The Independence/ Solitude of God.

The Doctrine of Predetermination

When I consider the absolute independency of God, and the necessary total dependence of all created things on Him, their first cause, I cannot help standing astonished at the pride of impotent, degenerate man, who is so prone to consider himself as a being possessed of sovereign freedom, and invested with a power of self-salvation, able, he imagines, to counteract the designs even of infinite wisdom, and to defeat the agency of Omnipotence itself.

“Ye shall be as gods,” said the tempter to Eve in paradise; and “ye are as gods,” says the same tempter to her apostate sons.

One would be apt to think that a suggestion so demonstrably false and flattering, a suggestion the very reverse of what we feel to be our state, a suggestion alike contrary to Scripture and reason, to fact and experience could never meet with the smallest degree of credit.

And yet, because it so exactly coincides with the natural haughtiness of the human heart, men not only admit, but even relish the deception, and fondly incline to believe that the father of lies does, in this instance at least, speak truth. The Scripture doctrine of predetermination lays the axe to the very root of this potent delusion. It assures us that all things are of God; that all our times and all events are in His hand. Augustus Toplady

The Independence of God does not only hold true of the Father but also the Son and the Holy Spirit. His independence or solitude Has to be shared because it is in love and fellowship That God lived in eternity past sharing glory one with the other, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in triune glory.

Independence is one of God’s incommunicable attributes; in other words, these attributes can not be shared; it is uniquely God’s. Wayne Grudem says of God’s incommunicable attributes,

 “The incommunicable attributes of God are perhaps the most easily misunderstood, probably because they represent aspects of God’s character that are the least familiar to our experience. In this chapter, therefore, each of the incommunicable attributes of God is defined with a two-part sentence. The first part defines the attribute under discussion, the second part guards against misunderstanding by stating a balancing or opposite aspect that relates to that attribute” (Systematic Theology, Grudem, 160).

God’s independence is defined by Grudem in this way: God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him joy.

A.W. Pink in, The Attributes of God, speaks to the same attribute, only he calls it God’s solitariness. I shortened it to solitude in the title. Pink says, “His attributes, as these are revealed in Holy Scripture, is something which very, very few people in these degenerate times have attained unto, God is solitary in His excellency” (Pink, 9). “Who is like Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? (ex. 15: 11). Most people don’t know that there are spiritual disciplines that need to be practiced, Pink is talking about the discipline of meditating on God; in this case God’s attributes.

The scripture in multiple places teaches that God does not need any part of creation to exist or any other reason.

1)      “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).

2)      “Who has given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine” (Job 41:11).

3)      “every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand Hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world and all that is in it is mine” (Ps. 50: 10-12).

There was a time before time that God existed in his triune self. There was nothing else because it was before anything had been created. This is an unimaginable period that we, as finite humans, cannot imagine. God always was and always will be. If you believe that the universe is trillions of years old. Take those trillions and multiply it by trillions more and you will not be close, because God always was. He existed this way in perfect bliss and harmony, in perfect love Sharing their glory with each other in perfect triunity. There were no angels, no planets, no nothing. If God had needs that could be fulfilled by someone else then that would indicate that He was not the supreme being that he is, there would have been a higher being, and there is not. We needy humans are proof of this. He does not need us. There is nothing we can offer to make Him better or worse. He is complete perfection in and of himself.

Having said all this, we can bring Him joy and glorify His name with our lives. We can honor God Because He has decreed it to be so. The whole world is seeking after self-worth. I am here to tell you we have no self-worth of our own. Our self-worth is tied up in the fact that God created us. We have worth because God decreed it to be so. Our value will be found in the salvation that was wrought through Jesus Christ, The Godman, all God, and all man together as one. He became our substitute and took our punishment. He died and rose again and stands now at the right hand of the Father as our advocate. This is the only place of self-worth; it’s the only place to stand with meaning. God created all things, and He created us, our value is to glorify Him and enjoy Him for eternity.