#814 Omnipotence and Making a Mistake

Dr. craig’s response

As a result of my work on my projected systematic philosophical theology, I have come to a more nuanced understanding of God’s omnipotence. Intuitively, we should say that an omnipotent being has unlimited power, power that cannot possibly be exceeded.  Most traditional analyses of omnipotence, however, focus on the range of things that an omnipotent being can do, to the neglect of his power. But both the degree of one’s power and the range of things one can do must be taken into account.

To illustrate, suppose two beings each have the same range of things they can do, but one finds it easy while the other finds it hard because he is not as powerful. The weaker being should not count as omnipotent even though he can do the same things. By the same token, think of a being who has unlimited power but who is unable to do certain things, not because of any lack of power on his part but because the things are logically impossible, like making a square circle. In such a case, the restrictions on the range of things he can do does not count against his omnipotence.

So adequate accounts of omnipotence must take into consideration both the degree of power and the range of things one can do. With respect to power, we can say that if a being is omnipotent, then there is no state of affairs that he is unable to bring about due to lack of power on his part. If there are things that an omnipotent being cannot do, that is not the result of a lack of power. Rather we must consider the range of his power as well.

We are immediately confronted with the so-called paradoxes of omnipotence. It seems intuitively obvious that there are certain things that God cannot do. For example, can God act contrary to His own nature? If God has certain essential properties, then how could God possibly act in a way that would be contrary to His own essence or nature? For example, could God create another God and then worship it? That seems absolutely inconceivable. God cannot be created, so God couldn’t create another God. Moreover, it would be idolatrous and blasphemous for Him to worship some other God. Or, could God sin? Again, it seems absurd to think that God could act in such a way that would be contrary to His moral character.

Now this bears directly upon your question, Dan. For omniscience (being all-knowing) is plausibly also an essential attribute of God, and therefore God cannot act in a way that is contrary to His omniscience. Therefore it is logically impossible for God to make a mistake.

Christian theologians typically agree that God cannot act contrary to His own nature. God necessarily acts in a way that is consistent with His own nature. He cannot act contrary to His essential attributes.

So while God has all the power He needs to commit a sin or make a mistake, nevertheless such acts lie outside the range of His power, being logically impossible to bring about.