By Lloyd Streeter
Genesis 18:14, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?”
The Bible says that Jesus is “upholding all things by the Word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). And, in Colossians 1:16-17, God’s Word says, “for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” God made it and God does lift it!
And there is something else for skeptics to ponder. Not only can God lift, at the same time, all the great rocks (stars and planets) that are in the universe, He can do many other things which are equally hard. For example, God could, and did, raise Jesus from the dead. He can, and will, defeat Satan and bring an end to evil in His universe. He can, and does, save those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their only Savior from sin. All of these things are as hard to do as lifting the universe since all of them require infinite power. Again, we ask, why do men not think more about what God can do, instead of trying to imagine an antinomy to disprove the nature of God?
Now, as to the question of whether God can make a stone too heavy for God to lift–the answer is simple, “No!” And if skeptics had only asked, “Is there anything that God cannot do?” any informed Christian could have told them that there are many things that God cannot do. God cannot lie. He cannot help people to sin. He cannot be unholy, or unloving, or unknowing, or unjust. In short, God cannot be other than He is. He cannot do anything that is contrary to His nature. He cannot deny Himself.
The purpose of the question, “Can God make a stone too heavy for Him to lift?” is to disprove God’s omnipotence. Geisler says that God’s omnipotence refers to God’s “unlimited power.” It means that God can do anything that is possible to do, but not what is contradictory. [Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology in One Volume (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2011), 487]
When I read “The Paradox of the Stone,” my first thought is that it is similar to the question, “Have you stopped beating your wife, yet?” And, of course, the person conducting the inquisition wants a “yes” or “no” answer. But the problem is that the question is non-sense. It sets up a logical impossibility because it contains a false dichotomy–either God cannot make such a stone or God cannot lift such a stone. Of course, those are not the only alternatives. The fact is that God cannot do the things that are a contradiction. God cannot make a square a circle. God cannot kill Himself, or cease to exist. God cannot allow two contradictory infinities to exist in His universe, so He cannot make a stone of infinite size so that His infinite strength cannot lift it. He cannot violate the law of non-contradiction.
God’s omnipotence means that He can do anything in keeping with His nature. He can do whatever He wills to do (Psalm 115:3; 135:6). As Thiessen wrote, “God can do anything in harmony with his perfections.” [Henry Clarence Thiessen, Lectures in Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1979), 82]
Strong wisely wrote that God has the power “to do all things which are objects of power . . . omnipotence does not imply power to do that which is not an object of power; as, for example, that which is self-contradictory or contradictory to the nature of God. . . . It does not imply the exercise of all His power . . . He has power over His power. . . . He is not the slave of His own omnipotence.” [Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: The Judson Press, 1907), 286-287]
“The Paradox of the Stone” is not an effective denial of God’s omnipotence. God has the power to do all His Will. He has the power to do all we need. There is no problem too hard for God to solve, no prayer too hard for God to answer, and no soul too hard for God to save.
[This devotional is in Pastor Streeter’s book, The Attributes of God.]