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Jeremiah 32:17
“Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
Having considered the omnipresence of God and its relation to the special, blessed covenant presence of the Lord, we will begin today our look at His attribute of power and related names, concepts, and titles. To start our discussion, we will consider the truth that God is omnipotent.
The divine attribute of omnipotence means that the Lord is all-powerful. Jeremiah 32:17 states that nothing is too difficult for God, using God’s work of creation as proof of this. Since our Creator made all things from nothing, what possible external limitation on His power could there be? If He truly wants to do something, how could He possibly be unable to do it? Surely, as one catechism states it, “God can do all his holy will.”
We have noted that there is no external limitation on God’s power, and that qualifier external is important because, in fact, divine omnipotence does not mean that God can do absolutely anything we can think of. For example, God does not have the power to lie or to do evil (Heb. 6:18; James 1:13, 17). He does not have this power because to lie or otherwise do evil is contrary to His holy character, and to be able to do something contrary to His character would mean that He is changeable and untrustworthy. God cannot violate His own character, but this is no lack of power. In fact, many theologians have argued that God’s inability to act against His nature is a necessary consequence of omnipotence, for to be able to go against one’s holy nature is actually a moral weakness. The omnipotence of God extends both to the ability to exert force and to what we could call ethical strength.
Similarly, divine omnipotence does not mean that the Lord can perform a logical contradiction or something that is irrational. For instance, God cannot make a square circle or a triangle with five angles. Such things would be nonsense, and the infinite divine mind of our most rational God cannot produce nonsense. He invites us to reason with Him, not to engage in irrationality with Him (Isa. 1:18).
Ultimately, when we confess divine omnipotence, we are saying that the Lord can bring to pass whatever He wills to accomplish. No obstacle can finally stand in His way. God can and often does tolerate pushback against His work, but He faces no true impediments. If the Lord wants to do something, He can do it exactly when He wants to. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We would be in a terrifying predicament indeed if God were able to do absolutely anything imaginable. After all, if God could violate His own character, He could break His promises and turn on us even after graciously pledging to redeem us. Rather, God’s omnipotence means that He can do all that He wills to do, and He wills to do only that which is good.
For further study
- 2 Chronicles 20:5–6
- Nahum 1:3
- Ephesians 3:20
- Revelation 15:3
The bible in a year
- Judges 8–9
- Luke 8:22–56