Alfred North Whitehead, one of the philosophical giants of
the 20th century, said, "The glorification of power has broken
more hearts than it has healed." He warns against the glorifying
of even God's power. For the abuse of power all through history
makes this attribute produce fear rather than faith.
If the authority figures in one's life have been people who
abused power, than power will be seen as negative. For people
who have lived with a tyrant father, or under a political tyrant,
the concept of an all-powerful God is frightening. Whitehead
points out that power is not good or evil in itself. It can be used
for both, and so it is not worthy of worship in itself. Satan too has
great power, but he is not worthy of worship because of that
power, for his power is devoted to evil, and the destruction of all
that is good.
Back in ancient Greek history men knew that power was
dangerous, and that it was not a good thing even in the hands of
the gods. Aesclyus wrote Prometheus Bound, and in it he tells of
how Prometheus helped Zeus dethrone the Titans, and become
the supreme God. But soon Prometheus was disillusioned, for Zeus
used his power to rule lawlessly. He cared not for what was
good for man, but only about sheer power. He was nothing but a
big bully abusing his power. Prometheus loved man, and he saw
sought to help men by giving him fire and general help in the use
of his gifts and reason.
Zeus despised him for his love of man, and he chained him and
tortured him. Prometheus would not bow to the power of Zeus.
He became the hero of all who fight and resist tyranny. He said,
"Worship, adore, court him who is now in power, But I, for Zeus
less than naught do I care." He predicted that the chief God was
doomed to fall in spite of his power, for power corrupts and leads
to weakness. He said again,
"Then bravely there
Let him sit trusting in his heavenly thunders,
With hands that brandish his fire-breathing blot.
Naught shall avail these to prevent his falling
Ignoble with a fall intolerable."
Here is a pagan poet teaching us that power is not worthy of
worship. If the pagan mind can come to this conclusion, then we
need to be extremely careful in how we promote the omnipotence
of God. It has often been so portrayed that it stimulates rebellion
toward God rather than attraction. That which makes God
attractive and worthy of worship is not His power, but His
goodness. The Bible does not exalt power for power's sake, but,
rather, exalts the moral qualities of God. It is the goodness,
holiness, righteousness, and love that control the power of God.
His power is always devoted to overcoming evil with good.
He has the power to judge and condemn, but that is always the
last choice after He has exhausted every avenue to prevent it by
His grace and mercy. He is not willing that any should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. In His grace He has made
it possible for all to repent and be forgiven. His first use of power
is always positive. It is used to prevent the negative use of power.
The primary task of the prophets was to warn Israel and the
other nations round about, so they could respond in repentance
and obedience and not have to endure the power of God's
judgment.
The whole Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is the
story of God's power in providing a Savior, and God's power in
overcoming Satan and death that there might be adequate
provision for every sinner to become a child of God, and escape
the judgment of God. God's power is directed toward a positive
purpose, and it is limited by love. In other words, although God
is all powerful, He cannot use that power for that which is
inconsistent with His moral attributes. He cannot be unloving
and unholy, and in any way be inconsistent with those attributes
that make Him honorable, admirable, and worthy of our worship.
The God of the Bible cannot be a Zeus, who arbitrarily uses
power to achieve selfish ends regardless of who gets hurt, and
how unjust and immoral it might be. God cannot be a tyrant. All
of His power must enhance the goals of love, and this is what
makes the God of the Bible the God who alone is worthy of our
love and worship. We only love God because He first loved us. If
we do not present to men a God whom they can love, they will not
love Him. That is why it is so important for us to understand the
omnipotence of God. Lack of understanding, and
misunderstanding, does great harm to the cause of God in the
minds of men.
It is possible to pay God such great compliments that you
destroy His glory in the minds of men. God is indeed almighty.
This is one of the familiar names for God in the book of
Revelation. John uses it 8 times. It is used only one other time in
the entire New Testament. Paul uses it in II Cor. 6:18 as he
quotes God saying, "I will be a father to you and you will be my
sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." The Greek word is
pantokrater, which means all-powerful. In the Old Testament the
Hebrew word for almighty is used 48 times. All together God is
called Almighty 57 times. These are sufficient to make it a part of
the Apostle's Creed, which is quoted by millions of Christians all
over the world as they repeat, "I believe in God the Father
Almighty."
The problem comes when these millions of Christians assume
that what they mean by this is that God can do anything. If that
is what they really mean, then they have rejected the God of the
Bible, and they have substituted a god of their own creation, and
in doing so they make millions of people reject the God of the
Bible in the process, because they are saying that their god is the
God of the Bible. If God can do anything, then He is not worthy
of our worship, for He can lie, deceive, break His promises, do
evil, and give us no assurance that He will always be good. A God
who can do anything is a God to be feared and not loved, for He
can by mere whim decide to prefer evil over good. He can abuse
His power just as Zeus did, and like Zeus, be rejected as
unworthy of worship.
Thank God that the Bible does not reveal a God who can do
anything. All His power is power with a purpose, and that
purpose is determined by His total nature, and not just His
strength. Power is not His primary characteristic. God is holy,
good, just, and righteous, and all of His power is directed
according to these qualities. His nature limits Him so that He
cannot do what violates His nature. He is truth, and so He cannot
lie. He is holy, and so He cannot do evil. R. A. Torrey in his book What
The Bible Teaches writes, "The exercise of God's
omnipotence is limited by His own wise and holy and loving will.
God can do anything, but will do only what infinite wisdom,
holiness, and love dictate."
Only limited power is good power, and only that kind of power
can be honored and admired. You would not admire me if I used
my power to do all the things of which I am capable. I have the
power to throw a brick through the neighbors window. I have
the power to stand on the organ and stomp its keys until they
break. I have enormous power to be destructive, but I keep that
power under control because it is a foolish use of power. It is not
wise, helpful, or loving, and so I choose not to do what I could do.
In sane people power is always under the control of their higher
attributes of reason and common sense. Nobody who is sane does
all they have the power to do.
The power to do evil is not a strength, but a weakness and
defect if you choose to use it that way. When we become totally
like Christ in our resurrected bodies, we too will be perfected,
and it will be impossible for us to lie, or choose any other evil, for
our nature will hate all evil. What we need to see that there is a
great paradox here, and that true omnipotence is not being able
to do everything, but being able to do anything that is good, true,
and beautiful, with the negative ability to be able not to do
anything that is destructive of the good, the true, and the
beautiful. It is the very impossibility of God to do anything that
destroys and hinders His perfect purpose that makes Him truly
omnipotent.
A God who can do anything is not nearly as powerful as a God
who can do only what achieves His purpose.
The God who can do anything can do that which destroys and
hinders His purpose, and this makes Him weak, fallible, and a dangerous
power. The God who can do only what achieves His
goal is a joy and pleasure to Himself, and such a safe and secure
God for man that He is ever worthy of worship and praise. This
is the God of the Bible. He is the God who cannot do what is
immoral, illogical, absurd, stupid, or self-contradictory.
If power is the ability to achieve purpose, then being all
powerful as God is the ability to achieve all His purposes with no
defect that could taint the purpose, and achieve it in any way that
is inconsistent with His nature. Nothing is power that does not
achieve His purpose, and so any evil in God, or inconsistency, or
deviation from the goal which is unholy and unloving would not
be power, but weakness. God has no such weakness. All His
limitations are a part of His power. What He can't do is a major
aspect of His omnipotence. Could He do anything that was not
consistent with His purpose and nature, He would not be
omnipotent.
This means that the list of things God cannot do are all
valuable aspects of His power, for they define His purpose and
make it clear. It is because He cannot be or do anything contrary
to His purpose and character that He will achieve all of His
purpose. If He could lie, He would have a weakness that could
hinder His goal of truth, and He would not be omnipotent. What
God cannot do is just as vital to His omnipotence, as is what He
can do. I can tell the truth, but I can also lie, and because I can lie
I have the ability to not achieve the goal of always being truthful,
and so I have a defect and weakness in achieving this goal. It is
not an absolute certainty that I will. God cannot lie, and so it is
an absolute certainty that He will achieve the goal of always being
truthful. That is what omnipotence is. It is the absolute power to
achieve a purpose.
The most powerful are those who have the ability to limit their power.
The absolute dictator is really very weak. He has to keep
a gun and a knife at everyone's throat constantly, for soon as he
fails to keep control of everyone he risks losing his power. He is a
slave to his power as much as all those he enslaves by his power.
There is no comparison to the man who gives his power away and
lets his people share it. He is loved, and has far greater power
than the greedy dictator who grabs and grasps for power.
Self-limitation is the key to true power, and is the finest
expression of power. Which is the greater power? The miser
who hoards his wealth so no one else can be blest by its power, or
the philanthropist who gives money to others that they might
share in the blessings of his wealth?
All truly great power, and good power, is power that is limited
by values that are greater than power. If I choose to relate to a
dog or cat I limit my power. I am obligated to care for, feed, and
provide shelter for these lesser creatures. My freedom is
conditioned by my love and care. There can be a great price to
pay in this choice to care for pets. They often do not do what it is
your will for them to do, and more often than not it is on the
carpet. People do not have to put up with this sort of thing, but
by the millions they do. They deliberately choose to limit their
power in order to relate to an inferior creature.
We could follow through and show how every relationship that
is developed with friends, mates, groups, and neighbors imposes
limitations on your power. But in love we choose all of these
limitations because the values of love are greater than the value of
totally independent power. We feel this way because we are made
in the image of God. God did not have to create man, nor did He
need to create him as a being with freedom. He could have
maintained total power and control on this earth had He made
man like the planets. They are easy to control, and they obey the
laws of God perfectly, and He has no problem whatever with them.
But God choose to limit His absolute power and control by
making creatures who were free to even say no to Him. The only
reason for such a choice is because God's nature is dominated
more by love than by mere power. Had power been the ultimate
in God there never would have been the risk of creating beings
like man. We only exist because God is love.
Once you love, you put a limit on your power, and it no longer
becomes the dominate issue. When you marry you make a
covenant of love, and this means power can no longer be the main
issue in your relationship. If power was number one, then I could
always have my way for I have no doubt I can take Lavonne in a
fight. By shear power alone I can win any dispute and have total
control of all that we do. But power is not the issue. Love is the
issue, and if power is not loving, then it has to be set aside or
shared. Power is always limited by love.
This is the key to understanding the power of God. If His
omnipotence was exercised without regard for His love, and His
sharing of freedom with man, there would not be any evil in the
world. And all-powerful God could rid the world of all evil in
seconds. Like lightening, God could solve all the problems
created by evil in this world. But since He does not do this, it
leads to complex questions about His power. Take murder for
example. Everyone agrees murder is evil. God either wills
murder, or He does not. If He wills it, then He is not the God the
Bible reveals, for the God of the Bible forbids murder, for it is
contrary to His will. But if God does not will murder, as the Bible
says, why then is there still murder if He is all powerful? And
all-powerful God who does not want murder to be a part of
reality should be able to prevent it from every happening, but
God does not prevent it from happening. It would seem that God
is not all-powerful. In order to avoid this conclusion many have
gone to the extreme position of saying that God is the cause of evil
as well as good. All that is, is because God has willed it to be as it
is.
This kind of thinking leads to exalting God's power above all
of His other attributes, and destroys all that makes His love and
goodness superior to power. Even a non-Christian like Albert
Einstein could see where this kind of omnipotence in God leads to
a God that does not fit the Bible description. He wrote, "Nobody,
certainly, will deny that the idea of the existence of an
omnipotent, just and omnibeneficent personal God is able to
accord man solace, help, and guidance; also by virtue of its
simplicity it is accessible to the most undeveloped mind. But, on
the other hand, there are decisive weaknesses attached to this idea
in itself, which have been painfully felt since the beginning of
history. That is, if this being is omnipotent-that every occurrence,
including every human action, every human thought, and every
human feeling and aspiration is also His work; how is it possible
to think of holding men responsible for their deeds and thoughts
before such an almighty being? In giving out punishment and
rewards He would to a certain extent be passing judgment on
Himself. How can this be combined with the goodness and
righteousness ascribed to Him?"
He is asking, how can you have your cake and eat it too? How
can you say God is all-powerful, and so all that is and happens is
His will, and yet say that He condemns those who do what He
does not will? There is a clear contradiction here that forces us to
recognize God has had to limit His omnipotence in terms of its
control of free-willed beings. He controls their destiny, and so
there is no way they can escape His power, but He does not
control their choices. He has limited His power to control their
choices. It is not that He lacks power to do so, but He does not
use it because His goal is not achievable by mere power. If God
had to make everybody do what He wills, He would be so power
oriented that He would not be free to achieve His goal of having a
vast family of children who freely love Him by choice.
Mere power cannot achieve this goal, and so if God was all
powerful in the sense that He made everything to be as it is, then
He would not be omnipotent in the biblical sense, for in the
biblical sense God's omnipotence is His ability to achieve His
purpose. This means the ability to limit His power and share it
with others, and so risk sin, disobedience, and evil, with the
assurance of reaching the goal of a vast family of men who freely
love Him and worship Him, and serve Him forever and ever.
The God who has full control of every event, and who by sheer
force of His strength makes everything go His way, is no match
for the God of the Bible who can limit His power by love, and risk
even rebellion, and yet come out a winner with redeemed people
out of every tribe, tongue, and nation praising and serving Him
for all eternity. This is biblical omnipotence. It is God's power to
achieve His loving purpose without inconsistency in His love,
holiness, and goodness.
The only way God could achieve His purpose was by the power
of love. If He had not had the power to choose to sacrifice His
Son, and had Jesus not had the power to lay down His life and
pay the ultimate price for sin, the whole plan with free will beings
would have become a disaster, and God would have been proven
to be impotent in this experiment. But God had the power to win,
and His omnipotence is established forever. He can do anything
that He wills to do. Thank God there is much He does not will to
do, and thank God He is not compelled by His power to do
anything contrary to His nature.
It would have been easy for God to have willed to make man a
machine, and then control him by law like the rest of the universe.
But God chose the infinitely harder task of making man free. The cost
to God was infinitely greater by choosing this way, but He
had the power to pay that cost and achieve His purpose. So God
took both roads. He took the easy way of law to control His
creation, and the hard way of love to control man, and He arrives
where He wills by both routes. That is what omnipotence is all
about. It is the power to get where you want to go regardless of
the difficulty of the route you choose. That is the only kind of
power that really matter in the long run, and that is the kind of
power the Bible reveals to be the power of Him we will call
forever, the Almighty.
