Who created God?

The Uncreated Creator

God Stands Outside and Before All Created Things

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalms 90:2 (NIV)

Moses explicitly declares that prior to the birth of the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, God already is.

Moses anchors human perspective in the timeless reality of our Maker when he prays in Psalm 90:2: 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.' Created beings reckon time by beginnings, yet before any tectonic ridge arose or a single grain of dust coalesced, God already existed in absolute fullness. Moses reminds us in Psalm 90:1 that this eternal Lord has been our dwelling place across all human generations, standing firm while finite mortals pass away.

This uncaused reality opens the very first sentence of sacred Scripture. Genesis 1:1 does not recount the birth of the Almighty; it records Him stepping forward to summon heaven and earth into being out of nothing. The Apostle John reveals that this cosmic origin was accomplished through the eternal Son, declaring in John 1:1-3 that the Word was already in the beginning with God, and without Him was not anything made that was made. The Apostle Paul reiterates this in Colossians 1:16-17, testifying that in Christ all things were created, both visible and invisible, and in Him all things hold together. He stands prior to all creaturely reality because He is uncreated.

Scripture constantly draws this sharp boundary between the Maker and the made. Hebrews 11:3 teaches that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. In Nehemiah 9:6, the Levites lift their voices to bless the Lord alone, who made the highest heavens with all their starry host, the earth, and the seas, preserving every creature. As the writer of Hebrews 3:4 plainly observes, while every house has an earthly builder, the builder of all things is God. Asking who made Him applies a creaturely limitation to the One who originated space, time, and matter.

Self-Existence and Aseity

The Lord Possesses Underived Life in Himself

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Exodus 3:14 (NIV)

God identifies Himself by His absolute self-existence, the eternal 'I AM' who depends on nothing.

At the burning bush, God unsealed the foundation of all theology when He answered Moses in Exodus 3:14: 'I AM WHO I AM.' This sacred name reveals that the Lord possesses underived being; He is completely self-existent, relying upon nothing outside Himself for His life or power. The theologians call this aseity—being from Himself. While every angel, human, and star derives breath from an external source, God alone is the source of all existence, uncaused, unprompted, and eternally self-sustaining.

This underived vitality extends equally across the Godhead. In John 5:26, the Lord Jesus affirms that just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself. Because God possesses this fullness, He enters into relationship with His creatures out of pure grace rather than any inward lack. Paul proclaimed this to the philosophers at the Areopagus in Acts 17:24-25, insisting that the God who made the world is not served by human hands as though He needed anything, seeing He gives to all people life, breath, and everything else.

Human arrogance often imagines that we somehow add to God's glory or place Him in our debt. Yet the Lord silenced Job in Job 41:11 by demanding, 'Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.' Paul echoes this breathtaking reality in Romans 11:35-36, praising the truth that from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. Paul also rejoices in 1 Timothy 1:17 before the immortal, invisible King of the ages, adding in 1 Timothy 6:15-16 that this blessed Potentate alone possesses absolute immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light whom no man has seen or can see.

The First and the Last

No God Preceded Him and None Follows

“This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.

Isaiah 44:6 (NIV)

The Lord Himself announces that He is both the first and the last, leaving no room for any other deity.

The Lord Himself leaves no conceptual space for an ancestry when He thunders in Isaiah 44:6: 'Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.' Pagan mythologies envisioned endless genealogies where younger gods overthrew their predecessors. Holy Scripture shatters these fantasies: our Creator had no predecessors, endures no competitors, and leaves no successors. He is the ultimate reality beyond which the human mind cannot probe.

In Isaiah 40:28, the prophet challenges the weary soul to consider who God is: the everlasting Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who neither faints nor grows weary, whose understanding is unsearchable. God declares in Isaiah 41:4 that He called the generations from the beginning, being the first, and with the last. He repeats this uncompromising standard in Isaiah 43:10, stating emphatically, 'Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.' Again in Isaiah 48:12, He summons Israel to hear that He alone is the first and He alone is the last.

This divine title passes directly to Jesus Christ in the closing book of the canon. In Revelation 1:8, the Lord proclaims, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.' The resurrected Christ repeats this majestic claim in Revelation 22:13, declaring that He is the Beginning and the End. Round His throne, as depicted in Revelation 4:8-10, the four living creatures rest not day nor night, crying out to the One who was, who is, and who is to come, while the elders cast their crowns before Him who lives forever and ever.

An Unchanging Refuge

The Eternal God Is Our Sure Dwelling Place

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy them!’

Deuteronomy 33:27 (NIV)

Because God is uncreated and eternal, His everlasting arms provide absolute security to His people.

The uncreated nature of God is not an abstract riddle; it is the bedrock of Christian consolation, summarized in Deuteronomy 33:27: 'The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.' Because God never began, His strength never fades; because He depends on nothing, His promises cannot be overturned. The believer finds total rest in knowing that our refuge is as enduring as God Himself, holding us securely through every sorrow and trial.

David takes refuge in this permanence in Psalm 71:3, crying out to God as his continual habitation and rock of defense. The psalmist in Psalm 91:1-2 and Psalm 91:9 describes this same blessed safety, declaring that whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High abides under the shadow of the Almighty, finding a fortress where no evil can conquer them. Even when God's ancient people were driven into exile, the Lord assured them in Ezekiel 11:16 that He Himself would be their sanctuary in the lands where they had gone, proving that His presence is an unshakable home.

Every created thing changes, deteriorates, and eventually passes away. Psalm 102:25-27 observes that the earth and heavens will perish like an old garment, but God remains the same, His years without end. The Lord reaffirms this constancy in Malachi 3:6, promising, 'For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.' James 1:17 celebrates the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. In Hebrews 13:8, we discover that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in 1 John 4:16, that abiding in His uncreated love means we abide in God and God in us.

Where in the Bible

The story in order

1. God creates the heavens and earth (c. 4000 BC) · Genesis 1:1 · Establishes God as the uncreated Creator at the beginning of time.
2. God's eternal existence declared (c. 1000 BC) · Psalms 90:2 · God existed before the mountains, from everlasting to everlasting.
3. God's covenant name revealed (c. 1450 BC) · Exodus 3:14 · God declares His self-existent nature: 'I AM WHO I AM'.
4. God is the First and Last (c. 700 BC) · Isaiah 44:6 · Asserts God's unique position as the beginning and end, with no predecessor.
5. The Word was in the beginning (AD 30) · John 1:1-3 · Shows Christ's pre-existence with God and His role in creation.
6. Christ is before all things (c. AD 60) · Colossians 1:16-17 · Christ is the firstborn of all creation and sustains it.
7. God is the dwelling place (c. 1000 BC) · Psalms 90:1 · God has been the eternal refuge for His people.
8. God is unchanging (c. AD 65) · Hebrews 13:8 · Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9. God is the Alpha and Omega (c. AD 95) · Revelation 1:8 · God declares Himself as the beginning and the end.

Key words

Uncreated (ἀγέννητος (agennetos))

Not brought into existence; existing eternally. · John 1:3

Eternal (αἰώνιος (aiōnios))

Lasting or existing forever; without end. · Psalms 90:2

Self-existent (ἐστιν (estin) - 'is')

Having existence in or from oneself; not dependent on external causes. · Exodus 3:14

Aseity (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh asher ehyeh))

God's independence from creation; His underived existence. · Exodus 3:14

First and Last (רִאשׁוֹן וְאַחֲרוֹן (rishon we'acharon))

Designates God's unique position as the beginning and end of all. · Isaiah 44:6

Unchanging (ἀμετάπτωτος (ametaptōtos))

Not subject to change or variation. · Hebrews 13:8