In God’s power, there is both authority and ability to perform. In man, there may be authority but no ability to perform as when the rightful king of a nation is deposed, or there may be no authority but there may be power as in a rebel king who, because of the forces at his disposal, usurps the authority of the rightful king. In Matthew 28:18, Christ said “all authority (exousia, means “authority to act,” and “power, ability to act”) has been given to me in heaven and earth.” Christ, as the glorified God-Man Savior, was claiming His omnipotence to enable the body of Christ to carry out its mission in the world throughout the ages.
God has the absolute power to perform any miracle in a person’s life if He so chooses, but because of His wisdom, love, and purposes, He may choose not to do so. In the above illustration regarding the Savior, God could have easily destroyed Christ’s enemies and delivered Him from the cross, but in the wisdom and mercy of God, it was His will for Christ, His Son, to die on the cross for the sin of the world to provide us with eternal life and fulfill the hope and promises of Scripture.
God’s power is such that He can do whatever He pleases without difficulty and resistance. Though Satan and man may attempt to resist it, God’s power cannot be checked, restrained, or frustrated. Having reminded stubborn Israel who had resisted God’s will that Yahweh alone was God and there was none to compare with Him, the Lord made this declaration to the nation:
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; (emphasis mine)
Just as He can do all things possible with regard to the object, so He can do all things easily as to the manner. He can do all things without the use of any means or instrument by the simple exercise of His will and without effort.
Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, And I ordained all their host.
Whereas man needs matter or material to work with, God needs nothing. He can create out of nothing by the exercise of His will as He did in Genesis one, or He can create out of something as He did when He created man from the dust of the earth (cf. Heb. 11:3; 1:3). God needs no blueprint to work from, no time to work in, and no instruments to work with. However, in connection with this, it is important to remember that God has chosen to use secondary causes or means. As Hebrews 11:3 asserts, creation was accomplished without means other than the voice of God, but our salvation was accomplished through the instrumentation of the God-Man Savior’s death on the cross. Indeed, even the crucifixion was accomplished by human means.
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Omnipotence does not imply the exercise of all His power. He has power over His power. Though His power is limitless, it is always under the control of His holy and wise will. Or to put this another way, God’s power is subordinate to His wisdom, will, and holy character. God can do all He wishes to do, but He will not do all He could do. All things with God are possible; God can do anything, but He will only do what His infinite wisdom, holiness, and love dictate.
God cannot do that which would contradict His own holy character or essence.
(1) He cannot annihilate Himself because He is eternal, immutable, and all wise. He cannot lie because He is absolute truth (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18).
(2) He cannot go back on His Word because He is faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).
(3) He cannot be tempted because He is absolute holiness, He is self-sufficient and needs nothing (Jam. 1:13).
(4) Sin is imperfection and it would be contradictory to say that the perfect One could be imperfect. To say that the perfect One cannot be imperfect, is not really putting a limitation of God.
Psalm 62:11 speaks of the lovingkindness of God who recompenses men for their work, but it is the power of God that he has heard of the most, mentioned in verse 11, that gives the Psalmist the assurance of the action of God’s mercy and reward.
Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God; And lovingkindness is Thine, O Lord, For Thou dost recompense a man according to his work.
This Psalm brings us another point concerning God’s omnipotence. God’s power, as with all His perfections, stems from the nature of God and is totally independent within Him as the eternal I Am. A king may have authority in his person to command his kingdom, but he does not contain sufficient power within himself to rule without the aid of others to enforce his will. But God’s power is not derived from anything outside of Himself. As Psalm 62:11 declares, “power belongs to God (i.e., alone).”
After the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had been revealed to Daniel, Daniel clearly acknowledged this important fact about God as the source of all power in his praise to the God of heaven. First, he said, “… for wisdom and power belong to Him (i.e., God),” but later in his praise, he said this, “… for Thou hast given me wisdom and power; Even now Thou hast made known to me what we requested of Thee” (Dan. 2:20 and 23). All other power in the universe regardless of its nature is derived power, power derived from God who is the source of all power. Therefore, God is sovereign and I can depend on Him regardless of what powers in the world I may face. A wonderful illustration of this is found in the action of Daniel’s friends when faced with the fiery furnace when they refused to worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. Their response to the power of the king to throw them into the fiery furnace was:
Daniel 3:16-18 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
The king’s power was a derived power and these godly Jews knew that God’s power could overrule if that was His will and purpose. They rested in God’s power according to His wisdom and purposes. Note how they did not presume upon God’s power, but rested in the wisdom of God.
The omnipotence of God is a wonderful ground of trust and confidence for the believer in the reliability of the Scriptures and its many promises, in the truth of the resurrection, in the miracles of the Bible, and in God’s provision and care for believers in every realm of life. So it was that the Apostle, knowing and experiencing the greatness of God’s power, prayed that we might know what is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-23 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (NIV)
Still, with God’s powerful Word in our hands and with the experience of His power in our lives, God’s power is so great that, according to Ephesians 3:20, God is able to do beyond all we can ask or think according to the power at work in us, of course, all to the glory of God.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,
A highly simplistic definition of "power" would be that it is the ability to produce effects, or to accomplish what one wills. The Scriptures clearly affirm not only that God has such an ability but that he has it without limitations. Hence, we speak of God as being omnipotent, infinite in power.
His "power is vast" (Job 9:4). He is "the Lord strong and mighty" (Ps. 24:8), "great and awesome" (Deut. 7:21), "the Lord Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel" (Isa. 1:24). "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the father's sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds" (Jer. 32:17-19a). Creation is a testimony to "his great power and mighty strength" (Isa. 40:26). He is Lord, Owner, Ruler, and King of all creation, whom none can resist or overpower (Matt. 11:25; Rev. 1:8; Ps. 29:10; Jer. 10:7,10). He is "the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:18; Rev. 4:8; 11:17), "the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Nothing is too difficult for him; all things are within his power (Gen. 18:14; Zech. 8:6; Jer. 32:27).
We cannot have a right conception of God unless we think of Him as all-powerful, as well as all-wise. He who cannot do what he will and perform all his pleasure cannot be God. As God hath a will to resolve what He deems good, so has He power to execute His will.
The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass
whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever
the infinite purity of His will may resolve. . . . As holiness is the beauty of
all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the
perfections of the Divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if
power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but
feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow.
God’s power is like Himself: infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither
be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature. (S. Charnock).
Power is also used as a name of God, the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power (Mark 14:62), that is, at the right hand of God. God and power are so inseparable that they are reciprocated. As His essence is immense, not to be confined in place; as it is eternal, not to be measured in time; so it is almighty, not to be limited in regard of action (S. Charnock).
What is meant by a goodness that has not physical power? Is not "goodness" in itself the merest abstraction? Is it not altogether without meaning except as belonging to a person? And does not the very notion of a person involve the power to act? Goodness divorced from power is therefore no goodness at all. The truth is that overmuch abstraction has here destroyed even that which is intended to be conserved. Make God good and not powerful, and both God and goodness have been destroyed. (J. Gresham Machen)
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