The Self-Existence of God

God exist all by Himself.  Theologians refer to this as God’s aseity—the doctrine of God’s self-existence. Aseity is the view that God is entirely self-sufficient and not dependent or contingent upon anything else. In other words, He is the eternal, independent, and personal cause of the universe.

God has all the ground needed to exist completely, fully and absolutely in Himself.  God is not dependent on anyone or anything outside of Himself for His existence.  You might say that God is His own cause. But even this expression is not fully accurate, since God is “uncaused” who exists by the necessity of His own Being.  Man existence is dependent on what is outside of himself, namely, God. 

But there is more than the above.  When the Bible teaches that God is independent in Himself, it also implies that He causes everything outside of Himself to be dependent on Him.  The idea of being self-existence finds its expression in the name Jehovah.  You see, it is only as the self-existent and independent One that God can give full assurance that He will remain eternally the same in relation to His people.  This is why the Bible teaches that God never changes (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; Heb. 13:8). 

Below are some passages from the Bible. I will give them and make comments along the way:

John 5:24 – “ The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man” – This is a declaration from the lips of Jesus showing that the Father is absolutely independent of all things and that all things exists only through Him.

Psalm 94:8-11:  “Think again, you fools! When will you finally catch on?
⁹ Is he deaf—the one who made your ears? Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes?
¹⁰ He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing? ¹¹ The Lord knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless!”  In other words, although we are made in God’s image and share in some of His traits, we must remember that what we possess on a finite level, God possesses on an infinite level.

Isaiah 40:18-20: “To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? ¹⁹ Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains? ²⁰ Or if people are too poor for that, they might at least choose wood that won’t decay and a skilled craftsman to carve an image that won’t fall down!”   If you want an accurate view of what God is like, don’t look at natural revelation (the things that are made), look at special revelation (the Scriptures themselves).

Only a self-existent, personal God for whom non-existence is impossible can adequately explain the design, purpose, causality, and personality evident in the universe.  In other words, apart from God, life will not make sense and it will be void of meaning.