This article is speaking of an important doctrinal issue―the self-existence of God.[1]
The first issue that must be addressed when speaking about “God” is the definition of God. By using the word God in the uppercase, we refer to the one supreme, self-existent, autonomous, infinite, and eternal being who is the first cause and creator and supreme authority of all. This definition rules out the existence of any other putative gods. There can only be one autonomous being because if there were more than one, then there would be no autonomous being and thus no God. One dictionary defines “autonomous” as “self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only.”[2] Since our definition of God sees a single being who IS before anyone or anything was created, and therefore self-existent, then this God must be eternal and the cause of all created beings and things and supreme over all creation.
Our position in this writing is that there is only one living and true God (Deut. Him 6:4; Is. 45:5-7; 1 Cor. 8:4), an infinite, all-knowing Spirit (John 4:24), perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14)—each equally deserving worship and obedience. The existence of God is, for Christians, a theological presupposition. God is a self-existent, self-conscious, and autonomous personal Being, the first cause and creator of all, who transcends the natural and supernatural realms and is immanent in every part in His complete essence and person. This is God as revealed in the Bible, the word of God.
Where lower animals were created according to their kinds (Gen. 1:21), God created human beings in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). This separates human beings from all other creatures. The image of God includes true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness which constitutes original righteousness.[3] Though this original righteousness was lost by human beings through sin in the fall, it was regained in Christ through faith when God deemed us as righteous. Human beings were also endued with elements such as intellectual power, natural affections, freedom and a rational, moral nature. These elements were not lost in the fall but they were vitiated by sin after the fall. The image of God also appears in man in spirituality. God is immortal (1 Tim. 6:16) and human beings also were created with this immortality. But because of the first human beings’ sin, death came into the world (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:20, 21) as the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23).
Because the image of God is in all human beings at their creation, they are by nature homo religiosus. They have the innate impulse to search for meaning in life which we know is the urge to seek God. However, the fall and sin diminished the created image of God in humans and only God’s gift of regeneration can restore it. This innate impulse to search for God is a proof that God exists. But humans will continue to deny God until and unless God regenerates their spirit to the end of saving faith, justification, salvation, and glorification.
The great presupposition of Christian theology is the existence of this biblical God. This presupposition is evident in the opening verse of the Bible In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Christians accept the truth of God’s existence not by blind faith but by faith based on reliable information provided primarily in the word of God and secondarily in God’s revelation in His creation. Scripture states And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb. 11:6). The Bible does not set out to prove God’s existence but it authoritatively states that God has been, is, and shall be. And God works all things according to the counsel of His will.
The revealed word of God is the foundation of the Christian belief in the existence of this one and only true God. Christians understand Scripture through the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Consequently, Christianity is a fully reasonable faith.
Unbelievers, on the other hand, lack the mediation of the Holy Spirit because of their unbelief and are thus incapable of understanding the word of God. As Paul writes:
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe … For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Cor. 1:20, 21, 25).
Every human being who has reached the age at which he or she is capable of distinguishing between right and wrong and knows the nature and quality of his or her act and consequently has a position regarding God. They either believe or they don’t. True Christians believe in God as revealed in the Holy Bible and all others do not believe in God. Some unbelievers may say they believe in God but have a misunderstanding of who He is and thus do not believe in the God of the Bible. So-called atheists do not believe in God. Agnostics are unbelievers who claim they don’t know whether there is God but they also do not believe in God; not knowing is not believing. The unbelievers, those who claim to know God but don’t, (Matt. 7:21-23) and the atheists and agnostics who don’t believe in God will all spend eternity separated from God in Hell (Matt. 25:41-46).
For true Christians, God is the “measure” of all things. The word measure is used here to refer to a basis or standard of comparison for judging something. And for true Christians, the God of the Bible is their measure. Christians know what God’s measure is through the revealed word of God and all their thoughts and actions must measure-up to God’s standard. We see this especially taught in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt. Ch. 5-7).
Unbelievers have various measures for judging their actions and none are in accord with God’s standards. For many unbelievers, they make up their own standards. For some, idols of one ilk or another are the source of their behavioral standards. A large number of unbelievers look to various human-made ideologies for their standards. For humanists, the human being is their measure and for Marxists and socialists and communists the state as their measure.
True Christians worship the one and only self-existent God. Christianity is the only religion founded by God Himself. All other religions who claim other gods are only worshipping human-made idols and ideologies. That’s why our Lord Jesus Christ commanded all Christians Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19, 20).
[1] Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 196-205.
[2] Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Deluxe Edition 2001), 141.
[3] Berkhof, 198.
1 comment
Jesse
I add, the singular, sovereign, self-existence of God is also the starting point of all witness.