Is there anything God cannot do?

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True Bible Answers · Accepted Answer

It may seem surprising at first, but Scripture reveals several things that God cannot do — not because of any weakness, but precisely because of the perfection of His nature. God's "limitations" are really the glory of His character: He cannot act contrary to what He is. 1. God Cannot Lie W.E. Vine draws this out from Titus 1:2: "God cannot lie." Every promise of His shall be fulfilled, not a word of His shall fail. And He has promised eternal life and He did it before the ages of time. W.E. Vine A.J. Pollock adds, from Hebrews 6:18: We may rely implicitly on God's word, which cannot deceive, change, nor alter. "It is impossible for God to lie" (Heb. 6:18). A.J. Pollock And in The Future Life, Pollock addresses the question head-on: You may ask perhaps, Cannot God do anything that He likes? Certainly, anything He LIKES. But remember, He must ever act in consonance with His own nature. He cannot do those things that are a contradiction of His nature and being. For instance, "It is impossible for God to lie" (Heb. 6:18). 2. God Cannot Be Tempted by Evil William Kelly explains James 1:13: The Epistle then turns from our holy trials to our unholy ones, and shows their source to be, not in God, but in sinful man. "Let none when tempted say, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted by evils, and himself tempteth none. But each is tempted when by his own lust drawn away and enticed; then lust having conceived bringeth forth sin; and sin when completed giveth birth to death." William Kelly Samuel Ridout connects this to the absolute perfection of God's being: The very fact that God is denies that He is unrighteous. The absolutely Perfect One could not think or do evil. So James declares, "God cannot be tempted with evil" (James 1:13). Let us mark well this method of reasoning. It turns from all second causes, from the difficult problems and dark enigmas in the world to Him who is light. Samuel Ridout And further: The Almighty — the Omnipotent — can do everything, but "He cannot lie." "He cannot deny Himself." This ensures perfect, even justice in His dealings with men... How could God act wickedly or pervert the right? He would not be God if this were possible. 3. God Cannot Deny Himself Edward Dennett, commenting on 2 Timothy 2:13, writes: "If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself."... The knowledge then that God is faithful, and that He cannot deny Himself, is assuredly a rock on which the feeblest and most timid of His servants may repose in the darkest moments; and it affords also an encouragement to look beyond the confusion and the ruin, to that blessed future when every thought of the heart of God for His Church and for His people will have its perfect and eternal realization in the glory. Edward Dennett Frank Hole applies this warmly to Psalm 37: Still we must never forget that His trustworthiness does not in the least depend upon the worthiness. Or otherwise, of our trust. "If we believe not [are unfaithful] yet He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:13). It is therefore most happily true that they who are weak in faith, and consequently do not trust Him wholly, yet find Him wholly true. Frank Hole 4. God Cannot Pass Over Sin Hamilton Smith, on Psalm 5: The psalmist thinks first of God, for his prayer is based on the fact that the righteous character of God makes it impossible for God to pass over sin, and the government of God demands that God should judge the wicked. God's character is such that He cannot take pleasure in wickedness, or allow evil to exist in His presence. Hamilton Smith A.J. Pollock explains why this made the cross absolutely necessary: We are all sinners, and God cannot pass over sin because of righteousness and holiness. How then can God forgive sin, and yet be righteous? There is only one way. The sinner must have a Substitute, who will be willing and able to bear the punishment due to his sins. Herein lies the wondrous story of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. A.J. Pollock And further: God is perfect. He is inflexibly just. He cannot depart by a hair's breadth from absolute righteousness. We read, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). Synthesis The answer is paradoxical but deeply reassuring. God is omnipotent — He can do all things — and yet there are things He cannot do: He cannot lie, He cannot be tempted by evil, He cannot deny Himself, and He cannot pass over sin as though it did not matter. These are not limitations of power but perfections of character. As Pollock puts it, God can do anything He likes — but because He is perfectly holy, righteous, and true, there are things He will never like to do, and therefore cannot do. Every one of these "impossibilities" is, in the end, the believer's greatest comfort: because God cannot lie, His promises are sure; because He cannot deny Himself, His faithfulness outlasts our failures; because He cannot tolerate sin, He provided the cross — the only answer that satisfies both His love and His righteousness at once.

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