Biblical Insights into What Created God

Many people ask the question, "If God created the world, then what created God?". It seems like a reasonable question, but it has certain assumptions within it. The most obvious assumption is that nothing can exist without a prior cause.

Many people believe in God. They believe in a sentient and powerful God that created the heavens and the earth. However, this belief has been challenged in modern times. There's been a rise in alternative worldviews that reject God's existence.

One of the arguments against the existence of God is that if he exists, then he must have had a creator. This is often framed by the question; "what created God?". If God made us and the world, then something must have created him. Or perhaps God created himself? If he created himself then when did he do this? From what did he create himself? Did he come from nothing? If God was created, then what created the thing that created God?

While these questions are mostly rhetorical, they are a valid line of reasoning for many people. Many people struggle with the concept of God, and question whether God exists. Years ago, I remember asking the question of what created God. It seemed like a good question, but I didn't get a clear answer at the time.

Is there are a problem with the question itself?

The problem with the question is that if God was created then he's not God. The accepted notion of God, is that he is primary to everything and everyone that exists. God, by definition, does not have, and does not need a creator. If God was created by the universe or some unknown force, then he's not God.

Understanding this we see that the question presupposes that God needs a creator. If we assume that God needs a creator, we've assumed there is no God. By asking what's the creator of God, we've already ruled out his existence. So when we think about it, the question becomes a simple statement about the impossibility of God. If you presume that nothing can exist that wasn't created by something before it, then you reject the concept of God.

Does everything need a creator?

For many the question of "what created God?" seems like a straightforward and reasonable question to ask. It draws on some simple observations of how the world works. We see the world and come to the conclusion that everything, including ourselves, had to come from something else. Nothing creates itself. So why shouldn't we assume the same about God? If everything has a creator then why do we make an odd exception for God?

The answer, of course, is that God is not everything else. God made the universe, but isn't part of it. Thus, if we believe in the concept of God, we believe in a Creator that transcends what we experience in the world around us.

God initially created the physical world and the laws that it operates on, which we observe as cause and effect. If we consider this as a possibility, then why would we place God as a causal link that comes after the beginning? Why would we assume that God emerged from the laws and forces he created? God, by his nature, would have to transcend the visible cycles and processes of the world.

What created God is a mundane question.

So the question of what created God is based on mundane assumptions. It takes our worldly perceptions and experiences and makes them paramount to everything that could exist. It creates an infinite chain of causation that naturally excludes God. In the end, these links of causation create a paradox because they can't explain why the chain exists at all.

Part of the difficulty is our conceptions are formed by what we see and experience in the world. Everything we are familiar with exists within the chain of cause and effect we see around us. For many people, it's this difficulty of conceiving of God that leads to unbelief.

God is the Creator, not the created.

Thinking about the question of what created God, leads us to better understand the nature of God in the Bible. He is by his nature self-existent, meaning he is not the result of prior causality. God simply exists, being transcendent to the processes that we observe in the world.

Notice that when Moses asks God his name, he gives him an unusual variation that literally translates to "I am", "And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and He said, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14 KJV).

In this passage, God reveals himself as having always existed, without beginning or end. Whereas everything in the world has a beginning, God doesn't. Nothing could have created God because he has always existed, from the eternal past to the eternal future.

What was God doing before he decided to create the world?

What we think of as time is a creation of God. Therefore, there was no point in time that God decided to create. There was not a billion or trillion years before creation. God was the beginning, and the desire to create existed with him into an eternal past and future.

"Before the mountains were born, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God" (Psalm 90:2 LITV).

Does the clock set the time for its maker?

Some will accept the idea of God existing outside of time and causality as a rational answer to the question of his origin. However, a more knowledgeable skeptic might point out that this answer isn't fully consistent with the Bible. The Bible often depicts God as a being with thoughts and emotions that change over the course of time. God seems to exist in time, not outside of it.

In the Bible, God experiences the progress of the world:

• After creating the world in six days, God rests on day seven (Genesis 2:2).
• After the fall, God enters the garden and questions Adam and Eve (Genesis 3).
• In Noah's time, God sees the sinfulness of man and repents that he created them (Genesis 6:5-6).
• God becomes angry on Mount Sanai because of the golden calf. Then when Moses makes intercession, God relents of his anger (Exodus 32:7-14).

God is invested in his creation.

What is revealed throughout the Bible is that God vividly experiences his creation. He didn't create the world as one of many complex clocks hanging on the walls of an eternal labyrinth. It wasn't a finished glass ornament to be casually admired from outside of time. Neither was it created to be lifeless, forgotten, or abandoned. Rather the world was created with the intent that it would reach an important destiny; it would become the place that he dwells (Revelation 22:1-5).

Therefore, the words and emotions of God are not polytheistic mistakes. Rather they are doorways into the being of God, who by his nature, chooses to experience his creation. He is not anchored to time the way that we are, but willingly descends to its level. God experiences the struggle that exists within the time frame of creation, and looks forward to the bright future when his work is fulfilled.

God is not bound to the mechanisms of creation, but chooses to endure, "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory" (Rom 9:22-23 ESV).

The prophets give insights into the fulfillment of creation, "You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married" (Isaiah 62:4 ESV).

God as the clockmaker created a clock that would rebel against him. It was a clock that he knew would cause him grief and sorrow, even becoming detestable. However, his plan wasn't to utterly destroy or abandon it, but to salvage and rebuild it. God's plan was to be personally invested in his work with his own blood, sweat, and tears. When we recognize his struggle as a redemptive plan, then we have found genuine communion with him.