Omnipresence

Omnipresence is one of the divine attributes of God. What omnipresence amounts to is that God is cognizant of and causally active at every point in space. That is what omnipresence means. It does not mean that God is literally in space. God transcends space. But he knows what is happening at every point in space, and he is causally active at every point in space, causing things to happen there and causally sustaining them in existence. So God, on this conception, is a non-spatial, transcendent, infinite mind who is conscious of and active at every point in space.

God’s Relationship To Space
Certainly the Bible speaks as though God is everywhere in space. Psalm 139 says that God is everywhere in space. But traditionally Christian theology has not understood God to be diffused throughout space, but rather to transcend space altogether. Since God is spirit (that is to say, he is incorporeal – God does not have a body) so obviously he is not in space in the sense of having extension or being a three-dimensional object. But neither should it be thought of God as some sort of invisible ether or vapor that is spread throughout space so that people are, so to speak, moving through God as they move about in the world. This would have a number of mistaken consequences. It would mean, for example, that if the universe is finite then God is finite because God would only fill the finite universe – the finite space that there is. And it certainly is possible that the universe and space is finite in which case God would be finite, not infinite. Also, this conception of God as spread out like an invisible ether would mean that God is not entirely present at every point in space. It would mean there is sort of like a portion of God inside a cup of tea and then the rest of him is outside. Or there is a certain cubic amount of God in this room but then the rest of him is outside of the room. That surely is not correct. What one would want to say is that God is entirely present everywhere in space.

If God exists in space, he would have to be somehow related to the physical universe in such a way that he would be wholly present at every point in space rather than just partially present at every point in space. There is an analogy to this, and that would be the way in which someone’s soul is present in their body. A human is a body-soul composite. A person’s soul seems to be present everywhere in their body. It is not as though the soul exists in the person’s head in their brain, or in their heart or some other part of their body. Nor is the soul spread throughout their body like a ‘ghost’ where a part of it is in their arm and a part of it is in their other arm or in their leg. Rather the union of the soul with the body would be that somehow if the soul is in the body it is everywhere present wholly in the body. The soul would not be spread out or diffused throughout the body but wholly present at every point in the body. Maybe one could say that that is the way in which God is related to the universe or to space. As the soul inhabits the body in such a way that it is wholly present at every point in the body, so God is in the world in such a way that he is wholly present at every place in space.

Certainly, the biblical view avoids any suggestion that the universe or the world is God’s body. God is incorporeal. God does not have a body. But the point would be that perhaps he is present in the world in an analogous way in which a soul is present in a body. The difference between a soul’s union with its body and God’s presence in the world is that the world does not serve God as a sort of sense organ by means of which God knows what is happening in the world. God is not dependent upon the world for his knowledge of what is happening in the way that a soul is dependent upon the eyes and the ears and the taste and so forth for navigating the world and sensing the world. So the world is not the body of God. That analogy fails in view of the fact that God does not use the world as a sort of sense organ in the way that the soul uses the body to sense what is happening in the world. But perhaps one could say that even though the world is not God’s body that nevertheless God is wholly present at every point in space in the way in which the soul is present at every place in the body.

Some traditional medieval theologians like Anselm actually did endorse this concept of God’s omnipresence. They called it the immensity of God. It is not the same exactly as omnipresence, but God’s immensity connoted that God is wholly present at every point in space. He is there in a literal sense. In that sense, people really are in God as Paul says in the verse from Acts 17: “In him we live and move and have our being.” This would be the notion of God’s immensity. This is an element in traditional theology.

On the other hand, God is also thought to transcend space. Since God is the creator of the universe there is a state of affairs of the actual world of God existing alone without time or space. Since God is not a physical object his existence does not require space. If it is thought of God “prior to” creation or “without” the world, God would exist without space. He would be spaceless. There would be no space. Space would come into being when God creates the physical world. Perhaps, time as well comes into existence at that point. At the moment of creation both time and space come to exist.

The question would be: in creating space, does God then enter into space in the way that his creation of time would involve his entering into time? In virtue of God’s changing relations with a temporal world and in virtue of his knowledge of tensed facts like what time it is now, if God creates time then he is immediately drawn into time and so becomes temporal at that point.

However, there is not anything about the creation of space that would “spatialize” God. Because although creation is a temporal act, creation is not a spatial act. It is not an act like bumping into something or pushing something or moving something. All of those would require that the cause be in space. If something bumps or pushes something the cause must be in space. But the creation of space is not itself a spatial act. So there is not anything about creation that would require God to enter into space at that time.

Therefore, the view to say that God simply transcends space is more plausible.

Localized In an Earthly Spot
God should not be thought of as localized in an earthly spot. That includes the church. When it is sometimes said that the church is God’s house it does not mean that in the sense that God’s presence is there in some way that he is not present elsewhere. The church building can be spoken of as God’s house in the sense that it is set apart for God. It is a sacred site dedicated to the Lord and his worship, but there are not sacred spots in the world on Earth where God is especially present in a local kind of way. God is present everywhere.

Localized In Heaven
It is often thought that God is in heaven sitting on a throne. That he is some sort of humanoid being that is up there in heaven and is localized there. The doctrine of God’s omnipresence says that God is everywhere present. As Jeremiah says he fills heaven and Earth. Solomon says heaven and Earth cannot contain thee.

Scriptural Data
In the same way that the Bible is underdeterminitive with respect to God’s relationship to time, it is also underdeterminitive with regard to God’s relationship to space. That is to say, it is not clear whether it should be thought of God as existing everywhere in space or whether it should be thought of him as transcending space altogether.

Psalm 139:7-12
According to Scripture God’s presence is everywhere.

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend to heaven, thou art there! If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to thee, the night is bright as the day; for darkness is as light with thee.

So God is everywhere present. There is nowhere that the psalmist can go where he can escape God’s presence. From the realms of the underworld in Sheol to the highest heaven or the farthest part of the sea God is there.

Jeremiah 23:23-24
“Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.”

Here God says, I am not just a localized deity, a God at hand like the deities of Israel’s neighbors. He says, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” God is everywhere present.

1 Kings 8:27
God does not dwell in a localized building. 1 Kings 8:27 is Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple:

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built.”

There Solomon, in dedicating the temple, says, Heaven and earth can not contain God much less this temple. He recognizes that God does not just dwell inside the temple in a local building.

Acts 17:24, 28a
This is Paul’s address on the Areopagus in Athens.

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man. . . for ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’”

The backdrop of that speech is the temple to Athena which was up on the Acropolis behind Paul on Mars Hill. Speaking to these Athenians in front of this incredible temple filled with a sixty-foot tall statue of Athena (a man could stand in her hand), he says God does not dwell in temples made by human hands nor is he served by human hands for in him we live and move and have our being. A total contrast to pagan deities. God is not just in a local building of some sort.

God Can Be Contacted At Every Location
No matter where someone is they can call upon God and he is there. In grade school, the teacher would sometimes call the roll and each student would respond “present” when his name was called. That is similar to people’s ability to call upon God. No matter where they are, they call upon his name and he answers “present!” If someone is in San Francisco, God calls out “present!” If someone is in Munich, God answers, “present!” If someone is in Rio de Janeiro he says “present!” there as well. Everywhere that people need to call upon God people will find him present there.

The Presence of God Should Be Practiced
People should be aware and constantly conscious of his presence with them. He is not some distant being far away. He is there with people. In particular, when people are tempted to sin they need to realize God is there and he is watching. That would make it more difficult to sin flagrantly right in his very presence. Yet, he is really present there when someone is tempted to sin and fall away. People need to be constantly practicing the presence of God as they go through life.

People should thank God for his presence. People should thank him for being there with them.

The last words of the Gospel of Matthew – Matthew 28:20 – are the words of Jesus, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So people are never alone as Christians. Christ is with them. God is with them. Whether they are at work, whether they are studying, whether they are engaged in witnessing or ministry, he is there with them. That also includes times of persecution, illness, and even death. God is with them then as well. The words of the psalmist in Psalm 23:4 are of comfort: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil for thou art with me.” This is the comfort that individuals as Christians can claim in virtue of God’s omnipresence.