In a recent response to one of my blogs, a commentor said, “But don’t you think God could manifest Himself as an African-American woman if He wanted to?” My response was, “But He wouldn’t want to, because He has already manifested Himself in visible form to us in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, once and for all.”
While pondering this idea further I wandered in my mind to Hebrews 6:18, which says, “it is impossible for God to lie.” The obvious question is “why?” If God truly is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc., then is there truly anything that He cannot do? To put it in the words of my commentor, “Couldn’t God lie if He wanted to?” Or, to say it another way, “Couldn’t God sin if He wanted to?”
The answer to both questions is “no” — but why? Why can’t God lie and why can’t God sin? The answer is so patently obvious that we, including myself, are tempted to miss it in its glorious simplicity.
The reason God cannot lie is because God IS Truth! He is not only truthful, He is Truth itself. Everything God says is truth. Anything contrary to what God says is a lie. In very simple terms two plus two equals four because God said so, i.e., He created it that way. (All you higher, quantum types can insert your realities, if they really are true, here also.) So, when God speaks, whatever comes from Him is truth.
Correspondingly and consistently, the reason God cannot sin is because God IS perfect righteousness. Whatever He does is righteous, by definition, because He is the One doing it. If God regenerates a lost sinner, it is a righteous act. If God creates a life in a womb, it is a righteous act. If God punishes sin in any way, it is a righteous act. If God disciplines those He loves, it is a righteous act. Why? Because He is righteous.
So we see that for God to lie or sin, He would have to cease being God, and that is something He cannot do for He is the eternally Self-existent One — The I Am. All God’s attributes and characteristics are wrapped up in the reality of Who He is.
It really is “that simple.”
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2 comments:
Nicely put Pastor Walter!
BGJ
Your post reminds me of A.W. Tozer's books The Attributes of God (vol 1 & 2). We describe things as being good or pure or truthful, and so we think that when we say those things of God we are describing Him in the same way. But God is not good, He is goodness, He's not truthful, He is truth. It's a BIG concept, but incredibly simple at the same time. I love reading your blog!
Ann D.
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