Doctrine of Triune God: God's Attributes (2)

Omnipotence

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Omnipotence)

The attribute of omnipotence refers to God’s unconditioned power to do that which he wills in accordance with his nature.

Drama

Lexham Survey of Theology (God’s Omnipotence)

Psalm 33:9 (ESV)

For he spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded, and it stood firm.

Psalm 135:6 ESV

Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

Job 42:2 ESV

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Isaiah 43:13 ESV

Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”

Isaiah 46:10–11 ESV

declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.

Jeremiah 32:17 ESV

‘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.

Jeremiah 32:27 ESV

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

Matthew 19:26 ESV

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

Romans 1:16 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Doctrine

The attribute of omnipotence refers to God’s unconditioned power to do that which he wills in accordance with his nature.

There is no created power that can compete with God’s power. His power stands over all.

Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Omnipotence

Philosophical theologians often debate whether “omnipotence” refers to God’s ability to do “all that is logically possible” (i.e., God can do anything he wills with the exception of actualizing a contradiction—for instance, creating a square circle) or his ability to do absolutely anything whatsoever (i.e., God’s power is not subject to the laws of logic). Such theologians also inquire into whether it is important to maintain that God could have acted differently from what he has actually chosen to do (i.e., the distinction between God’s “ordained” and “absolute” power).

Lexham Survey of Theology God’s Omnipotence

systematic theologians have often stressed the importance of submitting our understanding of God’s almighty power to how God has actually revealed himself to us. In other words, rather than underwriting an abstract understanding of God’s power based upon what we might presume to be appropriate for a divine being, Scripture directs us instead to reflect on how God has revealed himself in Christ: namely, as the Creator God who graciously enters into covenant with his creation

Doxology: Praise

God’s omnipotence is best revealed in the Gospel.

Humans were created with this ability to choose and those choices have separated us from God.

God never left us but continued allowing us to choose, all the while knowing the solution to reconcile us with Him would be through Him.

Our choices have caused damage, not only to God but to other people. We have hurt people, and we continue to do so.

God, while allowing free choices to exist, also made a choice. He chose to send Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the eternal consequence for our sin so that we could make a right choice in the midst of wrong choices.

While God’s power is revealed ultimately in Christ and salvation, we still suffer temporal consequences to our sin. Some of us will suffer eternal. God allows that because He never forces us to follow Him, He allows us to choose.

What will you choose?

Discipleship

Time for you to be a theologian...

If God has the power to stop evil from happening, why doesn’t He?

Is God’s power unconditional or conditional, in other words can God literally do anything or is God limited to doing only that which is logical to us?

If you had to explain God’s power to someone, how would you do it?