It is a great paradox, but the fact is, the real test of
omnipotence is what it can do when it limits itself, and gives up
absolute and total control. Absolute and total control means the
power is not shared with other being. All is just as you will, and
there can be no freedom of choice made by any other will. That is
one concept of omnipotence, and it is a powerful picture, for there
is no power other than the one with this kind of omnipotence.
This would seem, on the surface of things, to be the ultimate in
power. To have all power so completely that there is no other
source of power in existence. It would seem that you could go no
higher, or could there be a higher way?
Yes there could be! Just do as God does in the Bible. He
creates other beings who also have power. Some of them have
very great power, like the angels and archangels. Satan had
enough power to challenge his creator, and even take a vast host
of other beings with him in rebellion. Then God created man
with the power of free will, and it is also capable of choices that
are not His will. This is all so risky, for it puts God's omnipotence
to the test. The God who takes no such risk, but keeps all in His
own control, is no where near as powerful as the God of the Bible,
who can take these kinds of risks, and still be able to have
ultimate control, and victory in achieving His purpose.
The God of the Bible has the ability to give up control, and
still win and achieve His goal. God takes on enormous limitations
to His power. He cannot let men be free to choose, and at the
same time force them to choose only good. He could have, had He
made them mere machines, but He made them persons in His own
image, and so they are free. This puts a limit on His power. God
says that they are not to steal, but gives them the power to steal.
They will have to pay for their disobedience, but they are free to
choose. Cannot God stop people from stealing? Yes He can, but
He will not, for His purpose is not to force people into obedience,
but to persuade them to choose obedience.
If God has really created beings who can choose, then there is
a multiplicity of power sources in the world. He can no longer
then be the only cause for all that is. There are now other power
sources who can cause things to be that He does not will to be.
Since He chose this sharing of power, He can also freely change it
if He chooses. His limiting of His own power does not in any
change His sovereignty, He is still the source of all power, and He
can make all other sources of power cease to be. But by going
through with the plan to the end, God will demonstrate a far
greater omnipotence than a God who fears to take a chance, and
holds onto all power for Himself. That would be taking the easy
way out, but the God of the Bible is a risk taker.
If love, justice, holiness, truth, and beauty are the end result
for all eternity after the risk of evil, hate, war, injustice, and all
the ugliness of sin, then God will have demonstrated an omnipotence
that is not a mere victory of power, but of love and
wisdom, and this is the kind of omnipotence that is worthy of our
love, worship, and praise.
So now we have a logical answer to all of the why questions.
Why doesn't God do something to stop or prevent all the evil? All
such questions are based on the omnipotent God concept which
we have shown is a philosophical illusion, and is not the God of
biblical revelation. All such questions imply that God can do
whatever He wants. This leads to all sorts of false conclusions.
God can do whatever He wants, but He does not want to take full
control of all power and end His experiment of giving freedom to
other powers. Those who condemn God for doing so would not
want the alternative of all humans being mere robots
programmed to do everything as God wills. We do not like the
evil that freedom produces, but we also would not want to give up
our freedom, and so we live in a world where much is evil, and
not what God wills.
The biblical concept of omnipotence reveals a God who not
only cares about the suffering that evil produces, He enters into
the suffering Himself. We seldom think of it, but God has
problems that He must solve also. The problem He had was in
how to save fallen man, and the only He could justly do it was to
enter the world of suffering Himself. The cross was the price that
God had to pay for allowing man to be free. It was that
important to God to keep men free. Jesus was the only one who
could pay the price to redeem man, and He did it with joy because
of the eternal fellowship He would have with all of those who
would receive His salvation by faith.
An omnipotent God who can do as He pleases, and who would
still send His perfect Son into the world to die and endure hell for
sins not His own, would be a sadistic tyrant impossible to admire.
If He could save man by sheer power, and then chose the way of
the cross, it would be as immoral as I would be if I had a rope tied
to my valuables as my house was burning, and all I would have to
do is pull it and they would be spared, but instead I would send
my son into the flames to get them, and he dies in the effort. Do
not say God can do anything He pleases lightly, for He if could
have saved man any other way, He had a moral obligation to
choose it. His Son even prayed, "If there is another way let this
cup pass from me." God had no other choice.
In His omnipotence He could have sent ten thousand angels to
spare His Son, but there was nothing that power could do to save
the world of sinners. Only love could do that, and not all the
power of heaven. But that is the very point I am making. Power
limited by love is not less power, but it is greater power. The
mere power concept of omnipotence could not save man. It was
only the love limited power of the God of the Bible that could.
Love limited power has to be distinguished from total power. If
might is right, then God can do anything. But if what is right is a
matter of respect for the freedom of other persons, then God
cannot have His own way by the mere fact of being the strongest
of persons. God has to play by the rules of His own making. He
has to allow His opponents to play by those same rules, and this
means they have the right to will what He does not will.
Those who have a concept of the absolute omnipotence of God
with no limits so not realize that logic forces them to accept some
limits. If God can make rules that bind him to them, then He has
limited Himself by those rules. If He cannot make such rules, and
must be always free to do anything, then He is also limited by not
being able to make such rules. Either way, God cannot be
conceived as having no limit whatever to His omnipotence. If He
is a God who cannot make other creatures who have wills that
can freely obey or disobey Him, then He is limited in His
omnipotence. There is no way to have a biblical image of God
without self-limitations to His omnipotence, and again, thank God
it is so.
God had the absolute omnipotence before He created the
universe. He was free to make any decision that was possible, and
there was nothing existing to hinder that absolute control. But
once He chose to make other creatures with a will of their own,
He gave up total control, and imposed limits on His power to get
His own will done all the time. Unqualified omnipotence is what
He was willing to give up in order to have an eternal family of
children who freely chose to love Him. So history is filled with
much that is not His will, because He cannot let man be free and
still force him to do only what is right and good.
Do men have rights that God cannot dissolve by sheer power?
Of course they do. It is God's own gift to them, and He is no
Indian giver who will take it back as soon as they express the
right to choose what is not pleasing to Him. That would be like
me giving you a gift of a radio with the demand that you listen
only to Christian stations. You are free to use it as you wish, but
as soon as you turn to any other than a Christian station, I will
take it back. If it is truly a gift, and you are truly free to use it as
you wish, then I cannot control your use of this gift. I may have
the power to so control it, but if I love you, I will not exercise that
power, but leave you free to make your own choice.
So God respects our freedom to choose that which is not
Christian, and not according to His will. It is not that He cannot
for lack of power prevent our foolish choices, but He will not for
His is not the omnipotence of the tyrant, but the omnipotence of
love. The omnipotence of the tyrant is most costly to the subjects.
The omnipotence of love is most costly to the King. The true image
of God is always the highest conceivable by
man. He will always be more than we can conceive, but never
less, and so the highest conception is always closest to the truth.
Is it the highest conception to imagine God as a ruler over
puppets who can do nothing but what He decides, or is it a higher
conception of God's power and wisdom to imagine Him ruling
over a world of free beings who can choose to cooperate compete
with Him? We could put this on a more human level and ask,
which is the greatest trade-to operate a machine, or to raise a
child? You have the choice of a God who operates by sheer
power, or a God who operates on the basis of love, and if you are
choosing the God of the Bible, you will choosing a God who
operates on love, for God is love.
We need to stress that the love of God does not weaken His
omnipotence. It is the view of those who make His omnipotence
absolute who make Him weak. They reject the idea of freedom in
any other. There is no freedom but in God, and all is in His
control. This seems like a God exalting view, but it degrades God
terribly. It means that even though God has all power and is the
only will that can determine what is, we still have a world that is
full of evil, suffering and folly beyond measure. This makes God
look like an omni-incompetent rather than an all wise ruler.
What king can be adored who has full control of all power, and
yet has a kingdom filled with evil and suffering that is destroying
his people. There is nothing exalting in the view that God is fully
in change and responsible for everything being just as it is. If this
is true of God, then He is also the One who wills for some of us to
undermine this view and exalt Him as the God who has the
courage to let other wills make choices in the freedom He grants
in love. A self-limited God is a God who is lovable, but an all
-powerful God who can do anything He chooses, but does not
choose to prevent the evils we see daily in this world, is the God so
many atheists do not believe in, for they would rather there be no
God at all than such a God as that.
A father can gain the obedience of his children by sheer power.
He can make it clear that they will suffer instantly if they step out
of line. He can follow his threat with instant and severe
punishment to the first offense. His children will live in fear, and
they will conform to his will, even though they may be filled with
resentment and even hate. By sheer power he has them in control.
Another father may take the approach of warning, but be more
open to forgiving if the children come and confess their
disobedience. He may allow them more liberty, and less severity
when they do fall, encouraging them in love to learn from their
mistakes to avoid future falls. They may be like the father of the
Prodigal and give them freedom to be very foolish, but always
have an open door for them to return and be forgiven. If you
study the discipline and judgment of God all through the Bible
you discover He is like the second father. He gives much warning
and time to repent before He punishes. He allows much freedom,
and is ever open to the repentant sinner to return and be restored
to fellowship. In other words, we see omnipotence of love rather
than omnipotence of just power.
I want to conclude this study of God's omnipotence with a
focus on His self-imposed limitations based on His character and
essence as love. Thank God He is limited, or rather that He has
limited Himself. If He was not limited, it would mean that
everything in the world is just as He wills it and desires it to be.
Even all the evil and tragedy of life is just as God wants it. This is
hard to swallow, and so we know that much in life is not God's
will, and, therefore, God has chosen to limit Himself, and not
always have everything just as He desires. Those who will not
accept the reality of God's limitations make God the author of all
evil. The reason people have a problem with the limitations of God
is because they jump to the false conclusion that if He has limits, it
means that He is not all powerful, and He is not God Almighty.
This is foolishness, for you can have limits because you are weak,
as is the case with all of us, but you can also have limits because
you chose to limit yourself. You can have self-imposed limits. I do
not read my sons mail, not because I am weak and cannot do it,
but because I choose not to do all I am capable of doing. God has
the power to do many things that He does not chose to do. He has
the power to send a sinner to hell as soon as he sins, but He
chooses to give the sinner time to repent and be forgiven, and to
escape judgment. It is not because He is weak, but because He is
love, and not willing that any should perish.
When God created free willed being He chose to limit His own
will. He made it possible for other wills to choose things that He
would not. He gave them power to defy His will even. He could
not make this choice without limiting His own will. God cannot
make us free and then still force us to do only what He wills, for
then we are not free. God does not make our choices for us, but
allows us to make them, and this means His will is not always
done. Why would Jesus teach us to pray, "Thy will be done on
earth as it is in heaven," if it was always done anyway? It is not
always done, and that means God does not always get His way in
the world.
But what about texts like Luke 1:37 which says, "Nothing is
impossible with God." Or Matt. 19:26, "With God all things are
possible." There is no conflict when you look at the context, for
these texts are dealing with what man cannot do, but which God
alone can. They are saying what is impossible with man is
possible with God. He can do anything that can be conceivably
necessary to achieve His purpose. They do not mean that He can
even do what is contrary to His nature and what destroys His purpose.
Those are the limitations that we are focusing on, and
not that there is anything impossible for God to do to achieve His
purpose.
These texts are for the encouragement of man. They are not
telling us that God is capable of folly and sinful actions contrary
to His nature, for that would be discouraging. The texts that tell
us what God cannot do are for the same purpose, so that we can
count on Him to never change, but always be good and loving and
just, and never evil. It is impossible for God to make blunders
that do what destroys His chances to achieve His purpose. The
two sets of verses that say all things are possible, and those who
say some things are impossible are for the same purpose. They
are two sides of the one coin of God's omnipotence. He can do
anything consistent with His purpose and nature, and He cannot
do anything that is inconsistent with His purpose and nature. He
is covered both ways for the assurance of His people. We can have
absolute assurance is such a God.
The Bible gives us a number of things that God cannot do. He
is limited by two things. He cannot do what is contrary to His
nature, and He cannot do what He has chosen not to do. The
ability to do something does not mean one has to use that ability.
There are many things that God could do, but He chooses not to
do them. He is free to not do whatever He does not choose to do.
John the Baptist said to the Pharisees in Matt. 3:9, "I tell you that
out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham." As
far as we know God never did that, and likely never will. It would
be a marvelous miracle, but there is no reason why He could not
choose to do it. But now we want to look at things that God
cannot do because of the self-imposed limitations of His
omnipotence.
1. He cannot lie according to Heb. 6:17-19 and I Sam. 15:29, and
so cannot destroy the world with another flood, for He promised
not to.
2. He cannot deny Himself says II Tim. 3:13.
3. He cannot have respect for persons, or show favoritism-Rom.
2:11, James 2:9
4. He cannot save man without a Savior, who is Jesus. John 14:6.
If there would have been another way to save man without the
sacrifice of His Son, God would have taken it, but there was no
other way.
5. He cannot be pleased apart from faith, for, "..without faith it is
impossible to please God.." Heb. 11:6, James 1:5-8
6. He cannot refuse to forgive one who confesses and repents. I
John 1:9.
7. He cannot be tempted by evil, nor can He tempt to do evil.
James 1:13-15. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, and
so God cannot do anything that is sinful and contrary to His
nature of holiness. If He could sin He would deny Himself, which
is impossible.
8. He cannot do certain things until other circumstances are in
favor of it, or in other words, He cannot break His promise. Gen.
19:22
9. He cannot do away with the freedom of man to choose the path
of sin over the path of obedience. Rom. 6:16; Rom. 8:5-13; Gal.
5:19-21. This means He cannot make a choice men make not to
have been made. He cannot make one who has murdered not to
have murdered, or restore a prostitute to virginity.
10. He cannot make any other of His sons equal to the eternal
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:1, 14, 18
You can call these the top ten things God cannot do, but there
are many other specifics, because He cannot do anything that is
contrary to His nature, and which enables the forces of evil to
finally win the war of good and evil. In other words God cannot
lose. He is a winner, and He will in His sovereignty win the war
against evil and accomplish His purpose for history and for men.
The self-imposed limitations do not make Him weak, but instead,
make Him a loving victor. It is because He is omnipotent that He
could risk letting other beings be free. Thomas Aquinas wrote,
"To sin is to fall short of a perfect action; hence to be able to sin is
to be able to fall short in action, which is repugnant to
omnipotence. Therefore it is that God cannot sin, because of His
omnipotence." If He was not omnipotent it would have been a
foolish risk, for He could have ended up losing to evil forces and
Satan would end up ruling the universe. He knew that could
never happen, because He always had the ultimate power to
overcome all evil, because He could never be tempted to yield to
evil. He will demonstrate His ultimate power in the final
judgment, but meanwhile He patiently endures the folly of evil
because many will come out of darkness into light when they hear
the Gospel of His free offer of forgiveness in Christ.
Let me illustrate once more how self-imposed limitations are
not a loss of power, but are rather an expression of power. The
man with no money has no power to give money to others, or to
loan it and invest it. The man with money has the power to limit
what he does with his money. He can give it away, loan it, or set
up a trust fund for someone. In other words, he can limit his
control of his money, and share the power to use it with others.
Does this mean that he has less power than one who is a miser and
just keeps all control to himself? Not at all! By giving up control
he has expressed the power of love to include others in his
abundance. His power is used as a means of expressing love for
others. That is a far greater power than that of maintaining full
control of one's money for pure selfish end.
It is the person whose power is under the control of love who is
the most worthy person. And so it is with the omnipotence of God
whose power is always under the control of His love. God will only
do what power can do lovingly, and this means that
judgment of evil is love for the good. Nothing in God's judgments
is contrary to His love and goodness. His greatest judgment on sin
was at the cross, and it was also His greatest expression of love.
God had to win men by means of love and sacrifice for power
cannot do it. Someone said, "A man convinced against his will is
of the same opinion still." In other words, you can force a man to
conform to your will, but you do not control his inner man. You
do not win his love. God was willing to limit Himself, and even go
to the cross in order to win man's inner heart to love. The love of
Jesus expressed in His sacrifice for sin accomplished this when
nothing else could. That is omnipotence in action, and that is the
Bible image of God's omnipotence.
