Omnipresence Definition

QUESTION: Omnipresence Definition – What does the Omnipresence of God mean?

ANSWER:

Dr. Normal Geisler explains the omnipresence of God this way:

"It means that all of God is everywhere at once. As the indivisible Being, God does not have one part here and another part there, for He has no parts. God is present to but not part of creation. God is everywhere, but He is not any thing. He is at every point in space, but He is not spacial. He is at every point in space, but He is not of any point in space.... God is 'in' or present to the whole universe the way a mind is in its brain, or the manner in which beauty is present in a work of art, or that thought is in a sentence. In each case, the one is present to and penetrates the whole without a part of it being in the part of another."¹

Clement of Alexandria said:

"God is not in darkness or in place, but He is above both space and time, and qualities of objects. For that reason, neither is He at any time in a particular part—either as containing it or as being contained, either by limitation or section.... Through heaven in called His throne, not even there is He contained.²

Augustine said:

"The truth is that all these actions and energies belong to the one true God, who is really a God, who is wholly present everywhere, is confined by no frontiers and bound by no hindrances, is indivisible and immutable, and though His nature has no need of either heaven or of earth, He fills them both with His presence and His power."³

Charles H. Spurgeon, proclaimed:

“We believe that he [God] filleth heaven and earth, and hell; that he is in the very space which his creation seems to claim, for creatures do not displease God; and even the space which is occupied by his handiworks is still filled with himself. The rocky bowels of the unsearched-out depths are full of God; where the sea roars, or where the solid granite leaves no interstice or vacuum, even there is God; not only in the open place, and in the chasm, but penetrating all matter, and abounding everywhere in all, and filling all things with himself.”⁴

J.I. Packer wrote:

"God is not a body—therefore, he is free from all limitations of space and distance; and is omnipresent. God has no parts—this means that his personality and powers and qualities are perfectly integrated, so that nothing in him ever alters."⁵

Charles Ryrie writes:

"Omnipresence means that God is everywhere present with His whole being at all times...In Psalm 139:7-10 David asks the question if there is anyplace one can escape from the presence of God. His answer is no, for His omnipresence is unlimited by space (v. 8), undaunted by speed (v. 9), and unaffected by darkness (vv. 11-12)."⁶

Footnotes:
¹ Geisler, Systematic Theology (Vol 2). Bethany House.
²Clement. Stromata in Roberts and Donaldson, The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Quoted in Geisler.
³ Augustine, The City of God. Quoted in Geisler.
⁴ Charles H. Spurgeon, Sermon: Jacob's Waking Exclamation (July 21, 1861).
⁵ Paker, J.I., Knowing God. Quoted in Geisler.
⁶ Ryrie, Charles, Basic Theology. Wheaton: Victor Books.

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