Attributes of Power

Many people have heard of the "three omnis" when it comes to describing the character of God; that God is omniscient—there is nothing he does not know. God is omnipresent—there is nowhere he cannot be, and God is omnipotent—there is nothing he cannot do. That's what I want to talk about here: God's omnipotence, his power.

We're thinking about this broad category of God's communicable attributes. Incommunicable refer to those attributes that only God has. Communicable are those that in some way can be communicated to his creatures. And even as we say, that they're communicable attributes, because we too can exercise power and authority, we can do things. Yet, we must be clear that God's power is of an entirely different sort, meaning that if I think something and I will something, there is still great effort that must be exerted in order to accomplish it. And it may be that I think it and I will it, and that finally, I don't have the power to accomplish it.

But it's different with God. What God thinks and what God wills, there is always the power to carry out; that God's power is absolute. He can call light when there is no light. There is nothing too difficult for God, the scriptures tell us. Daniel 4 says that none can stay his hand, so it is never the case that God thinks and wills and wants to accomplish, and there is a great struggle, or somehow it's in doubt. No, his power is absolute power. God's omnipotence refers to his absolute power over all things.

Now, another term to introduce here is God's sovereignty. We might think of God's omnipotence then applied to his creation is his sovereignty. Ephesians 1:11 says that God works all things after the counsel of his will. The church father Augustine said, "the will of God is the necessity of all things." Sometimes we think about the will of God as his desires for our lives. "Your will be done." And that's one way the Bible talks about the will of God. But then there's another way that refers to this sovereign superintendence over all things. That Jesus says, all the hairs on our head are numbered, and not even a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from the will of our father who is in heaven. So in this sense, whatsoever comes to pass does so because God has willed it.

His sovereignty extends not just to the big picture, to fulfilling messianic prophecies, but over to the very minutia of our lives. God's power is so absolute, his sovereignty is so strong that he knows all the stars, and he calls them out by name. Psalm 115 says that our God is in the heavens, He does whatever he pleases. Sometimes this is a difficult doctrine for people because they hear sovereignty and power, and they divorce this attribute from the other attributes of God.

So all of these attributes come together. Each one is essential to God, and they never work at cross-purposes to one another. So we ought never to think of God's power and sovereignty as tyrannical, arbitrary, capricious. No, it always works in concert with the God who is good and loving and gracious. This sovereign power is for his people. He always wants to do good for his people, and so we should rest content and find comfort in this sovereignty, in the providential care of God over all things.

So when we think about the power of God, the sovereignty of God, we should not conclude, therefore, that God is too great to care, but rather that he is too great to fail. Romans 8:28 is still precious truth for all of God's people. That when we are called according to God's purpose for those whom he loves, he works all things according to his will, for our good and for his glory.

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.