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While this article is not strictly classical it addresses a classical issue of Christianity and Judaism.
More than any attempt to convince it gets the reader considering.
God’s nature that makes it impossible for God to act in certain ways?
Thomas Jay Oord
To put it succinctly: Should we say God CAN’T do some things?
A number of theologians are comfortable saying God voluntarily chooses not to act in certain ways. God voluntarily self-limits, creates space for creation, and gives creatures freedom, say theologians as influential as Jurgen Moltmann and John Polkinghorne. This limitation is based on God’s free decision.
Instead of wondering whether God could or would do something, however, I’m wondering if God essentially can’t do some things. There’s a big difference between “can’t” and “won’t.”
The distinction between “God can’t” and “God won’t” is especially important for accounting for God’s action or inaction to prevent genuine evil. I try to account for this in light of the genuine evil caused by pain and suffering in our world. The recent Haiti earthquake and the million or more people negatively affected brought the problem of evil to the fore of my mind again.
If God won’t prevent evil even though God could, we’re left with the same essential questions about evil. But if God can’t prevent the evil, a completely new way of thinking emerges.
God Can Do Anything
For some people, of course, merely asking the question, “Should we say God can’t do some things,” is blasphemous. For them, the Bible clearly indicates that God can do all things.
A few passages – but not many – explicitly support the view that God can do anything. The most well known is probably when Jesus says, “with God all things are possible” (Mtatthew 19:26 and elsewhere). In this passage (and the other gospels reporting the same conversation), Jesus seems to be saying that offering salvation is always possible for God. That would be different that saying literally nothing is impossible for God to do.
Bible Reveals God Can Not Do Some Things
There are passages in the Bible that specifically say God can’t do some things. Notice: these passages aren’t saying God voluntarily chooses not to do some things. They say God simply cannot do them. Here are four biblical verses as illustrations:
“It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). See also Titus 1:2.
“God cannot be tempted by evil” (James. 1:12).
“If we are faithless, [God] remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
The statement in the last of these passages — God cannot deny himself — covers the others. Paul seems to be saying that God’s own nature places limits on what God can do. God must be God, and God cannot be otherwise.
We must come to terms with the fact that the Bible says God can’t do some things. Christians should not ignore statements that seem to tell us something about God’s nature and God’s inherent limitations.
How Could God be Limited?
If we think about it a bit, however, these limitations based on God’s nature aren’t that big a deal. They shouldn’t shock us, even if we haven’t thought much about it previously.
Does it diminish our view of God, for instance, to admit that God can’t lie? I doubt it. And I doubt our view of God is diminished if we consider other attributes we typically think apply to God.
Can God be confined to just one location? Or, God must be omnipresent rather than confined to one place or another. And we probably don’t worry about God being limited to an eternal existence instead of being able to choose to have a beginning or end.
Upon reflection, the fact that God can’t do or be some things doesn’t seem so bad after all.
God Must Love
One of the most important biblical statements about God’s nature is that God’s eternal and unchanging nature includes steadfast love. God cannot not love, to use the double negative.
Here’s where I wonder if thinking about God’s nature as love helps with the problem of evil. Here’s the love theo-logic I’m proposing: perhaps we are justified in speculating that part of what it means for God to love others is that God never controls others entirely. To put it positively, God’s love always involves giving freedom and/or agency to creatures. Because God’s nature is love, God cannot do otherwise.
John Wesley writes, “were human liberty taken away, men would be as incapable of virtue as stones. Therefore (with reverence be it spoken) the Almighty himself cannot do this thing. He cannot thus contradict himself or undo what he has done.”
John Wesley, “On Divine Providence,” Sermon 67, The Works of John Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1985) paragraph 15.
God is Powerful but Not Controlling
If God’s loving nature prevents God from controlling others entirely, we might have to rethink how we understand God’s mighty acts recorded in Scripture and evident in our contemporary lives. We don’t have to reject that God acts in mighty and miraculous ways. God still acts providentially and miraculously. But we might need to think of God’s acts as not involving the entire control of others.
Admittedly, looking at God’s power through the lens of God’s love and not total control is new to some people. But I know of nothing in the Bible to suggest that thinking in this way does injustice to the overall biblical witness. After all, most folk think God always acts lovingly – even when biblical writers report God being angry with sinners.
I don’t have it all figured out. I see through a glass darkly. And I admit there are a few biblical passages that aren’t easily explained by the idea that God always acts loving. They are the exceptions.
But I am trying to propose a biblically supported view of God’s nature that helps us make sense of why God doesn’t prevent genuine evil. God can’t prevent genuine evil, because God’s nature of love always gives freedom and/or agency to others.
My speculation is based upon the biblical witness that God can’t do some things. I have the Bible as my primary resource. I affirm with the Bible that God’s inabilities to do some things come from the truth that God “cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
More than any attempt to convince it gets the reader considering.
God’s nature that makes it impossible for God to act in certain ways?
Thomas Jay Oord
To put it succinctly: Should we say God CAN’T do some things?
A number of theologians are comfortable saying God voluntarily chooses not to act in certain ways. God voluntarily self-limits, creates space for creation, and gives creatures freedom, say theologians as influential as Jurgen Moltmann and John Polkinghorne. This limitation is based on God’s free decision.
Instead of wondering whether God could or would do something, however, I’m wondering if God essentially can’t do some things. There’s a big difference between “can’t” and “won’t.”
The distinction between “God can’t” and “God won’t” is especially important for accounting for God’s action or inaction to prevent genuine evil. I try to account for this in light of the genuine evil caused by pain and suffering in our world. The recent Haiti earthquake and the million or more people negatively affected brought the problem of evil to the fore of my mind again.
If God won’t prevent evil even though God could, we’re left with the same essential questions about evil. But if God can’t prevent the evil, a completely new way of thinking emerges.
God Can Do Anything
For some people, of course, merely asking the question, “Should we say God can’t do some things,” is blasphemous. For them, the Bible clearly indicates that God can do all things.
A few passages – but not many – explicitly support the view that God can do anything. The most well known is probably when Jesus says, “with God all things are possible” (Mtatthew 19:26 and elsewhere). In this passage (and the other gospels reporting the same conversation), Jesus seems to be saying that offering salvation is always possible for God. That would be different that saying literally nothing is impossible for God to do.
Bible Reveals God Can Not Do Some Things
There are passages in the Bible that specifically say God can’t do some things. Notice: these passages aren’t saying God voluntarily chooses not to do some things. They say God simply cannot do them. Here are four biblical verses as illustrations:
“It is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18). See also Titus 1:2.
“God cannot be tempted by evil” (James. 1:12).
“If we are faithless, [God] remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
The statement in the last of these passages — God cannot deny himself — covers the others. Paul seems to be saying that God’s own nature places limits on what God can do. God must be God, and God cannot be otherwise.
We must come to terms with the fact that the Bible says God can’t do some things. Christians should not ignore statements that seem to tell us something about God’s nature and God’s inherent limitations.
How Could God be Limited?
If we think about it a bit, however, these limitations based on God’s nature aren’t that big a deal. They shouldn’t shock us, even if we haven’t thought much about it previously.
Does it diminish our view of God, for instance, to admit that God can’t lie? I doubt it. And I doubt our view of God is diminished if we consider other attributes we typically think apply to God.
Can God be confined to just one location? Or, God must be omnipresent rather than confined to one place or another. And we probably don’t worry about God being limited to an eternal existence instead of being able to choose to have a beginning or end.
Upon reflection, the fact that God can’t do or be some things doesn’t seem so bad after all.
God Must Love
One of the most important biblical statements about God’s nature is that God’s eternal and unchanging nature includes steadfast love. God cannot not love, to use the double negative.
Here’s where I wonder if thinking about God’s nature as love helps with the problem of evil. Here’s the love theo-logic I’m proposing: perhaps we are justified in speculating that part of what it means for God to love others is that God never controls others entirely. To put it positively, God’s love always involves giving freedom and/or agency to creatures. Because God’s nature is love, God cannot do otherwise.
John Wesley writes, “were human liberty taken away, men would be as incapable of virtue as stones. Therefore (with reverence be it spoken) the Almighty himself cannot do this thing. He cannot thus contradict himself or undo what he has done.”
John Wesley, “On Divine Providence,” Sermon 67, The Works of John Wesley, vol. 2 (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1985) paragraph 15.
God is Powerful but Not Controlling
If God’s loving nature prevents God from controlling others entirely, we might have to rethink how we understand God’s mighty acts recorded in Scripture and evident in our contemporary lives. We don’t have to reject that God acts in mighty and miraculous ways. God still acts providentially and miraculously. But we might need to think of God’s acts as not involving the entire control of others.
Admittedly, looking at God’s power through the lens of God’s love and not total control is new to some people. But I know of nothing in the Bible to suggest that thinking in this way does injustice to the overall biblical witness. After all, most folk think God always acts lovingly – even when biblical writers report God being angry with sinners.
I don’t have it all figured out. I see through a glass darkly. And I admit there are a few biblical passages that aren’t easily explained by the idea that God always acts loving. They are the exceptions.
But I am trying to propose a biblically supported view of God’s nature that helps us make sense of why God doesn’t prevent genuine evil. God can’t prevent genuine evil, because God’s nature of love always gives freedom and/or agency to others.
My speculation is based upon the biblical witness that God can’t do some things. I have the Bible as my primary resource. I affirm with the Bible that God’s inabilities to do some things come from the truth that God “cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).
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