What does it mean that God is transcendent?
When people say God is transcendent, they are making a claim about where God stands in relation to everything else that exists. The word points to a God who is not part of the universe at all, yet the Bible also shows Him coming close — and that combination raises the real question.
The Word Itself
The claim rests on the Bible's opening line, that God created the heavens and the earth. One writer takes the meaning straight from that sentence:
A J PollockIt is clear from this first verse in the Bible that God existed before the creation, that He is transcendent — that is to say, as to God's being He is supreme, beyond all limitations, distinct from all that creation which has proceeded from Him.
What It Rules Out
Transcendence is often defined against its opposite. Some hold that God is only immanent — a spirit inside nature, never outside it. Commentators point out that the first chapter of Genesis closes that door:
F. B. HoleThe Pantheist professes a god who is immanent in nature but not transcendent above it. The God of verse 1 is clearly One outside of nature and infinitely above it, seeing He made it, and therefore existed before it. From Him all that which we call nature proceeds.
No Limits, No One Behind Him
God sets the boundaries for everything else, and nothing sets boundaries for Him. Not even the largest thing we can imagine is big enough to hold Him:
Hamilton SmithGod, who bounds everything else, is Himself without bounds. He sets bounds to the sea… He sets bounds to the angels… but He is infinite without bounds. He who can span the heavens, and weigh the earth in scales, must be infinite… The humble heart is His throne, in regard to His gracious presence; and heaven is His throne, in regard to His glorious presence; and yet neither of these thrones will hold Him, for the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.
The same holds when you trace causes backwards. Creation displays wisdom, and that wisdom must belong to someone — but the chain stops with God:
Hamilton SmithEvidently the wisdom of God is behind the universe, but it is equally manifest that there is no one behind God. In creation God is alone.
Why He Cannot Be Fully Grasped
A God we could measure would not be God. Scripture says He "dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see" (1 Timothy 6:16), and one writer explains why that is a mercy rather than a frustration:
Frederick W GrantNo where can we escape from the mystery which attends His presence… A God always comprehensible by us would be only such a one as ourselves: but magnify man into God you cannot. Still there will be the "light inaccessible, which no man can approach unto." Yet this is light, not darkness, and it makes nothing really dark, as men profess; rather in this light we see light — the knowledge of God illuminates all other things.
The barrier is not a wall but a distance. As another puts it, He is not seen "not because there is obstruction to the sight, but because there is infinity before it."
Known Only Because He Speaks
If God stands outside creation, then creation alone can only take us so far. Anything further has to come from Him:
A J PollockIf we are to know God, it is clear that it can only be by revelation. All our knowledge of His nature comes through the Scriptures. Creation will tell us of His "eternal power and Godhead." But creation cannot reveal His heart. It cannot tell us that "God is love."
The Transcendent God Comes Near
The Bible holds both truths at once without softening either. The One no eye can see has been seen and touched:
J. G. BellettWe rejoice to know that He dwells in a light that no man can approach to, and yet that He has walked through the cities and villages of earth; that He is One whom no man has seen, nor can see, and yet that none less than the One who is in His bosom has declared Him to us, been among us, our Kinsman in the flesh.
And He chooses a second address. Isaiah says the One who inhabits eternity dwells both in the high and holy place and with the person of a contrite and lowly spirit:
A J PollockThere is an immense contrast! A Being so great as to fill all things, to inhabit eternity, yet so gracious, so condescending as to stoop down and dwell in the humble and contrite spirit.
Summary
- Above — God existed before creation and is distinct from it: supreme in His being, beyond all limitations, with nothing and no one behind Him.
- Beyond — He sets bounds for the sea and the angels but has none Himself; even the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.
- Unseen — He dwells in light no one can approach; a God we could fully comprehend would be no greater than ourselves.
- Revealed — Creation shows His eternal power, but it cannot show His heart; only His own word tells us that God is love.
- Near — The One no eye can see walked through the towns of earth, and the One who inhabits eternity stoops to live in a contrite and humble spirit.