Having considered Which Member of the Trinity is Omnipresent? it seemed relevant to consider what, if anything, is the difference between the Judeo-Christian concept of omnipresence on the one hand and the concept of pantheism on the other.
The primary difference is that in the pantheistic view; God is the creator and the creation-everything is God and God is everything.
Consider that the following anti-pantheism biblical text:
the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD,
but the LORD was not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire;
and after the fire a still small voice (1st Kings 19:11-12).
Often, omnipresence is defined as "God is everywhere" but it seems to me that it should be defined as "God is anywhere."
If God is everywhere then God is in me, God is in rabid chinchillas, God is on the surface of the Moon, God is under a rock in Fresno, God is in a black hole, God is in a cucumber and in a sea cucumber.
But what is God doing in these localities? It must be pretty boring being in one protein, in a flea, on the back of a dog. Even worse to be in all proteins, in all fleas, on the back of all dogs. The point is not attempting to guess what amuses or bores God. The point is that Judeo-Christian theology and natural theology denote a God who exhibits characteristics of personality or personhood thus, God is not all things and is not in all things, God is everywhere in the sense that He is anywhere.
What I mean is that omnipresence means that God is anywhere He wants to be and nothing can restrict Him. God is not somehow diffused throughout creation and everywhere by necessity of a sort of mindless diffusion but is anywhere He wills to be.
But let us not confuse matters further; God is not a man and does not possess a body (not until Jesus incarnated and now enjoys a spiritual body-not a spirit body which is a contradiction in terms).
That God can be anywhere does not mean that God physically moves from one location to another but that His presence, as it where, His attention, perhaps, can manifest itself where He wills. In a sense, He is present everywhere and can make His presence more obvious anywhere. God is not merely dispersed thought creation but volitionally acts here and there, anywhere.
Consider two relevant texts from the Bible which are often referred to in affirming God's omnipresence:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me (Psalm 139:7-10).
It may seem that God is diffused everywhere so that there is nowhere to go in fleeing from Him. Yet, the point is that when the person attempt to flee from Him they cannot do so because God is present wherever they go because they are attempting to get away from Him and God is making Himself present wherever they go.
"Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD (Jeremiah 23:24).
Again, the person that seeks to hide from God will find that the LORD fills heaven and earth and God will find them wherever they go because He will be manifested there.
This has been some food for theological thought as it seems to me that there is a vast difference between a pantheistic theology which envisages God as being in everything, or simply being everything, due to that God's lack of personhood on the one hand, and the biblical concept of a personal God who has the prerogative to make His presence manifest where He wills with no encumbrances on the other.
Think of the difference between God being diffused like when you pour a sports drink powder into a glass of water and mix it up-it is everywhere by necessity. But the true God is more like dropping a little plastic ball, or several balls (as God is not limited by locality), into the glass of water and mixing it up-He is here and there and anywhere He wants to be but is not forced (to use a clumsy term) to be everywhere.
Also to the point of omnipresence versus pantheism; it is tantamount to the water in the fish tank. Like the water, God is everywhere in creation but just as the water never becomes the fish, rocks or anything in the tank so God fills and yet, is distinct from His creation.
Thus, God is anywhere because He CAN BE present everywhere and/or can be everywhere because He CAN BE present anywhere. God is not somehow mindlessly diffused through creation but is in charge of where His presence manifests more fully.
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An aside:
In case some become confused or cry "contradiction" or "biblical pantheism" by the verse segment that states, "_that God may be all in all_" (1st Corinthians 15:28).
Keep in mind that it is a verse segment and it would be to pull a text from context to make a pretext for a prooftext to read pantheism into this.
Note the context:
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For "He has put all things under His feet."
But when He says "all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all. (vss. 20-28).
Note the various references to various personages:
_each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming. Then comes the end_all rule and all authority and power_.all enemies under His feet. The last enemy_"He has put all things under His feet."_"all things are put under Him_all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all" (vss. 21-28).
Thus, no matter whom, when in the order of events, nor where they are: God will have all under Him so that He will be the authority over all.
Note also the interesting and elucidating transitions of v. 28 by the NLT, "will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere" and the RSV, "God may be everything to every one."
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