God is Independent

Aseity Defined

Aseity simply refers to the self-existence or the independence of God. That is, God exists perfectly in Himself. He is need of nothing. If he were, as we will see, would mean that he is mutable. If he is mutable then that would imply that something outside of God existed either before Him or over Him, i.e. something would have to explain God’s existence.

If God is omniperfect—the greatest imaginable being—then he will exist a se, i.e., with absolute self-sufficiency. Nothing other than God will explain his existence and nature, and he will have no needs. Therefore, God will be all-powerful and all-knowing since any shortfall in these attributes would compromise his aseity.

If something exists contingently, (existence relies on something else) then it might not have existed; and in that case, its existence will be explained by something else. For example, then, the Eiffel Tower is a contingent thing, because it might not have existed; and in that case, something else explains why it does exist. However, if something exists necessarily, it cannot fail to exist. Accordingly, if God is a logically necessary being, the utterance, ‘There is no God,’ () will imply nonsense, since God’s nature would guarantee his existence.

Now suppose that we describe God (wrongly) as all-powerful, all-knowing, but only very good. In that case, God’s degree of goodness will be a contingent fact about him. That is, at one time he initiates this or that level of goodness, at another time he may initiate a different one.

But if so, his present state of goodness will require some explanation, since it changes from instant to the next; and in that case, God could not exist a se. An outside factor will explain his present (but mutable) state of being. Therefore, if God exists a se, he will be maximally perfect, not just far better than we are. The same argument would require God to be all-knowing and all-powerful. A God who exists a se cannot be simply stronger and better informed, compared to us or the angels. He must possess his attributes to the maximal degree.

These arguments show that some of what the Bible says about God must be said about God. He will have created everything out of nothing if he creates at all, because nothing could have existed prior to God or alongside God—not, that is, if he exists a se. If something else had existed before God, that something would explain God and thus be God.

Aseity in Scripture

Does God need us? We must begin by asking if God needs us to exist or to be fulfilled and happy. The God of the Bible is one who does not need us at all. He exists independent of the world, as one who is self-sufficient and self-existent. In his book The Doctrine of God, John Frame helpfully outlines seven characteristics of aseity.

1. As Lord, God owns all things. God is “possessor of heaven and earth” (). Indeed, the “earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” ().

2. Everything possessed by creatures comes from God. The Lord made heaven and earth and every good and perfect gift is from his hand (, , , ; Ja. 1:17).

3. When we give something back to God, we give him only what he has first given to us.We are God’s stewards and will be held accountable for whether or not we have used what he has given to us for his glory (; ). Since the church belongs to God, pastors will be held accountable for their pastoral care ().

4. When we give something back to God, he is not obligated to recompense us. When we do what we were told to do, we, as unworthy servants, have only done our duty ().

5. God owes nothing to any creature. Notice how God answers Job: “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” (). Or consider Paul who writes, “‘Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?’ for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen” ().

6. God has no needs. is powerful in this regard: “I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it” ().

7. God is by nature a se. As Paul says to the Athenian philosophers in the Areopagus, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” ().

Implications for Our Worship

Now that we have seen that aseity is affirmed in Scripture, what implications does it have for the God we worship? What implications does it have for our salvation?

In and we learn that God is not like the pagan gods of the surrounding nations. These gods are fashioned by man (). Using much satire, Isaiah explains that the same wood used by man to keep himself warm and cook his food by fire he also uses to form a god so that he can bow down to it in worship, praying “Save me; you are my god” (). This is not a God who saves but a God you must save. “In this way,” Frame writes, “the Lord mocks worship in which the god is dependent on the worshiper, in which the worshiper meets the god’s needs” (Doctrine of God, 606).

In contrast, Paul describes the Lord in not as a creature but as the Creator. Paul is emphatic: God is not worshiped by us “as if he needed anything.” True, biblical worship is due to God not because he needs us, but because we need him. As Frame observes, it is the case that God is worshiped by men’s hands, “but the hands are raised in praise and thanksgiving, not to supply the needs of God” (Doctrine of God, 606). Consider the words of the 24 elders who fall down before the throne of God, worshiping him, casting their crowns before him saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” ().

If God is not independent of us, he is not worthy, qualified, or able to save us let alone to receive worship and praise. If God is not a se, then he is weak and pathetic. He may be a God like us, but he is not a God better than us. He may be a God in our world, but he is not a God distinct from our world. And all of this relates to the gospel for, as Michael Horton says, “If God were not free from creation, we might pray for him, but not to him.” It is precisely because God is free from creation that he is able to enter into creation in order to save lost sinners ().

There are two dangers that need to be avoided in this discussion. First, one could conclude that we do not matter to God if he does not need us. Second, one could also conclude that God is not relational if he is independent of us. But both of these conclusions would be wrong. While God does not need us and is in no way obligated to enter into a relationship with us, he created us in his image and made us to have fellowship with him (). We matter because God determined that we would be meaningful.

Even when sin ruined and destroyed our fellowship and access to him (), he voluntarily entered into a saving covenant relationship with us, though he was in no way obligated to save us. He has every right to condemn us for all eternity (). “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved” (). The gospel depends on a God who does not depend on you. What this means for us, as believers, is nothing short of amazing: While God does not need us, he has given us the privilege of serving him. We would not have it any other way.