Our Father - over, through and in all
Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Our God and father is both transcendent and immanent (Eph 4:6).
Transcendent means He is over all. God is not a man. Rather He is the creator of all things. God did not need to create us nor does He depend on us for His existence (Acts 17:25). He is independent from His creation. God choose to create us (Genesis 1:26). He is the beginning of all things (Rev 1:8). Ponder on the following
1 Timothy 1:17 (Amplified Bible)
Now to the King of eternity, incorruptible and immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever (to the ages of ages) Amen (so be it).
God is also immanent. He is in His creation although distinct from it. God did not create us then leave us alone to ?get on with it?. He breathed into us the breathe of life and hence we became living (Gen 2:7). God is intimately involved in His creation. Ponder the following scriptures
Acts 17:28
For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, We are his offspring.Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.Ephesians 4:6
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
We serve a God who is far above us and yet heavily involved with us and concerned about us. We live by His life. Without Him we would not be alive yet He would always be even if we never were.
It is vital we appreciate the above truths. It will keep us from going astray in our doctrine and walk with the Lord. It will help us to have a healthy fear (respect, reverence) of the almighty, invincible, all-powerful, supreme, omnipresent God we serve.
The Westminster Confession of faith (1646) sums it up neatly:
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone foundation of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom, are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth. In his sight all things are open and manifest; his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature; so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain. He is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands. To him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he is pleased to require of them.Westminster Confession of faith Chapter 2:II (1646)
All quotations from the NIV unless otherwise stated.