According to Cambridge Dictionary Immanence is “the state of being present as a natural and permanent part of something:” The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. God’s immanence refers to His presence within His creation. A belief in God’s immanence holds that God is present in all of creation while remaining distinct from it. In other words, there is no place where God is not. His sovereign control extends everywhere simultaneously. Transcendence on the other hand means that God is exalted in his royal dignity and exercises both control and authority in his creation. Ephesians 4:6 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
In general, to say that God is transcendent is to say that he is exalted, above, and beyond us. To say that God is immanent is to say that he is present in time and space, that he is near us. Transcendence (God exists outside of space and time) and immanence (God is present within space and time) are both attributes of God. He is both “nearby” and “far away.” Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?” Isaiah 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. That is God’s transcendence. Colossians 1:17 “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” That is God’s immanence.
Divine immanence is the description of his kingly control and authority; because he rules over creation, he is present throughout the whole creation, especially to his people, in a personal and covenantal way. Rather than describing God in an impersonal way, the doctrines of transcendence and immanence describe the royal dignity and presence of the God who came to be among his people in Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us.
God’s omnipresence is closely related to His immanence, and Psalm 139:1-10 describes it in beautiful detail. In the New Testament, Paul declares that God “Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” and “in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:25 “Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” Acts 17:28 “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” God guides, governs, and provides for His creation, even though He is so far above it. Ephesians 1:11 “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:”
The very existence of God’s Word in written form testifies to God’s interest and action in His world. Israel’s survival throughout biblical history and Jesus’ Incarnation bear powerful witness to the fact that God is present and involved with us in all the facets of life.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in