Omnipotence

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

Omnipotence —The infinite power that works in and through, or above, all things towards the realizing of Divine ends. It may be viewed either intensively, as the power which makes its way through all finite powers, finding in these no real obstacle to its purpose; or extensively, as the power which gathers within it all finite powers, and so achieves its ends throughout the universe.

1. As attribute of God. —Power is a fundamental attribute of Deity: it has even been called the Divine attribute par excellence , because it is found in all religious conceptions from the lowest to the highest, and forms the basal thought, so to speak, upon which all other conceptions are built. In primitive religion, however, the superhuman power is not yet conceived as infinite: it is not even centred in one being, but distributed among many. It is enough for the worshipper to be able to regard the deity he worships as higher than himself and able to give him what he needs. Even the polytheist, however, often sets logic at defiance by ascribing to the god he is worshipping at the moment an unrestrained power within his own domain, and even a universal sovereignty. A true omnipotence is logically attributable only under a monotheistic scheme, where the one Divine being is invested with all the powers formerly distributed among many deities. Here the conception naturally develops of a Being whose power is universal in space and time, and moulds all things and events irresistibly to its own purposes. So, in the great days of the prophetic period of Israel’s history, all limiting conceptions are withdrawn from the notion of God, and Jehovah stands revealed as the One Being who has all creation in the hollow of His hand, maker and controller of all things in heaven and earth, the supreme power working irresistibly to the accomplishment of His great moral ends ( Amos 4:13;  Amos 5:8,  Isaiah 40:12-26,  Psalms 33:9-11;  Psalms 115:3). God is not merely conceived as transcendent, the wonder-working God, intervening when and where He will: the higher conception also prevails that the ordinary as well as the extraordinary events of history are ordered by the Divine hand, and made to effect His purposes. Not only the universal movement of human life, but nature in all its forms, pulsates with the energy derived from God, is a channel of His revelation, and conforms absolutely to His will (Psalms 148). In the NT the teaching of the prophets is accepted in its entirety: the advance made concerns only the higher attributes of God, and His spiritual ends. God Is the infinite power working above and within all things: with Him is the power ( Matthew 6:13), to Him all things are possible ( Mark 10:27;  Mark 14:36), He is the Lord God Almighty ( Revelation 4:8;  Revelation 11:17), with no other limits than are set by His own nature (‘He cannot deny himself,’  2 Timothy 2:13) or by the moral ends He has in view ( Mark 14:35-36).

2. As ascribable to Christ. —It is generally admitted that the ascription to Christ of the Divine power has passed through a certain development, which is partly traceable in the Gospels themselves.

( a ) In the Synoptie Gospels we have to distinguish between the Divine power attributed to Him in His earthly life, and the fuller power belonging to Him as the risen Lord, and the future Judge of the world. In His earthly life , while He passes through a truly human development, and is subject to natural human weakness, He is clothed with unique power for the fulfilment of His mission. The powers of heaven are at His command ( Matthew 26:53); He has power to heal, exerted at will ( Matthew 8:3), and apparently resident in Himself, though ultimately derived from God by faith and prayer ( Matthew 17:20,  Mark 9:29). Sometimes this power is brought into play unwittingly on Christ’s part ( Mark 5:27-30,  Luke 6:19). His wonder-working power extends over nature: and even the winds and the seas obey Him. The only limits to His power seem to lie in the faith of those who receive blessing ( Matthew 13:58) and in the conditions set to His Messianic mission ( Matthew 15:24). It is a further extension of this power of doing miracles that He can bestow it also upon His disciples ( Mark 3:15,  Luke 9:1,  Matthew 10:1), to be used within the same limits and under the same inward conditions of faith and prayer—the channels of the Divine omnipotence. As the risen and exalted Christ , He enters into a still wider range of Divine power. He is now clothed with a limitless authority in heaven and earth for the triumphant fulfilment of the Messianic work ( Matthew 28:18), and shares in the omnipresent government of God the Father ( Matthew 28:20). When He comes again as Messianic King to judge the world, He will come clothed with the full power and glory of God ( Mark 13:26;  Mark 14:62,  Matthew 25:31 ff.)

( b ) In the Fourth Gospel the sphere of Christ’s Divine power is still further enlarged. He is the incarnation of the Logos, by whom the world was made; the source, under God the Father, of all light and life. While the marks of human weakness are still found, the Christ of this Gospel is invested more thoroughly with the basal attributes of Divinity—eternity ( John 8:58), omniscience ( John 1:48;  John 6:64;  John 11:4), and omnipotence. Thus His miracles are manifestations of Divine glory, and are painted in the most striking colours, as the miracle at Cana and the story of Lazarus. He speaks as if He were already at the right hand of power; for all judgment is already committed to Him, and life, even life eternal, is in His hands ( John 5:21-22,  John 10:27 f.). His death on the cross is no longer a matter of untoward circumstance, and human violence prevailing over right; Christ permits His seizure only after proving His power to resist ( John 18:6); and as He has freely laid down His life, so He freely takes it again ( John 2:19;  John 10:18). It seems clear, then, that in the Fourth Gospel the conception of Jesus as a man subject to ordinary human limitations of weakness, ignorance, and moral growth is giving place to the thought of a Christ-Logos, who, even while on earth, is invested with all the metaphysical attributes of Divinity. At the same time it must be recognized that the earthly Christ exercises His Divine powers under certain limitations. His power (ἐξουσία is the word preferred) is a delegated power, given Him of the Father; and it is exercised within the definite limits of His saving mission.

( c ) Without following in detail the progress of thought in the Apostolic teaching, and the development in later ages, we may notice one or two points in Christology where the question of Christ’s omnipotence comes more prominently into view. The Logos theory developed into the Two-nature conception of Christ’s Person, which last remained as the authoritative doctrine of the Church. The problem of Christ’s Person was not thereby solved; and ever-recurring attempts were made to harmonize the facts of weakness, ignorance, and growth with a Divine φύσις possessed of all Divine powers. Either the human nature was conceived as exalted to the Divine, or the Divine was conceived as limiting itself, and so placing itself on a level with the finite human nature. The boldest attempt in the first direction was that made by the Lutheran theologians of the 16th and 17th cents., who taught that all Divine powers were personally communicated to the human nature of Christ, but that in His earthly state the use of these powers was ordinarily veiled, if not surrendered. The other direction of thought is seen, e.g. , in Thomas Aquinas, who strives to bring the Divine omnipotence of Christ into harmony with His human life, by affirming that He shared in the Divine omnipotence only so far as He needed it in His mission, and, further, that He ordinarily limited His own power voluntarily so as to be able to partake of human weakness. A more strenuous attempt in the same direction is to be found in the Kenotic doctrine of last century, which affirms that Christ in becoming man emptied Himself of the attributes of omnipotence, etc., and so became subject to the ordinary conditions of a real human life (see Kenosis). All such attempts to unify inconsistent characters end in depleting the Person of Christ either of His Divinity or of some part of His humanity, and so serve only to show the inadequacy of the Two-nature theory from which they start. The problem is to be solved only by (1) a new conception of what constitutes Divinity, and (2) by pressing back to the historical Christ as presented in the Synoptic Gospels. So long as God is characterized mainly by His basal attributes, the doctrine of the God-man is a simple unintelligibility: it is here that the proposition finitum non capax infiniti verifies itself to our minds. But as religious faith presses on to a recognition of the inner being of God, it comes upon attributes that are at once more central and at the same time essentially communicable to humanity. Holiness, justice, faithfulness, love, are the innermost attributes of God, and they also represent the goal of human life; and in the measure man attains to these, does he attain to union with God. It is through the possession of these qualities that Christ is one with the Father, and approves Himself as the Son of God. This must be the starting-point for a revision of the thought of Christ’s omnipotence. Christ’s power is not coextensive with God’s; it is the power of omnipotent goodness and faith, the omnipotence of One who makes Himself the channel of the Divine will. Even His miraculous power must be subsumed under the same category; it is a power granted to faith ( Mark 11:23,  Matthew 17:20). If it be said that this spiritual power and sovereignty are not yet omnipotence, we shall not quarrel about words. Christ does not possess absolute omnipotence, any more than He is God simpliciter . But He who lives in fullest fellowship with the Father, who is one with God in heart and purpose, and who consciously makes Himself the instrument of the Divine will in carrying out His work of grace among men, may surely claim to share in the Divine omnipotence.

Literature.—Köstlin, art. ‘Gott’ in PRE [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ; Schultz, Gottheit Christi and OT Theol. [Clark’s translation]; Kaftan, Dogmatik , 41–47; A. B. Bruce, Miraculous Element in the Gospels , ch. vii.; Thomas Aquinas, Summa , iii. Qu. 13; B. B. Warfield, The Power of God unto Salvation (1903), 91.

J. Dick Fleming.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Psalm 147:5 Luke 1:37 Luke 19:26 Ephesians 3:20 Psalm 65:6 Jeremiah 32:17 Hebrews 1:3 Exodus 15:1-18 Deuteronomy 3:21-24 Luke 1:35 1 Corinthians 1:17-18 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 1 Corinthians 2:5 Ephesians 3:20

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

See Almighty .

Webster's Dictionary

(n.) Alt. of Omnipotency

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

om - nip´ṓ - tens  : The noun "omnipotence" is not found in the English Bible, nor any noun exactly corresponding to it in the original Hebrew or Greek.

1. Terms and Usage:

The adjective "omnipotent" occurs in  Revelation 19:6 the King James Version; the Greek for this, παντοκράτωρ , pantokrátōr , occurs also in  2 Corinthians 6:18;  Revelation 1:8;  Revelation 4:8;  Revelation 11:17;  Revelation 15:3;  Revelation 16:7 ,  Revelation 16:14;  Revelation 19:15;  Revelation 21:22 (in all of which the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) render "almighty"). It is also found frequently in the Septuagint, especially in the rendering of the divine names Yahweh cebhā'ōth and 'Ēl Shadday . In pantokratōr , the element of "authority," "sovereignty," side by side with that of "power," makes itself more distinctly felt than it does to the modern ear in "omnipotent," although it is meant to be included in the latter also. Compare further ho dúnatos , in  Luke 1:49 .

2. Inherent in Old Testament Names of God:

The formal conception of omnipotence as worked out in theology does not occur in the Old Testament. The substance of the idea is conveyed in various indirect ways. The notion of "strength" is inherent in the Old Testament conception of God from the beginning, being already represented in one of the two divine names inherited by Israel from ancient Semitic religion, the name 'Ēl . According to one etymology it is also inherent in the other, the name 'Ēlōhı̄m , and in this case the plural form, by bringing out the fullness of power in God, would mark an approach to the idea of omnipotence. See God , Names Of .

In the patriarchal religion the conception of "might" occupies a prominent place, as is indicated by the name characteristic of this period, 'Ēl Shadday  ; compare   Genesis 17:1;  Genesis 28:3;  Genesis 35:11;  Genesis 43:14;  Genesis 48:3;  Genesis 49:24 ,  Genesis 49:25;  Exodus 6:3 . This name, however, designates the divine power as standing in the service of His covenant-relation to the patriarchs, as transcending Nature and overpowering it in the interests of redemption.

Another divine name which signalizes this attribute is Yahweh cebhā'ōth , Yahweh of Hosts. This name, characteristic of the prophetic period, describes God as the King surrounded and followed by the angelic hosts, and since the might of an oriental king is measured by the splendor of his retinue, as of great, incomparable power, the King Omnipotent (  Psalm 24:10;  Isaiah 2:12;  Isaiah 6:3 ,  Isaiah 6:5;  Isaiah 8:13;  Jeremiah 46:18;  Malachi 1:14 ).

Still another name expressive of the same idea is 'Ābhı̄r , "Strong One," compounded with Jacob or Israel (  Genesis 49:24;  Psalm 132:2 ,  Psalm 132:5;  Isaiah 1:24;  Isaiah 49:26;  Isaiah 60:16 ). Further, 'Ēl Gibbōr , "God-Hero" ( Isaiah 9:6 (of the Messiah); compare for the adjective gibbōr ,  Jeremiah 20:11 ); and the figurative designation of God as Cūr , "Rock," occurring especially in the address to God in the Psalter ( Isaiah 30:29 , the King James Version "Mighty One"). The specific energy with which the divine nature operates finds expression also in the name 'Ēl Ḥay , "Living God," which God bears over against the impotent idols ( 1 Samuel 17:26 ,  1 Samuel 17:36;  2 Kings 19:4 ,  2 Kings 19:16;  Psalm 18:46;  Jeremiah 23:36;  Daniel 6:20 ,  Daniel 6:26 f). An anthropomorphic description of the power of God is in the figures of "hand," His "arm," His "finger." See God .

3. Other Modes of Expression:

Some of the attributes of Yahweh have an intimate connection with His omnipotence. Under this head especially God's nature as Spirit and His holiness come under consideration. The representation of God as Spirit in the Old Testament does not primarily refer to the incorporealness of the divine nature, but to its inherent energy. The physical element underlying the conception of Spirit is that of air in motion, and in this at first not the invisibility but the force forms the point of comparison. The opposite of "Spirit" in this sense is "flesh," which expresses the weakness and impotence of the creature over against God ( Isaiah 2:22;  Isaiah 31:3 ).

The holiness of God in its earliest and widest sense (not restricted to the ethical sphere) describes the majestic, specifically divine character of His being, that which evokes in man religious awe. It is not a single attribute coordinated with others, but a peculiar aspect under which all the attributes can be viewed, that which renders them distinct from anything analogous in the creature ( 1 Samuel 2:2;  Hosea 11:9 ). In this way holiness becomes closely associated with the power of God, indeed sometimes becomes synonymous with divine power = omnipotence ( Exodus 15:11;  Numbers 20:12 ), and especially in Ezk, where God's "holy name" is often equivalent to His renown for power, hence, interchangeable with His "great name" ( Ezekiel 36:20-24 ). The objective Spirit as a distinct hypostasis and the executive of the Godhead on its one side also represents the divine power ( Isaiah 32:15;  Matthew 12:28;  Luke 1:35;  Luke 4:14;  Acts 10:38;  Romans 15:19;  1 Corinthians 2:4 ).

4. Unlimited Extent of the Divine Power:

In all these forms of expression a great and specifically divine power is predicated of God. Statements in which the absolutely unlimited extent of this power is explicitly affirmed are rare. The reason, however, lies not in any actual restriction placed on this power, but in the concrete practical form of religious thinking which prevents abstract formulation of the principle. The point to be noticed is that no statement is anywhere made exempting aught from the reach of divine power. Nearest to a general formula come such statements as nothing is "too hard for Yahweh" ( Genesis 18:14;  Jeremiah 32:17 ); or "I know that thou canst do everything?" or "God ... hath done whatever he pleased" ( Psalm 115:3;  Psalm 135:6 ), or, negatively, no one "can hinder" God, in carrying out His purpose ( Isaiah 43:13 ), or God's hand is not "waxed short" ( Numbers 11:23 ); in the New Testament: "With God all things are possible" ( Matthew 19:26;  Mark 10:27;  Luke 18:27 ); "Nothing is impossible with God" (the Revised Version (British and American) "No word from God shall be void of power,"  Luke 1:37 ). Indirectly the omnipotence of God is implied in the effect ascribed to faith ( Matthew 17:20 : "Nothing shall be impossible unto you";   Mark 9:23 : "All things are possible to him that believeth"), because faith puts the divine power at the disposal of the believer. On its subjective side the principle of inexhaustible power finds expression in   Isaiah 40:28 : God is not subject to weariness. Because God is conscious of the unlimited extent of His resources nothing is marvelous in His eyes (  Zechariah 8:6 ).

5. Forms of Manifestation:

It is chiefly through its forms of manifestation that the distinctive quality of the divine power which renders it omnipotent becomes apparent. The divine power operates not merely in single concrete acts, but is comprehensively related to the world as such. Both in Nature and history, in creation and in redemption, it produces and controls and directs everything that comes to pass. Nothing in the realm of actual or conceivable things is withdrawn from it ( Amos 9:2 ,  Amos 9:3;  Daniel 4:35 ); even to the minutest and most recondite sequences of cause and effect it extends and masters all details of reality ( Matthew 10:30;  Luke 12:7 ). There is no accident ( 1 Samuel 6:9; compare with  1 Samuel 6:12;  Proverbs 16:33 ). It need not operate through second causes; it itself underlies all second causes and makes them what they are.

It is creative power producing its effect through a mere word ( Genesis 1:3 ff;   Deuteronomy 8:3;  Psalm 33:9;  Romans 4:17;  Hebrews 1:3;  Hebrews 11:30 ). Among the prophets, especially Isaiah emphasizes this manner of the working of the divine power in its immediateness and suddenness ( Isaiah 9:8;  Isaiah 17:13;  Isaiah 18:4-6;  Isaiah 29:5 ). All the processes of nature are ascribed to the causation of Yahweh ( Job 5:9 ff;   Job 9:5 ff; chapters 38 and 39;   Isaiah 40:12 ff;   Amos 4:13;  Amos 5:8 ,  Amos 5:9;  Amos 9:5 ,  Amos 9:6 ); especially God's control of the sea is named as illustrative of this ( Psalm 65:7;  Psalm 104:9;  Isaiah 50:2;  Jeremiah 5:22;  Jeremiah 31:35 ). The Old Testament seldom says "it rains" ( Amos 4:7 ), but usually God causes it to rain ( Leviticus 26:4;  Deuteronomy 11:17;  1 Samuel 12:17;  Job 36:27;  Psalm 29:1-11 and   Psalm 65:1-13;  Matthew 5:45;  Acts 14:17 ).

The same is true of the processes of history. God sovereignly disposes, not merely of Israel, but of all other nations, even of the most powerful, e.g. the Assyrians, as His instruments for the accomplishment of His purpose ( Amos 1 through 2:3;   Amos 9:7;  Isaiah 10:5 ,  Isaiah 10:15;  Isaiah 28:2;  Isaiah 45:1;  Jeremiah 25:9;  Jeremiah 27:6;  Jeremiah 43:10 ). The prophets ascribe to Yahweh not merely relatively greater power than to the gods of the nations, but His power extends into the sphere of the nations, and the heathen gods are ignored in the estimate put upon His might ( Isaiah 31:3 ).

Even more than the sphere of Nature and history, that of redemption reveals the divine omnipotence, from the point of view of the supernatural and miraculous. Thus  Exodus 15 celebrates the power of Yahweh in the wonders of the exodus. It is God's exclusive prerogative to do wonders (  Job 5:9;  Job 9:10;  Psalm 72:18 ); He alone can make "a new thing" ( Numbers 16:30;  Isaiah 43:19;  Jeremiah 31:22 ). In the New Testament the great embodiment of this redemptive omnipotence is the resurrection of believers ( Matthew 22:29;  Mark 12:24 ) and specifically the resurrection of Christ ( Romans 4:17 ,  Romans 4:21 ,  Romans 4:24;  Ephesians 1:19 ff); but it is evidenced in the whole process of redemption (  Matthew 19:26;  Mark 10:27;  Romans 8:31;  Ephesians 3:7 ,  Ephesians 3:20;  1 Peter 1:5;  Revelation 11:17 ).

6. Significance for Biblical Religion:

The significance of the idea may be traced along two distinct lines. On the one hand the divine omnipotence appears as a support of faith. On the other hand it is productlye of that specifically religious state of consciousness which Scripture calls "the fear of Yahweh." Omnipotence in God is that to which human faith addresses itself. In it lies the ground for assurance that He is able to save, as in His love that He is willing to save ( Psalm 65:5 ,  Psalm 65:6;  Psalm 72:18;  Psalm 118:14-16;  Ephesians 3:20 ).

As to the other aspect of its significance, the divine omnipotence in itself, and not merely for soteriological reasons, evokes a specific religious response. This is true, not only of the Old Testament, where the element of the fear of God stands comparatively in the foreground, but remains true also of the New Testament. Even in our Lord's teaching the prominence given to the fatherhood and love of God does not preclude that the transcendent majesty of the divine nature, including omnipotence, is kept in full view and made a potent factor in the cultivation of the religious mind ( Matthew 6:9 ). The beauty of Jesus' teaching on the nature of God consists in this, that He keeps the exaltation of God above every creature and His loving condescension toward the creature in perfect equilibrium and makes them mutually fructified by each other. Religion is more than the inclusion of God in the general altruistic movement of the human mind; it is a devotion at every point colored by the consciousness of that divine uniqueness in which God's omnipotence occupies a foremost place.

Literature.

Oehler, Theologie des A T (3), 131,139 ff; Riehm, Alttestamentliche Theologie , 250 ff; Dillmann, Handbuch der alttestamentlichen Theologie , 244; Davidson, Old Testament Theology , 163 ff; Konig, Geschichte der alttestamentlichen Religion , 127,135 ff, 391,475.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

an attribute of God alone, and essential to his nature as an infinite, independent, and perfect Being. Among the distinct declarations of Scripture attributing such power to God are the following:  Genesis 17:1;  Exodus 15:11-12;  Deuteronomy 3:24;  1 Samuel 14:6;  Psalms 62:11;  Psalms 65:6;  Psalms 147:5;  Daniel 4:35;  Matthew 6:13;  Matthew 19:26;  Ephesians 3:20;  Revelation 19:6. It is also clearly expressed in the epithet Shaddai (q.v.), often applied to him in the O.T. The power of God is especially evinced:

1. In creation ( Genesis 1:1;  Romans 1:20);

2. In the preservation of his creatures ( Hebrews 1:3;  Colossians 1:16-17);

3. In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ ( Luke 1:35;  Luke 1:37;  Ephesians 1:19);

4. In the conversion of sinners ( Psalms 110:3;  2 Corinthians 4:7);

5. In the continuation and success of the Gospel in the world ( Matthew 13:31-32);

6. In the preservation of the saints ( 1 Peter 1:5);

7. In the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians ch. 15);

8. In making the righteous happy forever, and in punishing the wicked ( Matthew 25:34;  Philippians 3:20-21). This power is only limited by God's own holy nature, which renders it impossible for him to do wrong ( Numbers 23:19;  Hebrews 6:18), and by the laws of possibility which he has himself created in the nature of things; in other words, we cannot conceive of his performing either a metaphysical or a moral contradiction. See Cocker, Theistic Conception of the World (N.Y. 1876, 12mo), p. 355 sq.; Malcom, Theol. Index, s.v.; Haag, Histoire des Dogmes Chretiens, 1:291; 2:16 sq., 139 sq., 147. (See Law).