The first thing Scripture teaches us concerning God is that he has a free, independent existence
and life of his own that is distinct from all creatures. He has a being (“nature,” “substance,”
“essence”) of his own, not in distinction from his attributes, but coming to the fore and disclosing
itself in all his perfections and attributes. He bears his own names—names that do not belong to
any creature. Among these names that of yhwh stands supreme (Exod. 3:14–15). This name
describes him as the One who is and will always be what he was, that is, who eternally remains
the same in relation to his people. He is self-existent. He existed before all things, and all things
exist only through him (Ps. 90:2; 1 Cor. 8:6; Rev. 4:11). In an absolute sense he is Lord (
דוֹן
ָ
א
,
κυριος
,
δεσ
π
οτης
), Lord of all the earth (Exod. 23:17; Deut. 10:17; Josh. 3:13). He is dependent on nothing,
but everything depends on him (Rom. 11:36). He kills and makes alive; he forms the light and
creates the darkness; he makes weal and creates woe (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 45:5–7; 54:16). He does
according to his will with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth (Dan. 4:35), so that
people are in his hand as clay in the hands of a potter (Isa. 64:8; Jer. 18:1ff.; Rom. 9:21). His counsel
and good pleasure is the ultimate ground of all that is and happens (Ps. 33:11; Prov. 19:21; Isa. 46:10;
Matt. 11:26; Acts 2:23; 4:28; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11). Accordingly, he does all things for his own sake, for the
sake of his name and praise (Deut. 32:27; Josh. 7:9; 1 Sam. 12:22; Ps. 25:11; 31:3; 79:9; 106:8; 109:21;
143:11; Prov. 16:4; Isa. 48:9; Jer. 14:7, 21; Ezek. 20:9, 14, 22, 44). Nor does he need anything, for he is
all-sufficient (Job 22:2–3; Ps. 50:19ff.; Acts 17:25) and has life in himself (John 5:26). Thus he is the
first and the last, the alpha and the omega, who is and who was and who is to come (Isa. 41:4; 44:6;
48:12; Rev. 1:8); absolutely independent, not only in his existence but consequently also in all his
attributes and perfections, in all his decrees and deeds. He is independent in his intellect (Rom.
11:34–35), in his will (Dan. 4:35; Rom. 9:19; Eph. 1:5; Rev. 4:11), in his counsel (Ps. 33:11; Isa. 46:10),
in his love (Hos. 14:4), in his power (Ps. 115:3), and so forth. Thus, being all-sufficient in himself
and not receiving anything from outside of himself, he is, by contrast, the only source of all
existence and life, of all light and love, the overflowing fountain of all good (Ps. 36:10; Acts 17:25).
Independence
Now this independence of God is more or less recognized by all humans. Pagans, to be sure,
degrade the divine by drawing it down to the level of the creature and teach a theogony; however,
behind and above their gods they often again assume the existence of a power to which everything
is subject in an absolute sense. Many of them speak of nature, chance, fate, or fortune as a power
superior to all else; and philosophers tend to speak of God as the Absolute. In Christian theology
this attribute of God was called his independence (
α
ὐ
ταρκεια
), aseity, all-sufficiency, greatness.
In the East, a number of terms were used: “(
θεος
ἀ
ναρχος
) God, without beginning or cause,
unbegotten,” and theologians preferably spoke of God as “(
α
ὐ
τογεννητος
) the self-generate,
(
α
ὐ
τοφυης
) self-begotten, (
α
ὐ
τουσιος
) self-existent, (
α
ὐ
τοθεος
) self-divine, (
α
ὐ
τοφως
) self-
luminous, (
α
ὐ
τοσοφια
) self-wise, (
α
ὐ
τοαρετη
) self-virtuous, (
α
ὐ
ταγαθος
) self-excellent, and so
on.”2 All that God is, he is of himself. By virtue of himself he is goodness, holiness, wisdom, life,
light, truth, and so on. As stated earlier, the church fathers usually followed Philo in grounding
their description of God in the name yhwh. That was the name that described his essence par
