God is Self-Existent/Self-Sufficient

God is self-existent in that he has no cause or source but is, unlike all else, uncreated.

God is absolutely free from any need or dependence. His existence, the fulfillment of His will, and His happiness or good pleasure do not depend upon anyone or anything outside of Himself.

All other beings derive their live and blessedness from God. All that is necessary for God’s existence and perfect happiness He finds in Himself.

God has no lack or need and is dependent upon no one.

To teach or even suggest that God made man because He was lonely or incomplete is a contradiction of Scripture.

God did not create the universe or man because He had a need, but because He desired to make known His perfections, glory, and goodness.

We can see this in how God names Himself in Exodus

I AM WHO I AM

Exodus 3:14 ESV

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Through the name God give to himself in this verse what does this communicate about His self Sufficiency?

God’s existence was not caused

God doesn’t depend upon anything or anyone

It is God’s nature to exist

He simply is without effort. God had no need that must be met, no void that must be filled and no purpose that requires the aid of another.

Psalm 36:9 ESV

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

John 5:26 ESV

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

The existence of all other things visible or invisible, animated or inanimate depends upon him.

Only God is truly free of need or dependence

So what does that say about us in light of God being self-existent?

1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul declares truth about man dependent on God

Only God can declare I am who i am

We are dependent and we are declared who we are by God.

The Lord defines us.

Psalm 50:8–15 ESV

Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

God does not need our help or even our sacrifices.

What God desires from His people is trust, thanksgiving and obedience.

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.