Can God Do Anything? A Closer Look at His Attributes
Scripture indicates that the ultimate purpose of our lives as human beings is to know and love God and enjoy an eternal relationship with him (Jeremiah 9:24, Matthew 22:36–38, Revelation 21:3). Part of knowing God is understanding his characteristics or attributes, which include his “omni” properties. Some of the most significant are omnipotence and omniscience. In addition to the traditional theological understandings of these attributes, Christian philosophers have further illuminated them, adding helpful clarity and coherence. Below, we’ll consider these attributes and seek new insights into who God is, how he interacts with his creation, and what these attributes mean for us as believers in Christ.
Why These Attributes?
While we could arrive at each of the omni attributes just listed through a careful reading of Scripture, theologians and philosophers have also been influenced by the thought of St. Anselm (c. 1033–1109), who served as archbishop of Canterbury in England. In a treatise titled Proslogion (Latin for “discourse”), Anselm presented his famous ontological argument for the existence of God, defining God as the greatest conceivable being.
As a perfect being, it follows that God must possess all properties that make a being great, and possess them to the highest degree.
For example, if knowledge is a great-making property, God must have perfect knowledge (omniscience). If power is great-making, God must have infinite power (omnipotence), and so on.1
Today, this approach is called perfect being theology and forms a significant part of the basis for our understanding of God’s attributes. In this view, God possesses a perfect set of great-making qualities. This approach, combined with what we learn from Scripture, provides us “with as complete a knowledge of the nature of God as it is possible for us to have.”2 With this background in mind, we turn to the first omni property on our list—omnipotence.
Omnipotence
As we’ve noted, power is a great-making property, so it follows that a perfect being would possess unlimited power. This accords with Scripture, which describes God as “Almighty” (e.g., Psalm 89:8, Revelation 1:8). Jesus taught that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26) and Paul refers to God’s “incomparably great power” (Ephesians 1:19).
It’s important to note, however, that Scripture refers to some limits on God’s omnipotence, since the exercise of God’s power can’t conflict with his other attributes. For example, God cannot sin (Deuteronomy 32:4), tempt or be tempted (James 1:13), or act inconsistently with his character (James 1:17).
A philosophical question arises whether omnipotence means God can do even the logically impossible, such as creating a married bachelor or making 2 + 3 = 7. The philosopher René Descartes famously argued that God could do things like this, since “to claim otherwise would make God subject to the laws of logic or something outside of God.”3
However, most philosophers and theologians have rejected this “absolute omnipotence” view since it seems to lead to absurdities. Thomas Aquinas, for example, argued that the phrase “God can do all things” means that “God can do all things that are possible” and that omnipotence does not include “anything that implies a contradiction.”4
In this light, a more precise definition of omnipotence would be something like the following: “To say God is omnipotent . . . is to say God possesses the power to do anything that does not involve a contradiction, relative to his own perfectly consistent essential nature (see also 2 Timothy 2:13) and any commitments God has made.”5
Christians can be encouraged that because of his omnipotence, “. . . nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
Despite obstacles and setbacks in life, God has the power to bring good out of even difficult circumstances (Romans 8:28, Genesis 50:20). By God’s power, we can do all things through Christ, and run the race set before us (Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 12:1–3).
Omniscience
Undoubtedly, comprehensive knowledge is a quality appropriate for a perfect being. We also find this reflected in Scripture. For example, the psalmist tells us that God’s “understanding has no limit” (Psalm 147:5). Jeremiah writes that God “. . . founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding” (Jeremiah 10:12). The author of Hebrews declares that “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare” before him (Hebrews 4:13).
Part of God’s omniscience is his knowledge of future events, including the choices human beings will make at some future time. Some thinkers have asserted that if God knows our future decisions, then those decisions aren’t free. Instead, the decisions are “fixed” by God’s foreknowledge of them.6 Representative of this view is philosopher Nelson Pike, who argued that if God had known 80 years ago that a man named Jones would mow his lawn this Saturday afternoon, then Jones would have no choice but to mow his lawn this Saturday.7
However, as William Lane Craig has argued, God’s knowledge does not compel Jones to mow his lawn. Instead, God knows with certainty what Jones will do, but Jones freely chooses his action. If Jones mows the lawn, God knew that he would do that. If, on the other hand, Jones had decided to play golf, God would have known that instead.8 Thus, writes Craig, “From God’s knowledge that I shall do x, it does not follow that I must do x but only that I shall do x. That is in no way incompatible with my doing x freely.”9
Thus, God’s foreknowledge of our future decisions does not constrain our freedom to make those decisions.
Rather than a cause for alarm, God’s omniscience should be a source of encouragement. As David wrote,
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
(Psalm 139:1–3)
While human knowledge is always partial and imperfect, God’s knowledge of us is perfect and complete. Jesus taught that God even keeps track of the number of hairs on our heads (Luke 12:7). Because of God’s omniscience, we are never misunderstood. God knows everything about us, and despite the parts of ourselves we’d like to hide, God desires intimate fellowship with us so that we can also know him more deeply (Revelation 3:20, John 15:4–5).
Christopher L. Reese (MDiv, ThM) is the founder and editor of The Worldview Bulletin and a general editor of the Dictionary of Christianity and Science (Zondervan) and Three Views on Christianity and Science (Zondervan). He is the author of 100 Old Testament Quotes by Jesus: How Christ Used the Hebrew Scriptures (Rose/Tyndale), and his articles have appeared in Christianity Today, The Christian Post, Bible Gateway, Beliefnet, the C. S. Lewis Institute, and other sites.