Yahweh: The God Who Is - Renewing Your Mind

Podcast Summary: Renewing Your Mind

Episode: Yahweh: The God Who Is
Host: Ligonier Ministries
Speaker: Dr. R.C. Sproul
Date: December 17, 2025

Overview of the Episode

This episode, part of the "Names of God" series, centers on the divine name "Yahweh"—translated as "I am who I am"—and its deep theological implications. Dr. R.C. Sproul explores the meaning of God's self-existence, the distinction between God and creation, and the profound significance of being. Through philosophical reflections and biblical insight, Sproul seeks to renew Christian minds by lifting their understanding of God far above human limitations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Meaning and Significance of "Yahweh" ([01:59]–[04:30])

God’s self-revelation: God introduces Himself to Moses as "Yahweh"—"I am who I am"—highlighting His self-existence and unchanging nature.
Beyond Human Comprehension: Sproul underscores how even 10 weeks of study wouldn't exhaust the meaning of God's name.
Contrast with Humanity: Where humans are defined by dependence and becoming, God is defined by timeless, independent being.

"God revealed himself to Moses with his sacred name Yahweh, which is translated...I am who I am... only at best, scratch the surface of what's there." — R.C. Sproul [01:59]

2. Human Beings vs. The Supreme Being ([04:31]–[10:40])

"Being" as the Key Difference: Both "human being" and "supreme being" share 'being', but for God, His being is absolute and independent.
Philosophical Exploration: Sproul invokes Parmenides: "Whatever is, is," and references Hamlet’s soliloquy "To be or not to be," underscoring that real existence ("being") is the dividing line.
Human Contingency: Humans come into being and pass away; we are always changing and dependent.

"The real difference between a human being and the supreme Being is being." — R.C. Sproul [06:41]

“For anything to exist…for something to be real and not just imaginary...it has to be.” — R.C. Sproul [07:33]

3. The Concept of Existence: Becoming vs. Being ([10:41]–[13:54])

Existential Humility: Sproul recalls his own nonexistence before birth, emphasizing that everyone has a beginning and is, correctly, a "human becoming."
Dependence on External Factors: We need food, water, and air to keep on existing; we are not self-sustaining.

“Do you ever think about that? Why you are. Why anything is." — R.C. Sproul [09:07]

4. The Self-Existence (Aseity) of God ([13:54]–[22:49])

Dependence vs. Aseity: Humans rely on countless outside factors to exist, but God is self-sufficient—in technical terms, possessing "aseity."
Misconceptions in Theology: Sproul shares the story of children asking "Where did God come from?" The answer: “God did not make Himself; God is not created. God simply is.”
Philosophical Logic: If anything exists now, at some fundamental level there must be something (or someone) whose being is not contingent on anything else.

"God depends on nothing. God, and God alone has the power to be within himself." — R.C. Sproul [14:12]

"For above all things, the thing that is most transcendent about God, the thing that distinguishes God more than anything else about him from us, is his being. For he alone has the power of being in Himself." — R.C. Sproul [21:31]

5. The Theological Word "Aseity" ([20:36]–[22:49])

Definition: “Aseity” (A S E I T Y) means “that which has its being in and of itself”—a word Sproul expresses deep reverence for.
Central Distinction: This self-existence is the ultimate separation between Creator and creature.

"Aseity means that which has its being in and of itself. All of this, I believe, is clearly implied by the proper name of God." — R.C. Sproul [21:08]

6. The Verb “To Be” and God’s Name ([24:14]–[25:43])

Linguistic Reflection: Sproul encourages listeners to think about the verb "to be" (am, is, are, etc.), highlighting its ordinary frequency yet extraordinary significance when God declares, “I am.”
Common Language, Uncommon Meaning: Even the simplest words hint at the majesty and uniqueness of God’s self-existence.

"...in that common word we get the uncommon hint of the majestic character of God. Who says, I am." — R.C. Sproul [25:34]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Dependence and Self-Sufficiency:

"You have to eat, you have to drink water, you have to breathe air... God depends on nothing. God, and God alone has the power to be within himself." — R.C. Sproul [00:28 & 14:12]
On the Uniqueness of God’s Being:

“I alone can say I am who I am because I alone have the very power to be. Intrinsically, it's not borrowed, it's not derived, it's not gained or gotten from some other source, but I am eternally.” — R.C. Sproul [18:44]
On Aseity:

"I can't read that word aseity...without having chill bumps, because that one little word captures this magnificent, transcendent character of God." — R.C. Sproul [21:05]

Important Timestamps

01:59: Introduction to the name “Yahweh” and its foundational importance.
06:41: Key philosophical insight—true difference between God and man is "being" itself.
09:07: Existential reflection on the question, “Why do I exist?”
13:54: Distinction between “human beings” and “human becomings.”
14:12: Sproul emphasizes God’s total independence.
18:44: Drilling down into God’s direct self-assertion: "I am who I am."
20:36: Introduction and praise for the theological term “aseity.”
25:34: Remark on the verb "to be" and its significance in revealing God’s nature.

Tone and Style

Dr. Sproul’s tone blends academic depth with warmth, drawing in philosophical history, personal stories, and childlike wonder to underscore the majesty and transcendence of God. He invites listeners to humble themselves before the God who alone possesses unborrowed, eternal Being—and to allow this truth to transform their view of God, self, and existence itself.

Final Takeaway

God’s name—Yahweh, “I am who I am”—is not a mere label, but a profound statement of His absolute, eternal, and independent existence. In a world of contingent beings and constant change, only God alone is, and His aseity forms the bedrock of all reality and the ultimate hope for His people.

Transcript

R.C. Sproul (0:00)

A spiritual battle is raging around us. Are we prepared to take a stand for the truth of God's word? Ligonier Ministries seeks to support the global church by supplying trusted Bible teaching to help Christians fight the good fight of faith in our day. As we come to year's end, we support this discipleship outreach with a donation by December 31st. Go to ligonier.orgsupport to partner with us today. You have to eat, you have to drink water, you have to breathe air. You have all these needs. We're all like that. We're all dependent on external things to keep us alive. God depends on nothing. God, and God alone has the power to be within himself.

Nathan W. Bingham (1:03)

Isn't that an incredible thought? Our temptation can be to make God smaller, more like us, and sadly, to elevate man. That's why we need our minds renewed according to the Word of God. This is the Wednesday edition of Renewing youg Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham and it's good to have you with us this week. You've been hearing messages from RC Sproul series, Names of God. You'll hear several of those messages this week, but it is a 15 message series, so request your copy along with three books from Dr. Sproul when you give a year end donation at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343 before midnight tomorrow. Well, here's Dr. Sproul picking up from yesterday's message and continuing his study of the name Yahweh.

R.C. Sproul (1:59)

God revealed himself to Moses with his sacred name Yahweh, which is translated into the English by the phrase I am who I am. We've already looked briefly at some of the significance of that name, but to be honest with you, I think we could spend the next 10 weeks on this name and only at best, scratch the surface of what's there. In popular religious language, people frequently make the distinction between human beings and God. And the distinction is usually articulated is something like this, we are human beings, but God is the Supreme Being. I want you to think about that for a moment and let me ask this question. What's the difference between a human being and the Supreme Being? What's the chief difference, the essential difference? And I'm choosing my words a little bit carefully here when I say, what is the essential difference between a human being and. And the Supreme Being? Now, the word that I was playing with there is the word essential. What does that word suggest to you? If I say that something is essential, you will suggest Perhaps that this means that which is absolutely necessary. And that's a perfectly legitimate interpretation of the word essential, but in its barest boned meaning. Essential means of the essence of something. I love to do crossword puzzles. In fact, every morning I do two of them. A day without crossword puzzles for rcs, like a day without orange juice for other people. And there's a word that often crops up in crossword puzzles. It says the Latin form of being. And it's a word e s S e esse from which we get the English word essential. That which is essential, or that which has to do with the essence of things relates to something's being, what it is. Now, I know we can get very abstract here. We could go for an excursion, if you wanted to, into ancient gre Greek philosophy, when people like Plato and Aristotle spent their days contemplating the meaning of essence, the meaning of being. Because their quest, their great pursuit intellectually, was to be able to discover what they called ultimate reality. The quintessence, the highest, the fifth essence of things. We would say that was a pursuit of the understanding, in part at least, of the existence of God, because we are convinced that God is ultimate reality. So when I say, when I get back to my original question, what's the difference between human beings and a supreme being? Notice those two phrases. Human being, supreme being. There's one word that both of them have in common. They both have the word being. And the only thing that differs is the qualifying description before them. Once as a human being, the other one says supreme being. And so we would think, if we're going to look for the basic essential difference between a creature and God, is that we would look at the difference between human and supreme. And that's a legitimate way to approach the question. But here's the trick, here's the surprise. The real difference between a human being and the supreme Being is being. Before you turn the radio off and say, I just got lost in a maze of philosophical abstraction. I don't know what this man's talking about here. Let me ask you to hang on in here for just a second and let's try to make sense out of this. Let me say it again. The chief difference between a human being and the supreme being is being. Centuries, indeed millennia ago, before there was a Plato, before there was a Socrates, before there was an Aristotle, there was a philosopher who was one of the earliest philosophers that history has recorded. And his work has not survived down to the present except in quotations and fragments that are alluded to by later writers. And this man's name was Parmenides. And Parmenides is famous for one quote that I've read literally hundreds of times in the writings of scholars. Parmenides, over 2,000 years ago, made this statement. And I want you to listen carefully to Parmenides. You can quote Parmenides now to your friends, you can say, the ancient philosopher Parmenides said, whatever is, comma, is. I remember the first time I read that in an introductory course in philosophy when I was a college student. I. I chuckled. I thought, this guy's famous for a statement like this. He stutters. Whatever is, is. You know, what's the great insight there, beloved? I don't think there's ever been a statement from a philosopher that has gripped my mind so tightly and so deeply as that simple observation of the ancient philosopher Parmenides. Whatever is, is. He wasn't trying to be cute. He wasn't trying to be mysterious. What he was trying to say is that for anything to exist, for anything to be real and not just imaginary, not just mythological or fictional, but for something to be real. And you notice how I just said that. For something to be real, in some sense, somehow it has to be. We remember Hamlet using the options when he was contemplating suicide. In his famous soliloquy, what did he say? To be or not to be. That is the question. That was the question that gripped his soul. He's sitting there thinking, what happens if I kill myself? He wants to know whether it is better to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or by opposing them, to die. But then he says, what happens if I. If I don't stop being when I die? He doesn't know what's on the other side. He's thinking that if he kills himself, it will be the end of Hamlet. It will be the end of his existence. Existence. But he's not sure. He says, to sleep, to die, to sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream. Ah, there's the rub. For when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, you know, we don't know what's there. He said, it makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all. Hamlet said, I don't know what's over there, and I have a guilty conscience. And if I don't stop being, I may be in serious trouble. Hamlet was afraid of hell. Hamlet was afraid that his life would continue and that he would be brought before the judgment of God. But he was wrestling with that question of being. Do you ever think about that? Why you are. Why anything is. I know this. That 60 years ago, as recently as 60 years ago, in fact, as recently as 56 years ago, nobody in the world cared about RC Sproul. At least not this RC Sprawl. I cared about my grandfather, whose name was RC Sproul. But nobody cared about the one who's speaking to you now. Do you know why there wasn't any R.C. sproul? R.C. sproul didn't exist. The world was getting along fine without me. I didn't know anything about the world, and the world didn't know anything about me, because I was not. But then, In February of 1939, my mother delivered a baby at Southside Hospital in Pittsburgh and called him R.C. i started. Actually, I started when I was conceived. But my life began in this world on my birthday. But before that, I was not. Then I began to exist. I started to be. But I didn't start to be by myself. I had a beginning. I had to be generated or procreated by other people before this human being could even be at all. The one thing I know about you, even if I don't know your name, is that there was a time when you were not. There was a time when you did not exist. And that if you exist now, you have a beginning. You exist, and your existence is real. Even though it's changing from moment to moment, from day to day, from year to year. You change. You see, you go through all those changes. Because really it'd be more proper, as the old philosophers used to say, to describe us not as human beings, but as human becomings. Because whatever we are is never permanent. Whatever we are is always changing. I'm different now than I was when I started this message. If I'm only 13 minutes and 54 seconds older than I was when we started. I am always in process. I am always becoming. My being is not pure being. It is not perfect being. Because what I do not have and what you do not have is the power of being in yourself. You can't exist for the next five minutes without oxygen, without something preserving your existence. You have to eat. You have to drink water. You have to breathe air. You have all these needs. We're all like that. We're all dependent on external things to keep us alive. God depends on nothing. God. And God alone has the power to be within himself. In theology, we use two different words or phrases to describe this attribute of God. The most common one we hear is the attribute of self existence. I'm reminded of the two little children that were engaged in a debate. And the first little boy asked the second little boy, where did the trees come from? And the second little boy said, God made the trees. The first little boy said, well, where'd the sky come from? And the second little boy said, God made the sky. First little boy said, where did you come from? And the second little boy said, God made me. The first little boy was getting tired of this encyclopedic brilliance of his young friend, and he decided to give him the poser that would stump him once and for all. And so he says, okay, smarty pants, where did God come from? And the second little boy said, God made himself. Now we smile at that. But the first boy really did expose the second little boy as a bad theologian. Because God did not make himself, God did not create himself. Because God is not a creature, nobody, nothing makes God. God exists eternally because he doesn't need somebody else's power or some other external power to bring him into existence. Because the God of Scripture is the God who reveals himself to Moses as Yahweh. I am. I have being in myself. You don't have it. Moses, Aaron doesn't have it. Pharaoh doesn't have it. The stars don't have it. The sun doesn't have it. The universe doesn't have it. I. I al alone can say I am who I am because I alone have the very power to be. Intrinsically, it's not borrowed, it's not derived, it's not gained or gotten from some other source, but I am eternally whoever is, is. That's what Parmenides was getting at. He's saying if anything exists in this world, Parmenides was saying if anything has any limited degree of being, a human being, a creaturely being, a dependent being, a finite being. For any of that to be at all, for there to be being somewhere, somehow, something, someone must be independent from everything else. I mean, people argue all the time about whether God exists. I mean, to think about this for 15 seconds would answer the question. If nothing had the power of being within itself, nothing could possibly be. But if something is, than someone is. Let me say it again. If something is, then someone is. Someone is in a pure state of absolute being. There can be no human being. There can be no earthly being without supreme being, without someone whose name is I am who I am. The other word we use for this is a technical term. I'll just give it to you. You can write it down. You can forget it if you want to but if you do ever read serious theology, you'll see it again and again. It's the simple little word aseity A S E I T y. It's one of my most favorite words in the I can't read that word aseity a S e I T y without having chill bumps, because that one little word captures this magnificent, transcendent character of God. Aseity means that which has its being in and of itself. All of this, I believe, is clearly implied by the proper name of God. For above all things, the thing that is most transcendent about God, the thing that distinguishes God more than anything else about him from us, is his being. For he alone has the power of being in Himself. And it's only because of that power of being that you and I can even sit around discussing the meaning of being. Without that power of being, we wouldn't be here at all.