As is the case in all my Pondering God synopses I like to include at least a portion of Scripture. In the case of the transcendence of God, the verse I’ve chosen is the primary focus of this synopsis rather than an enhancement to my main point.
“…one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” ~Ephesians 4:6
The words “over”, “through” and “in” all in the above verse are the Greek words “epi”, “dia” and “en” respectively. They are all primary prepositions. They define relationships of direction, time, location between nouns and pronouns. In the case of this verse the noun is God and His relative direction from the pronoun “all” meaning His creation or more specifically us, the readers. It is locating us in relative terms from God, we are under Him because He is over or above us. What is our relation to Him in terms of time? He is eternal. Currently our physical being is finite but our souls are immortal. We had a defined starting point; God did not start he has no beginning and no end.
The use of “διά” or “through; of place” is very interesting. It is indeed “dia” as in diameter or the distance across (a circle). The use of “through” is the location of God relative to the pronoun which is the believer/us. The location described here is not static. When you say “through” something you are implying a simultaneous and infinite multiplicity of locations within a defined area (man, human race, universe, etc). God is through “all” which means He is simultaneously through all the infinite number of points between Points “A” and “B” in a finite universe. He is omnipresent, all places at once, in all believers/church (if taken in context of Ephesians 4) in the form of the Holy Spirit. Not to be confused with the idea of Pantheism or that God is the creation.
Yet this verse also tells us that He is also “over” or superimposed over all. This verse also denotes a multiple but statically defined position ”in all”. This verse even gives Him an anthropomorphic quality “father” to denote a “human relationship” that is more intellectual and spiritual not just a physical/corporeal relationship. Ironically (or should I say intentionally), the entire unit in Ephesians 4:1-8 is talking about unity of the body (church) and unity of the Godhead. The Church is constituted of a multitude separate lives yet we are one in Spirit as mentioned in verse 3 and function as a whole when we are all in tune simultaneously with Jesus Christ. He is personable and with us yet he is infinitely beyond us.
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