Transcendence of God

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9, NIV)

The transcendence of God is closely related to his sovereignty. It means that God is above, other than, and distinct from all he has made - he transcends it all. Paul says that there is "one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:6). Scripture says elsewhere, "For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods (Psalms 97:9; cf. 108:5).

To affirm God's transcendence and deny his immanence is to arrive at deism. To deny his transcendence and affirm his immanence is to arrive at pantheism.

Resources

• William Placher, The Domestication of Transcendence: How Modern Thinking about God Went Wrong. Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.

See also

• Immanence of God
• Sovereignty of God
• Creation

External links

• Transcendence (PDF), by William A. Dembski (Entry for New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics)
• Is The Transcendence Of God Relevant? (aaronshaf.com)