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Omnipresence

             Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24)

Omnipresent: widely or constantly encountered; common or widespread (of God, everywhere all the time.)

Pantheism: a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God. (The Universe is God.)

Panenthism: the belief or doctrine that God is greater than the universe and includes and interpenetrates it. (The universe is part of God.)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

I’m writing this on Wednesday, and my thoughts are on words and definitions. When I read this verse, the idea that came to mind is that some people would take this as evidence of pantheism or panenthism rather than omnipresence. If He fills heaven and earth, doesn’t that mean that, in one way or another, He’s part of the universe? And, based solely on this verse, I’d have to admit that it’s a possibility. But it’s not the only possibility.

Genesis 1 and 2 describe God’s creation of the earth. If God created the universe, He is not part of it. He may inhabit it or spend time in it. His omnipresence requires that He does so, but that makes the universe closer to a house than to a part of God. If God and the universe were somehow one, and man sinned, that would make God imperfect – infected, as it were, with a disease or cancer. And maybe I’m mistaken in this, but while I am likely to claim my knee is angry with me or threatening to go on strike, I don’t really consider my knee or its constituent parts as being sentient and capable of a relationship. Perhaps that is a level of capacity reserved for purely spiritual beings, but it just doesn’t make sense. If nothing else, the fact that the physical universe is constantly changing would mean that God is constantly changing, but that’s not Scriptural. But neither, ultimately is God as part of the universe or the universe as part of God.

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