If God made everything, who made God?
God is uncreated and eternal, existing without beginning or end. Unlike everything in creation, God doesn't require a maker because He is self-existent, identified in Scripture as "I AM" (Exodus 3:14). This attribute, called aseity, means God depends on nothing outside Himself for His existence. He is the uncaused First Cause who brought everything else into being.
The question itself contains a category error. We correctly assume that everything in our physical universe needs a cause because everything we observe is contingent and finite. However, God transcends these categories as the necessary being who exists by the necessity of His own nature. As Romans 11:36 declares, "For from him and through him and to him are all things." If God were created, He would merely be another contingent being requiring explanation, leading to an infinite regression of creators.
Christian theology emphasizes God's absolute sovereignty and independence. The Westminster Confession affirms God as "infinite in being and perfection...most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will." This self-existence distinguishes the biblical God from mythological deities who themselves had origins and beginnings.
Jonathan Edwards described God as "the first being, self-existent and independent." This understanding reveals the fundamental distinction between Creator and creation. Everything in the universe testifies to this eternal, uncreated God who, as Psalm 90:2 states, exists "from everlasting to everlasting." We exist because God made us; God exists because it is His very nature to exist.
For Further Reading:
-
The Doctrine of God, John Frame. A comprehensive exploration of God's attributes, including His self-existence.
-
Knowing God, J.I. Packer. Provides accessible explanations of God's nature and attributes in chapters 3-6.
-
The Existence and Attributes of God, Stephen Charnock. A classic Puritan work with profound insights on God's self-existence.
-
None Other: Discovering the God of the Bible, John MacArthur - Examines essential attributes including God's self-existence in clear, accessible language.