Of God and of the Holy Trinity, II:2

God has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He has made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleases. In His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.

"Aseity" is one of those terms one frequently encounters in theology that never seem to crop up in normal conversation. From the Latin a se, meaning "from himself," it refers to God's independence and self-sufficiency. God alone is noncontingent being. He does not rely upon or need anything outside himself. Furthermore, only God has the power of being within himself, the power of self-existence. He is that Necessary Being upon which all else that exists depends. The Confession calls him "the alone fountain of all being," for everything else is contingent and derivative. They exist because God called them into being. See Acts 17:28 and John 1:3-4.

The Confession also describes God as "glorious." The Hebrew word used in Scripture and translated as "glory" (kabod) refers to weightiness, significance, and substantiveness. Metaphorically speaking, God is like the Rock of Gibralter--for a ship passing through the Straits, the Rock is solid, large, unavoidable (unless I deliberately close my eyes or avert my gaze...), unliftable, and utterly real. The glory of God proceeds from within himself. He is glorious because of his perfection.

God is the comprehensive master of all creation. Because he has made all things, he may command and dispose of them as he pleases. He knows his creation thoroughly and knows precisely how best to employ it. He makes no mistakes. There is nothing the creature can do which surprises God or catches him off guard. Everything that he requires of his creation is right and good. Some may stumble at this point, thinking in terms of puppetmasters and despots. I remind such of the first paragraph--this underscores the importance of a correct understanding of the character of the God the Scriptures reveal. The God who commands and disposes as he pleases is completely good and holy and kind and loving and just and righteous. Who can ever correctly attribute to him malicious motive or craven selfishness?

Because creation owes its very existence and continuance to God, he rightfully expects worship, service, and obedience. This is not divine egotism but justice. God may rightly expect what he deserves. And what he deserves is every good thing.

Tomorrow: The Trinity.