www.youtube.com/watch?v=gut1IRaPhFA
Early Christianity on the
Omnipresence of God the Father
Post-Apostolic Church
INTRO
This is the tenth video in a series on what
the Pre-Nicene Christians believed about the Divinity. And this is the
seventh video about God the Father.
To be omnipresent means to be present in all
places and the same time. A common
belief in Christianity is that God the Father is omnipresent. What have we heard people say about it? [0.3]
Some might say, “God is in heaven.” Others might say, “God is everywhere.” Others might say, “God is in each of us.”
PRE-NICENE CHRISTIANS: GOD IS EVERYWHERE AND
CANNOT BE CONTAINED
The early
Christians believed that God the Father is everywhere. God is in every place. He cannot be confined, restricted, nor contained
in any place. Melito wrote,
There are persons who say: It is for the honor of God that we make the
image: that is, in order that we may worship the God who is concealed from our
view. But they are unaware that God is
in every country, and in every place, and is never absent, and that there is
not anything done and He does not know it. (Melito.
AD 170. ANF, vol 8, page 755.)
(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.x.v.ii.html,
“There are, however, persons…”)
Theophilus wrote,
This is the attribute
of God, the Highest and Almighty, and the living God, not only to be everywhere
present, but also to see all things and to hear all, and by no means to be
confined in a place. For if He were,
then the place containing Him would be greater than He. For that which contains is greater than that
which is contained. For God is not
contained, but is Himself the place of all.
(Theophilus. AD 175. ANF, vol 2, page 95.)
(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.iv.ii.ii.iii.html,
“For if the children begotten...”)
Clement of Alexandria wrote,
God is not in darkness
or in a place, but above both space and time, and qualities of objects. Therefore, neither is He at any time in a
part, either as containing or as contained, either by limitation or by section.
“For what house will you build to Me?”
says the Lord.* No, He has not even
built one for Himself, since He cannot be contained. And though heaven be called His throne, not
even in this way is He contained.
(Clement of Alexandria. AD
195. ANF, vol 2, page 348.)
* Is 66:1
(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iv.ii.ii.html,
“Be not elated on account…”)
In the
last video, we looked at how God exists outside of and encompasses time. In the same way, Clement says that God exists
outside of and encompasses space. So God
the Father transcends both time and space.
Tertullian wrote,
For as the Creator is
shown to be God, God without any doubt, from the fact that all things are His,
and nothing is strange to Him; [in contrast] the rival god is seen to be no
god, from the circumstance that nothing is his, and, therefore, all things are
strange to him. Since, then, the
universe belongs to the Creator, I see no room for any other god. All things are full of their Author, and
occupied by Him. If in created beings
there be any portion of space anywhere void of Deity, clearly, the void will be
of a false deity.* (Tertullian. AD 207.
ANF, vol 3, page 278-279.)
* See Matt 12:43-45
(Luke 11:24-26). See also Luke 17:20-21,
“within you.”
Tertullian
addresses the question on whether God is found within each person. God does live in a person but only when that
person is not living according to a false deity and is living according to God
the Father. Tertullian is saying that, for
those who reject God the Father, they have a void in them which has been filled
with a false deity.
The belief of God’s omnipresence is difficult
for humans to understand. Do they know
of any other thing that exists in every place?
Is there an illustration that we can compare this to? Well, not even air exists in every place since
it does not exist within solids nor in the vacuum of space. Something that makes this concept even more difficult to understand is the
Scriptures that speak of God the Father coming down to men. If God leaves one place or arrives at
another, does that mean there are certain places where God is or where God is
not? Origen helped explain this and wrote,
The illustrious Celsus,
taking occasion I know not from what, next raises an additional objection
against us, as if we asserted that “God Himself will come down to men.” He imagines also that it follows from this,
that “He has left His own abode.” For he
does not know the power of God, and that “the Spirit of the Lord fills the
world, and that which upholds all things has knowledge of the voice.” * Nor is he able to understand the words, “ ‘Do
I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord.” ** Nor does he see that, according to the
doctrine of Christianity, we all “in Him live, and move, and have our being,”
*** as Paul also taught in his address to the Athenians. Therefore, although the God of the universe should through His own power
descend with Jesus into the life of men, and although the Word which was in the
beginning with God, which is also God Himself, should come to us, He does not
give His place or vacate His own seat, so that one place should be empty of
Him, and another which did not formerly contain Him be filled. But the power and divinity of God comes
through him whom God chooses, and resides in him in whom it finds a place, not
changing its situation, nor leaving its own place empty and filling
another. For, in speaking of His quitting one place and occupying
another, we do not mean such expressions to be taken topically, but we say that
the soul of the bad man, and of him who is overwhelmed in wickedness, is
abandoned by God, while we mean that the soul of him who wishes to live
virtuously, or of him who is making progress (in a virtuous life), or who is already
living conformably toward, is filled with or becomes a partaker of the Divine
Spirit. (Origen. AD 248.
ANF, vol 4, page 499.)
* Wisdom 1:7
** Jer 23:24
*** Acts 17:28
Explaining the same thing from another angle,
Origen wrote,
We do not ask the
question, “How shall we go to God?” as though we thought that God existed in
some place. God is of too excellent a
nature for any place: He holds all things in His power, and is Himself not
confined by anything whatever. The
precept, therefore, “Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy God,” * does not
command a bodily approach to God. Neither
does the prophet refer to physical nearness to God, when he says in his prayer,
“My soul follows close after You.” ** Therefore, Celsus misrepresents us, when he
says that we expect to see God with our bodily eyes, to hear Him with our ears,
and to touch Him sensibly with our hands.
(Origen. AD 248. ANF, vol 4, page 624.)
* Deut 13:4
** Psalm 63:8
SCRIPTURES: GOD IS EVERYWHERE
What do the Scriptures say about God’s
omnipresence? When Solomon began
building a temple for God, he wrote,
But who is able to
build a temple for Him, since even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain
Him? Who am I then that I should build a
temple for Him except as a place to burn incense before Him? (2Chr 2:6)
And when Solomon finished the temple and
dedicated it, he prayed,
But will God indeed
live on earth? Even heaven, the highest
heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. (1Kings 8:27)
Preaching about all of mankind, Paul said,
In Him we live and move
and exist. (Acts 17:28)
Jeremiah wrote these words from God,
Will anyone hide
himself in secret places, and I not see him?
Do I not fill heaven and earth?
(Jer 23:24, Brenton)
And so
from the mouth of God the Father, He reveals to us that He fills heaven and
earth—each and every place. There is no
place where He is not present.
CONCLUSION
God the Father is omnipresent. Whether at locations in heaven, locations on
earth, or even within ourselves, God is in every place.
But it is worth talking more about God being in us. Tertullian wrote about those who do not live
for God, having a void in their life which is filled with false gods. God is in every place without exception, but the question that remains for each person is: will they accept God’s
presence in their life? Will they allow
God’s will to be done in them as it is in heaven? Origen wrote, continuing his thoughts
about being filled with or becoming a partaker of the divine Spirit and God’s
power,
And if we must speak of
a change in any one by the appearing of the power of God, and by the entrance
of the word among men, we shall not be reluctant to speak of changing from a
wicked to a virtuous, from a dissolute [a self-indulgent] to a temperate, and
from a superstitious to a religious life, [that is,] the person who has allowed
the word of God to find entrance into his soul.
(Origen. AD 248. ANF, vol 4, page 499.)
Blessings
and so forth.
