Part 2: Divine Aseity (Self Existance)

Intro

God exists By Himself

Isaiah 40:17–20 AV

17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. 18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. 20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

Isaiah 40:21–23 AV

21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: 23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

Isaiah 40:28 AV

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

Isaiah shows God as the uncreated creator of all things and compares the false gods as nothing and empty.

Now see the praise of God in Heaven:

Revelation 4:11 AV

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

An impostant passage regarding God’s Aseity:

John 1:1–3 AV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

God made all things, thus prior to creation all that existed was God.

Not only did God create the world and everything else but He also preserves it.

Nehemiah 9:6 AV

6 Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

Thus all that has been created by God is also preserved moment by moment by God as well.

Scripture testifies that God is the Source, the Sustainer and the Goal of all reality.

Romans 11:36 AV

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

connect with:

Hebrews 2:10 AV

10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

God, by contrast, did not come into being at all. He just exists.

Psalm 90:2 AV

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Connect with the Divine Name:

Exodus 3:14 AV

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Very important to note is that all of these self existant attributes are, in the New Testament, said to be posessed by Christ:

1 Corinthians 8:5–6 AV

5 For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Christ is the person who sustains creation.

Hebrews 1:1–3 AV

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Again Christ is creator and sustainor.

Colossians 1:15–17 AV

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 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: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Note: “First-born” does not mean “born-first”. First Born is a position of authority not a position of birth.

A Systematic Understanding of God’s Aseity based on the biblical data.

As a self existant being, God does not depend on anything else for His existance.

However, God does exist by necessity of His own nature. In other words, God does not just happen to exist, he exists because His nature makes His existance neccesery.

This means that by virtue of God’s Aseity, two more divine attributes must also exist:

1: God’s Eternity. God can never come into being or out of being. He must be eternal.

2: God’s Necessity. God will always exist, in every possible world.

These 2 added attribiutes comply with Perfect Being Theology.

Closing Thought:

Because everything depends on God for its creation, sustation and future - it can be compared to a dream. In a dream the place and people and interaction are all populated by your subconscience. However, as soon as you awake, the places, people and events in your dream cease to exist.

This is how dependant all of creation is on God. If God were to cease thinking of the universe, the universe would cease to exist. But if the universe ceased to think of God, God would remain.