7:48), but neither is he excluded from space. He fills heaven and earth [with his presence]. No one
can hide from him. He is a God at hand no less than a God from afar (Jer. 23:23, 24; Ps. 139:7–10;
Acts 17:27). In him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). In the different places of his
creation he is even present to a different degree and in a different manner. All of Scripture assumes
that heaven, though also created, has in a special sense been God’s dwelling and throne from the
first moment of its existence (Deut. 26:15; 2 Sam. 22:7; 1 Kings 8:32; Ps. 11:4; 33:13; 115:3, 16; Isa.
63:15; Matt. 5:34; 6:9; John 14:2; Eph. 1:20; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 4:1ff.; etc.). But from there he also comes
down to earth (Gen. 11:5, 7; 18:21; Exod. 3:8), walks in the garden (Gen. 3:8), appears repeatedly
and at various locations (Gen. 12, 15, 18, 19, etc.), and comes down to his people especially on Mt.
Sinai (Exod. 19:9, 11, 18, 20; Deut. 33:2; Judg. 5:4). Whereas he allowed the Gentiles to walk in their
own ways (Acts 14:16), he dwells in a special way among his people Israel (Exod. 19:6; 25:8; Deut.
7:6; 14:2; 26:19; Jer. 11:4; Ezek. 11:20; 37:27), in the land Canaan (Judg. 11:24; 1 Sam. 26:19; 2 Sam.
14:16; 2 Kings 1:3, 16; 5:17), in Jerusalem (Exod. 20:24; Deut. 12:11; 14:23, etc.; 2 Kings 21:7; 1 Chron.
23:25; 2 Chron. 6:6; Ezra 1:3; 5:16; 7:15; Ps. 135:21; Isa. 24:23; Jer. 3:17; Joel 3:16, etc.; Matt. 5:34; Rev.
21:10); in the tabernacle and in the temple on Zion, which is called his house (Exod. 40:34–35; 1
Kings 8:10; 2 Kings 11:10, 13; 2 Chron. 5:14; Ps. 9:11; Isa. 8:18; Matt. 23:21), and above the ark between
the cherubim (1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2; 2 Kings 19:15; 1 Chron. 13:6; Ps. 80:1; 99:1; Isa. 37:16). Again
and again, however, the prophets warn against a complacent and carnal trust in this dwelling of
God in the midst of Israel (Isa. 48:1–2; Jer. 3:16; 7:4, 14; 27:16). For the Lord is far from the wicked
(Ps. 11:5; 37:9f.; 50:16f.; 145:20) but the upright will behold his face (Ps. 11:7). He dwells with those
who are of a contrite and humble spirit (Isa. 57:15; Ps. 51:17–19). When Israel forsakes him, he
comes to them again in Christ, in whom the fullness of the deity dwells bodily (Col. 2:9). Through
him and through the Spirit whom he sends, he dwells in the church as his temple (John 14:23;
Rom. 8:9, 11; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Eph. 2:21; 3:17), until one day he will dwell with his people and be
everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28; Rev. 21:3).
In polytheism, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism this omnipresence of God could not be
acknowledged. But even in the Christian church there were many who, though willing to
recognize the omnipresence of God’s power, wanted nothing to do with the omnipresence of his
being. The Anthropomorphites could not conceive of God without a definite form and location.
In order to safeguard God from being commingled with material substance and the impurity of
the world, some church fathers went so far in their opposition to the Stoics as to assert that God
was “far removed as to being but as near as possible in power,”62 that he dwelt in heaven as the
human mind does in the head.63 Yet in saying this these authors do not deny the essential
presence of God in every place. Not until later was God’s omnipresence definitely denied and
opposed by Augustine Steuchus, bishop of Eugubium (d. 1550), in his commentary on Psalm 138,
and also by Crell, who while accepting an “operative omnipresence,” denied God’s “essential
omnipresence,” restricting the latter to heaven.64
Remonstrantism expressed itself cautiously on this issue, described the question as one of little
significance, and as in the case of God’s eternity, tended to refrain from taking a definite stand.65
