Attributes of God, Part 1: God's Solitariness

Along with Grudem, I've enjoyed reading again A.W. Pink's "The Attributes of God." I thought I'd kick off a periodic series of selections from Pink highlighting some of the attributes of God.

So, in this post, consider the solitariness of God . . .

The God who made the world and all things in it,

since He is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in temples made with hands;
nor is He served by human hands,
as though He needed anything,
since He Himself gives to all people
life and breath and all things . . .
Acts 17:24-25

"In the beginning God"(Gen. 1:1) There was a time, if "time" it could be called, when God in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three divine persons), dwelt alone. "In the beginning God." There was no heaven, where His glory is not particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but "from everlasting." During eternity past, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. . . .

God was under no constraint, no obligation, no necessity to create. That he chose to was purely a sovereign act on His part, caused by nothing outside of Himself, determined by nothing but His own good pleasure, for He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). That He did create was simply for His manifestative glory . . .

He is solitary in His majesty, unique in His excellency, peerless in His perfections. He sustains all, but is Himself independent of all. He gives to all, but is enriched by none.

Amen!