Who Created God? The Logical Answer to the Question of the Creator’s Existence

Uri asks: “Hello, Rabbi. I’m a person growing in faith. When I speak with friends who are distant from belief, I explain to them why the universe must have been created by a Creator. But they always ask: if everything must have a beginning, who created God? How can something exist forever? I’d like a clear answer that can satisfy them. Thank you.”

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Dear Uri, thank you for your thoughtful question.

The key to answering this lies in understanding a fundamental difference — not just in degree, but in essence, between the Creator and the creation.

God, who brought the entire universe into existence, is not material. The One who created matter and time cannot be limited by either. He existed before the universe, independent of space and time. To make this more intuitive, let’s reason through it step by step.

Why Everything Physical Requires a Cause

Ask your friends this question: How do we know that something must have a creator? 

Consider for example, a simple glass of water on a table. How do we know the glass had a maker? The logical answer is that the glass is limited — it has a specific shape, size, and weight. Those limitations prove that a cause preceded it — a designer who decided it would have precisely that shape, that size, that weight.

Every limitation reveals a defining cause. In the same way, when we ask, “Why do I have five fingers and not six?” the very question presupposes a cause — something that determined the number of fingers I would have.

Thus, everything limited must have something that set its limits — a “limiter.” The existence of limits is evidence of design.

The Universe Has Boundaries — Therefore It Has a Designer

The universe itself is limited by quantity, by physical laws, and by boundaries of time and space. These very properties prove the existence of a Being that preceded the universe — the One who set those limits and laws in motion.

Then comes the next question: If everything limited must have a cause, who caused the Creator?

Why That Question Doesn’t Apply to God

The answer is simply because God has no form and no boundaries. If God had a body or physical structure, such as arms, legs, or measurable dimensions, we could indeed ask, “Who made Him that way?” or “Who gave Him that shape?”

However, by definition, God is infinite, without body, shape, or size.
He is not made of matter, nor confined by space or time. He is the source of matter, space, and time. Therefore, He cannot be subject to them.

As the Zohar says: “Leit atar panui minei” — There is no place devoid of Him (Tikkunei Zohar 122b). He fills all existence yet is not contained by it.

A Scientific Analogy (and Its Limits)

To bring this closer to our understanding, scientists discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation — a field of energy that permeates the universe. Likewise, gravity, though invisible, acts everywhere, pulling on all matter.

These forces can help us imagine how God’s presence fills all reality, though the comparison is imperfect. Both radiation and gravity still depend on the existence of the physical universe, and thus are limited. But God, who created them, is utterly beyond such limits.

Because He is not material, He has no boundaries — and what has no boundaries requires no creator. He is the Infinite One, the Cause of all causes, the sustaining power of every existence.

What “Eternal” Really Means

Many misunderstand the meaning of the word eternal (“netzach”). It does not mean “a very long time.” Time itself is measured by change and motion. Eternal, in its truest sense, means unchanging — existence without beginning, end, or transformation.

God does not age, grow, shrink, or move. He simply is. He exists beyond the flow of time, in a state of unchanging perfection. That is what we mean when we say He “was, is, and will be.”

As the Ancient Jewish Hymn “Adon Olam” Proclaims:

“Master of the universe, who reigned before any creature was created…
He was, He is, and He shall be in glory.
He is One, and there is no other to compare to Him…
Without beginning, without end, His is the power and dominion.
Without likeness, without change, without division,
Great in strength and might.
He is my God, my living Redeemer,
The Rock of my suffering in times of distress.”

Everything limited — in space, time, or form, must have a cause.
But the Creator, who is unlimited, non-material, and beyond time, is uncaused. He is not one more thing within the universe — He is the reason anything exists at all. The Infinite cannot have a beginning, for beginnings belong only to the finite.