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of the world in this connection, but of the hope of Abraham that he would have a son.
However, the description here given of God is general and is therefore also of a general
application. It belongs to the very nature of God that He is able to call into being what does not
exist, and does so call it into being.
5. CREATION GIVES THE WORLD A DISTINCT, YET ALWAYS DEPENDENT EXISTENCE.
a. The world has a distinct existence.
This means that the world is not God nor any part of God,
but something absolutely distinct from God; and that it differs from God, not merely in degree,
but in its essential properties. The doctrine of creation implies that, while God is self-existent
and self-sufficient, infinite and eternal, the world is dependent, finite, and temporal. The one
can never change into the other. This doctrine is an absolute barrier against the ancient idea of
emanation, as well as against all pantheistic theories. The universe is not the existence-form of
God nor the phenomenal appearance of the Absolute; and God is not simply the life, or soul, or
inner law of the world, but enjoys His own eternally complete life above the world, in absolute
independence of it. He is the transcendent God, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders. This doctrine is supported by passages of Scripture which (1) testify to the distinct
existence of the world, Isa. 42:5; Acts 17:24; (2) speak of the immutability of God, Ps. 102:27;
Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17; (3) draw a comparison between God and the creature, Ps. 90:2; 102:25-27;
103:15-17; Isa. 2:21; 22:17, etc.; and (4) speak of the world as lying in sin or sinful, Rom. 1:18-
32; I John 2:15-17, etc.
b. The world is always dependent on God.
While God gave the world an existence distinct from
His own, He did not withdraw from the world after its creation, but remained in the most
intimate connection with it. The universe is not like a clock which was wound up by God and is
now allowed to run off without any further divine intervention. This deistic conception of
creation is neither biblical nor scientific. God is not only the transcendent God, infinitely exalted
above all His creatures; He is also the immanent God, who is present in every part of His
creation, and whose Spirit is operative in all the world. He is essentially, and not merely per
potentiam, present in all His creatures, but He is not present in every one of them in the same
manner. His immanence should not be interpreted as boundless extension throughout all the
spaces of the universe, nor as a partitive presence, so that He is partly here and partly there.
God is Spirit, and just because He is Spirit He is everywhere present as a whole. He is said to fill
heaven and earth, Ps. 139:7-10; Jer. 23:24, to constitute the sphere in which we live and move
and have our being, Acts 17:28, to renew the face of the earth by His Spirit, Ps. 104:30, to dwell
in those that are of a broken heart, Ps. 51:11; Isa. 57:15, and in the Church as His temple, I Cor.
3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:22. Both transcendence and immanence find expression in a single passage of
Scripture, namely, Eph. 4:6, where the apostle says that we have “one God and Father of all,