Question
Who made God?
Response
Asking the question “Who made God?” is similar to asking me, “When is your child’s birthday?” This would be a flawed question because you first need to find out whether or not I actually have a child (in case you are wondering, I don’t). We first have to ask the question, “Was God made?”, and as Christians would answer “No” the question “Who made God?” becomes unnecessary. Therefore the question we need to explore is “Why do Christians believe that God is uncreated?”
The Bible says…
When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush he referred to himself as the great “I am” (Exodus 3:14) and throughout the Bible we read of a God who is eternal, who has no beginning or end and is the cause of everything else. (Psalm 90:2, Jeremiah 10:10 and Revelation 1:8)
A created God wouldn’t be God
If God had been made then he wouldn’t be God, instead the person or thing that made him would be God.
Surely everything needs to be made?
Only things that have a beginning need to be made. Therefore God did not need to be made because he did not have a beginning – he has always existed.
It’s true that all physical things have a beginning and therefore need to be made (and have a maker). However, God is a spiritual being (John 4:24) with an eternal nature. If you believe that God created the entire universe, including space and time, it follows that God is outside space and time. Yes, he operates and relates to us within space and time, but he himself is outside it. Only things within space and time can have a beginning (because ‘beginning’ is measured in time), therefore as God is outside of it he did not have a beginning, and therefore didn’t need to be made.
At some point it has to be acknowledged that if it is impossible for something to come out of nothing there has to be something or someone that has always existed. Therefore that something or someone is ‘God’. Scientific discovery is certainly pointing towards the need for an ‘Intelligent Designer’ and much of the evidence suggests that the God revealed in the Bible could well be that person!
Conclusion
It appears that there are only two options, either everything we see around us came out of nothing or there is a God who has always existed and he created everything.
Key Bible Passages
Exodus 3:14
Psalm 90:2
Jeremiah 10:10
Revelation 1:9
It appears that there are only two
options, either everything we see around
us came out of nothing or there is a
God who has always existed and he
created everything.
This response was written by Phil Green. Copyright © July 2006.
You may like to use some of the following ideas:-
- Why is it difficult (for some people) to believe that God was not made?
- What problems would it cause us if God was a created being?
- What do you find easier to believe, that everything we see around us came out of nothing or that there is a God who has always existed and that he created everything? Why?
- How does knowing that God is outside space and time, yet relates to us inside of it, make you feel?
FAQ Disclaimer:
FAQ responses are designed to promote clear biblical thinking about subjects that are often difficult and confusing. The responses are all considered to be compatible with the Evangelical Alliance’s basis of faith but beyond that should not be assumed to represent the Evangelical Alliance’s ‘official standpoint’ on any particular doctrine or issue.
