If Everything is Made by God, Who Made God? A Philosophical Inquiry into Causation and the Nature of Time

Introduction Human curiosity naturally leads to questions about origins. If everything in the world is caused by something else, it seems reasonable to ask who caused the cause of all things—God. However, this question, while appearing rational, rests on an assumption that God exists within time and is therefore subject to causal relations. Both philosophical reflection and modern physics challenge this assumption. They suggest that God, if He exists, must be the timeless ground of all being—the uncaused cause of everything else. Causation and the Universe In the observable universe, every event appears to depend on something prior. Rivers flow because of rainfall, planets orbit because of gravity, and living beings exist because of biological reproduction. This pattern of dependency is captured by the principle of causality , which holds that every effect must have a sufficient cause. However, when one traces the chain of causes backward, it leads to a critical question: what caused the first cause? If every cause required another before it, there could never have been a beginning, and therefore nothing would exist now. Philosophers since Aristotle have reasoned that there must be an unmoved mover—a first cause that itself is not caused by anything else. Thomas Aquinas later developed this reasoning in his Summa Theologica, describing God as the necessary being upon which all contingent beings depend. Without such a self-existent cause, the entire chain of causes collapses into infinite regress, which is logically incoherent. God and the Beginning of Time The question “Who made God?” arise only if one assumes that God exists within time and therefore must subject to the sequence of past, present and future. However, classical theism defines that God is eternal, meaning not merely everlasting but outside of time altogether. During his debate with Richard Dawkins, John Lennox described the question “Who created God?” as an “old schoolboy question ,” highlighting a misunderstanding of God’s nature as the uncaused cause. Time, according to both theology and modern science, is part of the created universe. The Kalam Cosmological Argument , defended by philosopher William Lane Craig ., states that whatever begins to exist has a cause; the universe began to exist; therefore, the universe has a cause. Since time began with the universe, the cause of the universe must be timeless, spaceless, and immaterial—attributes consistent with God Modern physics supports this philosophical view. Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity shows that time and space are inseparable dimensions that originated together at the Big Bang. If time itself began with the universe, then the cause of the universe cannot exist “before” time; it must exist beyond time. Asking “Who made God?” thus misuses temporal language, since there was no “before” in which God could have been made. The question is as meaningless as asking, “What is north of the North Pole? The Self-Existence of God The theological view of God’s self-existence, or aseity, is clearly expressed in Scripture. When Moses asks for God’s name, God replies, “I AM WHO I AM” . This declaration conveys that God’s existence is independent, eternal, and self-sufficient. God does not “become” or “begin”; He simply is. In philosophical terms, God’s essence and existence are identical—He exists necessarily, not contingently. To ask who made God is to misunderstand what “God” means. A being who was created would not be God, but merely another dependent, contingent entity. In his debate with Richard Dawkins, John Lennox said, “It is a wonder to call the created god a delusion, because we know from the Bible that a created god is a delusion — we call him an idol Therefore, the question “Who made God?” presupposes a misunderstanding of God’s nature and of causality itself. By definition, God must be uncaused and necessary; otherwise, He would not serve as the ultimate explanation for anything else. Philosophical and Scientific Harmony Rather than being opposed, philosophical apologetic theism and modern science can be seen as mutually illuminating in their pursuit of truth. The Big Bang theory, indicating that the universe is not eternal but had a finite point of origin, resonates with the cosmological reasoning developed by classical philosophers and theologians. Thinkers such as Aristotle and later Thomas Aquinas argued for a First Cause or Unmoved Mover, a necessary being those grounds contingent reality. The Big Bang’s affirmation that time, matter, and energy began simultaneously lends empirical resonance to such metaphysical reasoning. Even Albert Einstein, though not a theist in the traditional sense, acknowledged the rational intelligibility of the cosmos. As he remarked, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible” . This observation reflects the teleological intuition that order and mathematical harmony within nature imply an underlying rationality. For Einstein and others, this “cosmic religious feeling” implied that the universe is governed by rational and intelligible laws—laws which, from a theistic perspective, may be understood as expressions of the Logos, the divine reason or ordering principle proclaimed in the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word (Logos).” This same divine principle is further affirmed in Revelation , where God declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty,” emphasizing the eternal and encompassing nature of the Creator who grounds all existence and rationality. Furthermore, Immanuel Kant contended that the starry heavens above and the moral law within point toward a unified rational order that transcends mere material explanation . In a similar vein, Alfred North Whitehead’s process philosophy saw the universe as a dynamic unfolding of creative order, consistent with the theological vision of a God who continuously sustains and lures creation toward greater complexity and purpose . From a contemporary perspective, fine-tuning arguments in cosmology—such as the precise values of physical constants necessary for life—reinvigorate the classical teleological argument. As physicist Paul Davies notes, “The impression of design is overwhelming” . The convergence of scientific discovery and metaphysical reflection thus suggests that reason and revelation, far from being adversaries, are complementary modes of discerning truth. Conclusions In conclusion, the question “If everything is made by God, who made God?” appears logical within a temporal framework but fails when examined philosophically and scientifically. The principle of causation applies only within the created order, not to the creator of that order. God, as understood in classical theism, is the uncaused cause—the timeless, necessary being upon whom all contingent reality depends. Modern cosmology’s confirmation that time and space began at the Big Bang supports rather than undermines this understanding. Thus, the question “Who made God?” is not a valid challenge but a category mistake. God, by definition, is not within time but the foundation of it—the eternal source of all that exists.