Occasionalism, in theological terms, asserts that God is the sole causal agent behind every event. What men describe as natural causes are not true causes, but rather occasions for God to exercise his power. The doctrine underscores God’s continuous and immediate involvement in every aspect of creation, such that nothing happens apart from his direct agency. For instance, the sun’s rising and the rain’s falling are not results of natural laws acting independently, but of God’s consistent action in accordance with his own decrees. Natural laws are at best descriptions of the way God usually acts.

This is distinct from the deistic notion that God created the world and then stepped back to let it run on its own. Occasionalism denies any such abdication of divine authority. The universe has no ability to sustain itself, and it does not have any autonomous principles of causation. Every action and every effect is the immediate result of God’s will.

Let us take Jeremiah 14:22 as an illustration. The verse says, “Can any of the false gods of the nations bring rain? Can the skies themselves send down showers? No, O Lord our God, you are the one. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.” The prophet asserted that only God can cause even what were considered natural phenomena. People, spirits, and idols cannot cause rain. And the skies themselves cannot bring rain either. They do not possess independent causal power. God is the one who does all such things. God alone is the true cause of every event.

Since God is the necessary and direct cause of every event, there is really no such thing as a secondary cause. Any true cause is never secondary, and anything that is secondary cannot cause anything. We might tolerate its use due to custom, but it is misleading. Alternatives like “apparent cause” or “relational cause” are more accurate. In any case, a so-called secondary cause does not really do anything, but it represents an occasion for God himself to cause an event. Created things do not possess autonomy or efficacy. They do not possess any inherent power to cause anything or to continue to exist.

To illustrate what we mean by occasion, consider the time God divided the Red Sea and directed the Israelites to cross on dry ground. Moses stretched out his staff, and God performed the miracle. The staff had no inherent power to part the waters. It did not even have the power to maintain its own existence. The miracle was not the result of some latent ability within Moses or his staff. Rather, God chose to use the staff as an occasion to demonstrate his own power. The act of stretching out the staff served as the occasion for God to perform the miracle. There was a chronological correlation, but no causation. In fact, the staff could not stretch out by itself, nor could Moses stretch it out independently. Even that was caused by God.

If we are to maintain that God is the only self-existent and necessary being, then it follows that all other entities are contingent, deriving their existence and properties from his will. Contingent beings, by definition, cannot possess independent causal power. If something has the power to act independently of God, then it must possess self-existence or autonomy, which is impossible given that only God is truly self-existent.

Psalm 104:14 states, “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth.” The Bible attributes the growth of vegetation directly to God. It is not the soil, the sun, or the rain that independently cause growth, but God who orchestrates all these factors in accordance with his will. Similarly, in Acts 17:28, Paul agrees, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Every movement, every breath, every heartbeat depends upon God’s immediate action.

All creation is dependent on God’s active sustaining power. There is no power within creation that acts independently, and there is no principle of causation apart from the direct will of God. God alone is the source, sustainer, and cause of all things. Every event in the universe, whether seemingly ordinary or miraculous, is a manifestation of his will. There are no autonomous forces, no independent powers, and no rival causes. The rain falls, the sun rises, and the heavens move, all by his command. Only God does all these things. This is the doctrine of occasionalism. It is nothing other than a theological statement of what Scripture teaches, and it also resolves a host of philosophical difficulties.