Divine omnipresence
God is not confined within created space. The divine presence sustains every place without making God one object among others or identifying creation with the divine nature.
Key points
- No created place lies outside God's knowledge and sustaining presence.
- Omnipresence does not mean that God is spatially divided or identical with creation.
Scripture
- Psalm 139:7-10 — The psalmist cannot flee from God's Spirit or presence.
- Jeremiah 23:23-24 — God declares that heaven and earth are filled by His presence.
- Acts 17:24-28 — Paul says God is not contained in temples and that creatures live and move in Him.
Primary sources
Athanasius writes in On the Incarnation:
Athanasius says that the Word is present throughout creation by divine power while remaining distinct from the universe.
present in the whole of Creation, He is at once distinct in being from the universe, and present in all things by His own power — giving order to all things, and over all and in all revealing His own providence, and giving life to each thing and all things
Passage context and translation
Athanasius argues that the Incarnation did not confine the divine Word to a body or remove the Word's life-giving governance from the rest of creation.
Before the excerpt
the universe was [not] left void of His working and Providence
After the excerpt
including the whole without being included, but being in His own Father alone wholly and in every respect