God’s Beginning

In The Beginning

Last week we discussed how we are diving into this month talking about what scholars call, ‘Theology Proper’. This topic is the field of study that deals with God’s nature, works, and attributes, and as we discussed last week, we began very basic by asking the question ‘What is God?’. This of course was the start of looking more closely at God’s nature and since we were able to define what God is last week, we are now going to continue this study of His nature by taking it to the very beginning and asking, ‘How did God come into being?’ As much as this may sound like a theological debate or topic only heard in an apologetics class, the origin of God’s beginning is crucial to understand if we are to understand His nature. 

Think about anyone else you know, their backstory tells a lot about who they are and how they came to be the person they are today. For instance, if I pulled a person at random and told you to tell me everything you assumed to be true about that person, the list would probably be very short and limited solely to the physical aspects and appearance of the said person. However, if I told you the date this person was born, the place in which they grew up, and the relationships that had a huge influence on this person’s life, you would probably be able to understand and assume a whole lot more about the life and very nature of this person than you could by just taking a glance at them. So what then is God’s beginning? What impacted Him the most if anything? What space, time, and influence shaped our God into who He is today? The answers to these questions are found in Revelation and told to us by many prophets, but before we digest these passages, I want to look into our own heads for the answers we’ve most likely already told ourselves while reading this intro.

Name a Time and Place

If you have studied God or learned anything at all about Christianity or even most religions, you might be saying right now, ‘This question is pointless, God has no beginning. Everyone knows that’s what Christians believe!’. And while I agree with the conclusion of this statement, I want to ask you, how do you explain this? If you told someone that you believe God is eternal and someone asked you to explain your reasoning, what would you say? Sadly, a vast majority of people would simply say, ‘He just is’. While on the one hand, I completely understand this response because it’s such a loaded question, on the other hand, I’m still saddened and disappointed, even with myself, that this is the answer we’ve been customed to give. The very nature of the time and space of our Lord has become so complex, that instead of being led into amazing curiosity to answer such a question, we have found it much easier to avoid it altogether. However, some defenders of the faith have searched for answers to such a question and I applaud them for doing so. My absolute, hands down, favorite apologist, Dr. William Lane Craig, has this to say about the time and space in which God was created. Dr. Craig notes, “If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused, personal Creator of the universe exists, who sans the universe is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, and enormously powerful.” 

This is one of my favorite arguments that reveals the vast nature of our God from Dr. Craig. The apologetic basically goes, ‘If the universe had a beginning, then something had to cause it, and if something caused the universe before any time, matter, or space existed, then the creator must be a timeless, spaceless, matterless being.’ This is an enormous statement to make about such a deity! Would God Himself even agree to these claims about Him? Spoiler alert, He would and He does. God reminds us at the very end of His word in Revelation 22:13 “13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” You cannot be the beginning and the end if you have a beginning and end yourself, only a timeless being could do that. What about the influence and nature of God’s character? Sure we may be able to say He is outside of time and space, but how do we know God’s nature is the same today as it was before time even existed?! Malachi 3:6 tells us, “6 ‘I the Lord do not change’” It doesn’t get much clearer than that, folks. 

Perfect Nature

So what’s the point of all of this? Why did we start by asking a trick question that seemingly had no common answer? The answer to that question is simple because it’s mightly important and sadly overlooked. How did God come into being? He didn’t, He’s always been. This statement alone reveals that we don’t just serve some made-up god who was created by someone who had an illusion, but rather we serve a God that time and space itself can’t hold. No one says it better than Jesus Himself in John 8:58 “58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!’” God’s nature is consistent, perfect, and eternal because God Himself is consistent, perfect, and eternal. Or as Richard Mayhue puts it, “Theology proper, as with all other areas of systematic theology, is properly derived from God’s own testimony in His inspired, inerrant Word, the Bible. One’s concept of God does not come from human reasoning about the universe, because human reason is finite and corrupted by indwelling sin. Proof for God’s existence must come first and foremost, from God’s testimony about Himself.” If you are to ever doubt the majesty and eternality of our God, I hope and pray that the Lord will graciously remind you Himself through His word, that His very nature is consistent, perfect, and eternal, just as He is.

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Sources

[1] “Access Your Bible from Anywhere.” BibleGateway.Com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 150 Versions and 50 Languages., www.biblegateway.com/. Accessed 2023.

[2] Is the Cause of the Universe an Uncaused, Personal Creator of the Universe | Reasonable Faith. (n.d.). https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/is-the-cause-of-the-universe-an-uncaused-personal-creator-of-the-universe

[3] MacArthur, John, and Richard Mayhue. Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. Crossway, 2017.