Is God omnipotent?

[dyanaprajna2011]

I'm sure everyone is aware of the problem that says that, due to the evil in the world, God cannot be all loving, all powerful, and all knowing. With this in mind, and as a possible answer to this problem, does the Bible actually say that God is omnipotent?

 

[Ultimatum]

And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
Then Job answered the LORD and said, "I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. - Job 42: 1-2

So, yes the Bible does imply that God is omnipotent (I can list more verses if you aren't convinced)
Also, in regards to the bolded:

If no purpose of God can be thwarted, then why do we have tens of religions in the world? How did God allow this? In accordance with the verse in Job, God's purpose was to have many religions! Therefore confusing us all!

Thanks God, you the man!

 

[`mud]

Dyana asks "does the bible actually say...", the bible says nothing, it doesn't have a mouth or a pen or keyboard etc.
What Priests, preachers, ministers, Rabbis, and etcetera book pounding projectionists say isn't important,
it's the meaning that is gotten from the reading and hearing from others in the message that's transmitted.
Be it the mithra, old testament, new testament, and all the prophetial, is that a word?, writings from Isaiah and cohorts, and even Roberts himself,
the omnipotency of the chosen 'god' isn't important, it's the fear of the other powers that are assumed by the people that believe in these 'gods' that do the damage. Moses had a message "keep fear in your heart of the God that will control you, and worship only him, not gold idols or anything from other beliefs, or he will smite you from going to heaven to be with him". And even Jesus had a further message "Love thy neighbor as thineself".
I'm not really getting anywhere here am I ?
It's the fear of the 'god' in the 'bibles' that is the problem, not what it "says".
Do no harm, love all, have tolerence, and love yourself.
~
nuff stuff
'mud

 

[Thana]

Yes, The bible implies it.

Though I should say that Omnipotence doesn't imply Omnibenevolence, It just simply means all powerful.

Though the problem of Evil is only a problem for some. A lot of us already have an answer to that question.
Personally, I see no problem. Evil is a tool for good, Whether we like it or not, And doesn't impact God's benevolence.

 

[Michaelpriv]

I do not think in the final count there is such a thing as Evil. It only exists in our opinion, our experience, our attitudes and even that changes with a change in viewpoint. God loves a rabbit but God loves a wolf just as much and wolf eats the rabbit (wolf is evil from rabbit's viewpoint) but it is just great for God. There is no evil.

 

[Nada]

Yes.He is called the Almighty.Almighty means: complete power; omnipotent:God almighty.

Exodus 6:3 King James Bible
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

 

[InGodWeTrust]

Shadday (as in Exodus 6:3) means sovereign lord. When the verses that use Shadday in the Hebrew are quoted in the New Testament, it uses the word pantocrator, the same word as is used in the Septuagint version of those same verses. The confusion comes from there being other uses for that Greek word that can be construed as supporting the modern notion of omnipotence.

"All things" is a misinterpretation for a word that generally just means many things.

When Jesus says you can do all things including ordering a mountain into the sea, he is being metaphorical.

 

[nazz]

I'm sure everyone is aware of the problem that says that, due to the evil in the world, God cannot be all loving, all powerful, and all knowing. With this in mind, and as a possible answer to this problem, does the Bible actually say that God is omnipotent?

There are certainly some passages that could be taken that way but there are plenty of others to contradict that view

 

[nazz]

I'd like to counter some statements made by other posters but this DIR is not for debate

 

[Nada]

Shadday (as in Exodus 6:3) means sovereign lord. When the verses that use Shadday in the Hebrew are quoted in the New Testament, it uses the word pantocrator, the same word as is used in the Septuagint version of those same verses. The confusion comes from there being other uses for that Greek word that can be construed as supporting the modern notion of omnipotence.

"All things" is a misinterpretation for a word that generally just means many things.

When Jesus says you can do all things including ordering a mountain into the sea, he is being metaphorical.

Yes,Jehovah is the sovereign Lord.The supreme ruler.Jesus is not.

ג וָאֵרָא, אֶל-אַבְרָהָם אֶל-יִצְחָק וְאֶל-יַעֲקֹב--בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי; וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה, לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם. Exodus 3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name YHWH I made Me not known to them.

Shadday: Almighty
Original Word: שַׁדָּי
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: Shadday
Phonetic Spelling: (shad-dah'-ee)
Short Definition: Almighty

Exodus 6:3
HEB:יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהוָ֔ה
NAS: as God Almighty, but [by] My name,
KJV: by [the name of] God Almighty, but by my name
INT: Jacob God Almighty but my name LORD


Links
Interlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts

Pantokrator is used to describe Jehovah in 2 Corinthians 6:18 and Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17; Revelation 16:7; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:6; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 21:22

These words are never used to describe Jesus.It refers only to Jehovah.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

What I'm wondering is this: could it be that the Bible describes God's power from our perspective, but that, from an objective standpoint, God isn't necessarily 'all powerful', but just more powerful than us or what we can comprehend? This also looks towards the infamous omnipotence paradox.

 

[Nada]

What I'm wondering is this: could it be that the Bible describes God's power from our perspective, but that, from an objective standpoint, God isn't necessarily 'all powerful', but just more powerful than us or what we can comprehend? This also looks towards the infamous omnipotence paradox.

It is God's word.

 

[nazz]

What I'm wondering is this: could it be that the Bible describes God's power from our perspective, but that, from an objective standpoint, God isn't necessarily 'all powerful', but just more powerful than us or what we can comprehend? This also looks towards the infamous omnipotence paradox.

I don't think any of the earliest writings express any belief in an omnipotent God though surely a very powerful God and arguably the most powerful being in existence. Omnipotence was an idea that developed later due to contact with Greek philosophy.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

It is God's word.

It is God's word.

Please explain, I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

 

[neologist]

It is well to keep in mind that, when Satan tempted Jesus with control of the world, Jesus did not deny that Satan had the power to give it. The fact is that until Daniel 2:44 is fulfilled, Satan is controlling the political, religious, and economical institutions of our world.

 

[gsa]

Not consistently. The Yahwist source's (J's) account is extraordinarily anthropomorphic, and Yhwh has to send angels to confirm, for example, the unrighteousness of Sodom, Adam successfully hides from him, etc; but by the time you get to P you have a much more cosmic creator with a ritualized microcosm for worship and society that reflects a much grander creation narrative.

Of course, this is allegorical but the same is true of competing accounts in more explicitly polytheistic theologies of the period. You don't really get to something resembling the modern concept until way late, and even then I would argue that we're so thoroughly modern (we don't believe in the dome, for example) that you can't really even talk about any of it very meaningfully post-Copernican.

Also, there are pretty clear allusions to a divine combat myth, which calls creation ex nihilo into question and suggests that the dominion of Yhwh is constantly imperiled by agents of chaos, be it cosmic (i.e., Rahab or some similar serpent or leviathan in a precursor or parallel myth) or social/political (lamenting the destruction of the temple or the Davidic monarchical crisis by alluding to Yhwh's divine providence). So I don't think that there is a consistency here, save for trust in the covenants and the ultimate dominion of God in the world to come. Of course, all the Abrahamic traditions are largely uniform on divine omnipotence, texts notwithstanding.

 

[InGodWeTrust]

Yes,Jehovah is the sovereign Lord.The supreme ruler.Jesus is not.
These words are never used to describe Jesus.It refers only to Jehovah.

Jesus said that all things are possible through God.
Some people use that to prove God is omnipotent.
I think Jesus was using a certain type of rhetoric that makes use of hyperbole, rather than being literal.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Yes, The bible implies it.

Though I should say that Omnipotence doesn't imply Omnibenevolence, It just simply means all powerful.

Though the problem of Evil is only a problem for some. A lot of us already have an answer to that question.
Personally, I see no problem. Evil is a tool for good, Whether we like it or not, And doesn't impact God's benevolence.

I agree with that, God DID create life on Earth with no evil, no fear, no pain, no grieving... for Jellyfish
and hence no love, joy or meaningful existence either, would those who use the 'evil' argument trade places?

 

[Nada]

Jesus said that all things are possible through God.
Some people use that to prove God is omnipotent.
I think Jesus was using a certain type of rhetoric that makes use of hyperbole, rather than being literal.

There is no mistake,Jesus made it very clear that it was his Father who was in control.Also, that they were two separate beings.

READ THIS John 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, IF JESUS IS SAYING THIS TO A LARGE CROWD AND THEY HEAR AND SEE HIM,THEN,WHO IS HE TALKING ABOUT, IF HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE GOD THE FATHER?

John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" IF JESUS IS GOD ,THEN, WHY IS HE SAYING MY FATHER AND MY GOD?

Humans pray,not God. Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." WHOS WILL?


1 Corinthians 15:27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
IT SAYS," it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ."

 

[`mud]

Michael has a good point in his post. Look at the point of the rabbit's veiwpoint, it's all mouth.
Maybe Michael just doesn't find a need to describe 'god's' choices in life, maybe some prayers are for naught.
Maybe 'god' isn't interested in us anymore, maybe 'god' didn't write the "bibles", or even care.
I don't know the answers, maybe someone here does, other than what comes from the scriptures.
I really agree though....there is really no evil ! Just evil doing ! And frogs and floods and dead babies.
~
'mud