The Heart of It All: The Nature and Character of God

God’s Omnipotence

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(For an introduction and explanation regarding this series overall, please see The Heart of It All: Introduction.)

God, who created all things out of nothing, known as creation ex nihilo, is all-powerful. The traditional word for God’s infinite power is omnipotence, which comes from two Latin words: omni, which means all, and potens, which means power. God has the power to do anything He wills to do.

In the Old Testament, when God entered into a covenant with Abraham, He said He was el Shaddai, which in Old Testament Hebrew means God Almighty, God the most powerful. El Shaddai is used six times in Genesis and Exodus and once in Ezekiel. Shaddai, meaning Almighty, is used 36 times throughout the Old Testament in reference to God. In the New Testament the Greek word for Almighty, pantokratōr, is used 10 times, mostly in the book of Revelation. The name God called Himself when He spoke with Abraham described His omnipotence.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.”^[1] 

God said to [Israel], “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.”^[2]

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty.^[3]

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.^[4]

We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for You have taken Your great power and begun to reign.^[5]

Scripture expresses that God has the ability and the absolute power to bring about whatever is His will.

For nothing will be impossible with God.^[6]

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”^[7]

Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.^[8]

Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?^[9]

I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.^[10]

Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.^[11]

The awesome power of God is manifested in His creating the universe. The Bible teaches that God created the universe and all that is in it, including our world, out of nothing. It says He spoke it into being.

He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.^[12]

God ... who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.^[13]

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. … And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.” … And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” … And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation.” ... And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens.” … And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.” … And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds.” … Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”^[14]

Theologian Thomas F. Torrance describes the doctrine of creation ex nihilo in this way:

The creation of the universe out of nothing does not mean the creation of the universe out of something that is nothing, but out of nothing at all. It is not created out of anything—it came into being through the absolute fiat of God’s Word in such a way that whereas previously there was nothing, the whole universe came into being.^[15]

It’s hard to imagine a greater display of power than creating the world out of nothing! Jeremiah sees creation as being proof that nothing is too hard for God. The apostle Paul spoke about creation being one way to perceive God’s power and nature.

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.^[16]

What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.^[17]

Considering the intricacy and complexity of the universe and of our world, having the power to create it is incredible power. I thought Jack Cottrell expressed this well:

In addition to the bare fact of creation from nothing, the omnipotence of God is magnified even more when we consider the size and nature of the universe so created. Its size is so vast that we cannot even comprehend it ... Our galaxy of about 100 billion stars is about 100,000 light years in width, and there are probably close to 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe. Many of these galaxies are visible only through a 200-inch telescope whose lens took ten months to cool and eleven years to polish. Yet God spoke the whole universe into existence with a word! The amount of matter originated in that creative moment could not even be imagined. According to one calculation, our own sun loses nearly five million tons of its matter per second; yet at this rate it will still last for many billions of years.^[18]

In creating the universe, God also created the active and latent power within created things. From the atom to stars and to galaxies, there is power within God’s creation. God has created the universe with natural power that has come from the All-Powerful.

Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.^[19]

The natural power of created things is seen in the ordinary working of the world. The sun gives light and heat, plants grow, water evaporates and turns into rain, the planets rotate around the sun, and so forth.

God’s power is also sometimes seen when He operates outside the ordinary working of nature by performing miracles. He separated a sea so His people could walk through on dry ground; He sent fire from heaven to consume a sacrifice; He caused a virgin to conceive a child through the Holy Spirit, who was to be God Incarnate; when that child grew up, He healed the sick and raised people from the dead; after He was crucified, God raised Him from the dead and brought Him bodily to heaven. These miracles are also evidence of God’s omnipotence.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.^[20]

The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”^[21]

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin ... And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”^[22]

They took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth.^[23]

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.^[24]

God’s power is infinite, meaning that it is without any limits, immeasurable. As such, He not only has the power to do those things He has done, but also the power to do things He could do but hasn’t done. Some examples of such things mentioned in the Bible are raising up children of Abraham from stones, or sending legions of angels to deliver Jesus. While He has unlimited power and thus the ability to do these things, He didn’t do them.

Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.^[25]

Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?^[26]

While Scripture affirms that God can do all things, it also states there are some things God cannot do. He can’t deny Himself by going against His nature and character. He can’t lie. He can’t be tempted with evil, or tempt others with evil. He can’t do wickedly or pervert justice. He won’t violate His righteousness.

If we are faithless, He remains faithful––for He cannot deny Himself.^[27]

In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.^[28]

By two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.^[29]

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He himself tempts no one.^[30]

When the Bible says God is Almighty and can do anything, it should be understood that God can do anything which is consistent with His nature and character.

Theologian J. Rodman Williams explains it this way:

This is not omnipotence in the sense of sheer power. For the God who is Almighty is the God whose character is holiness, love, and truth. Therefore, He does, and will do, only those things that are in harmony with who He is. To say it is impossible for God to do wrong or evil does not limit His omnipotence any more than, for example, to say it is impossible for God to will His own nonexistence. These are moral and logical contradictions to the very being and nature of Almighty God. In the scripture, over and over, God’s omnipotence is associated with His character.^[31]

Jack Cottrell wrote:

Is God’s “inability” to do these things an expression of weakness on His part? Hardly! In fact, the opposite is true. If He could do these things, it would be an expression of weakness. These are negative acts, not positive ones; to do them would imply a lack of strength. That He cannot do them is not a limitation but rather an affirmation of His power. Another approach to these “cannots” is that they are contrary to the very nature of God, and obviously omnipotence does not include the requirement that God must be able to contradict His own nature. God could not sin or annihilate Himself, for these are impossibilities by the very nature of things, or more specifically, by the very nature of God.^[32]

Wayne Grudem says:

Although God’s power is infinite, His use of that power is qualified by His other attributes (just as all God’s attributes qualify all His actions).^[33]

Besides not going against His nature and character, God can’t do things that are logical impossibilities. For example, God can’t make a square circle. He can’t make 5 plus 5 equal 11. These are logically impossible.

When explaining God’s omnipotence in relation to logical impossibilities, William Lane Craig says:

Can God do things that are logically impossible? For example, could God make a square circle? Could God make a married bachelor? Could God bring it about that Jesus both came and died on the cross, and that He did not come and die on the cross? Could God make a round triangle? These sorts of things are usually exempted from God’s omnipotence. The vast majority of Christian theologians have not understood God’s omnipotence to mean that God can do things which are logically impossible. Indeed, when you think about it, these really aren’t things at all. There isn’t any such thing as a married bachelor. There’s no such thing as a round triangle. These are just combinations of words which when put together are incoherent combinations. They are just logical contradictions. Therefore to say that God cannot do logical contradictions is not to say there is something that God can’t do, because these aren’t really things at all, and thus to say that God can’t bring about a logical contradiction is not really to inhibit God’s omnipotence at all.^[34]

God’s omnipotence is an important factor that builds our faith in Him, as He is not someone who makes claims and promises which He does not have the power to perform. God has the power to deliver on what He has promised. He promised that through Abraham the whole world would be blessed; that David’s seed and line would be eternal; that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, would suffer and die for the sins of mankind; He delivered.^[35] He prophesied events centuries in advance; they came true.^[36] When we read His promises to us, we can put our weight down on what He has said, as He is the all-powerful Creator and sustainer of the universe and all that is in it. He who is infinite power is our Father, and we are His children. We are safe within His arms.

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Notes

Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Other versions cited are The New International Version (NIV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), The New Revised Standard Version (NRS), The New King James Version (NKJV), and the King James Version (KJV).