this means that God falls outside the pale of cause and effect which is true of all other beings.

The source of God's existence is wholly within Himself, and never at any moment does His existence depend upon anything external to Himself. There­fore it is correct to say that God does not belong to that unending series of cause and effect which is true of all other beings and things apart from God. God has no origin, and it is precisely this distinction that differentiates that which is God from that which is not God. Origin and beginning are words which apply to things that are created. And whenever we are thinking of things that have origin and beginning, we are not thinking of God. God alone is self-existent, while created things of necessity originated somewhere at some time.

God's self-existence is implied if not stated in the name Jehovah (Exod.6:3), and in the assertion, "I AM THAT I AM" (Exod. 3:14). Both of these expressions mean that it is God's nature to be. Obviously, the idea of self-existence is in­comprehensible to the human mind. But it is not more so than a self-existent universe, an idea proposed by many secular philosophers, and one which intro­duces inconceivable mystery. God is the living spring of all energy and all being. He exists by the necessity of His own being, since it is His own nature to be. This existence is not a contingent, but a necessary existence because it is grounded in His nature.

3. There are necessary implications that grow out of the fact that God is self-existent. For one thing, God is self-sufficient (Acts 17:25). He is inde­pendent of all created things (Psa. 94:8-10; Isa. 40:18ff; Acts 17:25). This is true in His thoughts (Rom. 11:33-34), His will (Dan. 4:35; Rom. 9:19; Eph. 1:5; Rev. 4:11), His power (Psa. 115:3), and His counsel (Psa. 33:11). Any need in God would be admission that there is imperfection and incompleteness in God.

Moreover, self-existence and self-sufficiency lead inevitably to sovereignty. Sovereignty does not mean mere height or supremacy of position. It is that position which grows out of what God is in Himself. There is no rule of measure above or next to God. There is no law to which He is subject, no tribunal to which He must answer, no pattern to which He must conform. He alone is the absolute standard for all law and righteousness and justice. This explains the name given to Him, Adonai, which comes from a root meaning to make low, to subject to one's self, hence to be Lord and sovereign (Psa. 110:1, 5).

Furthermore, it will be seen by careful analysis of the Scriptures re­lating to the self-existence of God that it leads to implications involving the simplicity, the eternity, the infinity, and the immutability of God. In fact, since every attribute embraces the whole of God, and the entire essence is in each attribute, then it follows that every attribute has some necessary impli­cation growing out of self-existence.

4. An evaluation of this attribute in relation to its practical value in human life reveals a number of things. Only as men catch a glimpse of the self-existence of God are they capable of measuring themselves. Ever since Adam turned his back on God, men have imagined that "The proper study of mankind" is man.

              5. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Job tried this and failed. But once he caught a vision of God, he abhorred himself and repented (Job 42:1-6). He learned that God is everything, and that he was nothing.

It is also true that a vision of the self-existent God with its implications leads men to the realization of sin. Sin is essentially the dethronement of God as the sole source of everything, and the enthronement of self as the all-suffi­cient one. Isaiah did not hesitate to confess, "Woe is me! For I am undone... for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:5). No more bitter and better analysis of sin was ever made than the pointed confession of Isa. 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way."

At this point it becomes increasingly clear why the Bible lays such emphasis on faith as the one and only condition for effecting salvation. It is because the self-existence of God teaches that sin is essentially the persuasion of the human will to the end that the self is sufficient and God is not the only all-sufficient One. Faith is essentially the persuasion of the human will. When that is changed to recognize God as the all-sufficient One, then God can com­municate His life. Consider the fact that Christ said, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself" (Matt. 16:24). Paul struck at the same point, "I have been crucified with Christ...and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith" (Gal. 2:20 ASV).

Once a man has caught the vision of the self-existence of God as revealed in Christ, he has the guarantee that he has reached the ultimate source of life, and he is no longer dependent upon a stream that may be cut off. "The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself" (John 5:25-26).

Perhaps most important of all, a vision of the self-existence of God teaches men that the supreme and all-consuming purpose of God in creating is to bring glory to Himself. God is everything. He exists by Himself and all creation comes out of Him. "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him" (Col. 1:16). In the consummation of the age, this purpose will be achieved and all intelligences will acknowledge that, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11).