Theological Term of the Week: Absolute Power (of God)

absolute power (of God)
“That power whereby God is able to do that which he will not do, but is possible to be done”;1 “God’s ability to do all things, including those things that are possible for God but that God, for any variety of reasons, chooses not to do.”2

• From scripture:

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. (Matthew 3:9 ESV)

Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53 ESV)

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof: 

[T]he actual exercise of God’s power does not represent its limits. God could do more than that, if He were so minded. In that sense we can speak of the potentia absoluta, or absolute power, of God.  

Learn more:

1. Mark Jones: A Crucial Distinction
2. Louis Berkhof: The Sovereign Power of God

Related terms:

• omnipotence
• ordinate power of God

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

1From The Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen Charnock.

2From None Greater by Matthew Barrett

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