Romans 8:2 God Is All Powerful
by Joseph Louthan
Let us pray. God, be our teacher. Help us. Clear all confusion. Reveal your Word to us. More importantly, give us You. In your Son’s good and holy name, I ask. Amen.
Romans 8:2 (ESV) For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
In Robert’s sermon from last weekend [link], he spoke of the three “omni” incommunicable attributes of God. Omni meaning “all” and we will touch on what is He is “all” about. Incommunicable meaning that these are attributes that we, as His creation, do not share Him being the Creator. (Communicable attributes of God and man are we can be merciful, loving, gracious, kind and joyful because God is merciful, loving, gracious, kind and joyful.)
Robert pointed at these three all encompassing attributes of God:
- God is omniscient, that is “all knowing” (Job 38:1-5, Job 38:12, Job 38:16-24, Job 38:34-35)
- God is omnipresent, that is “fully present in all places (Psalm 139:7-8)
- God is omnipotent, that is “all powerful”
It was in God’s omnipotence, that is God has all power and all ability to carry out all of His decrees.
One of His decrees is clearly stated in Romans 8:2, namely “Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
So how does God “set you free… from sin and death”?
I. God is all powerful.
Let us look at Psalm 139. What is very interesting about this chapter that the verses are laid out exactly every 6 verses talks about His omniscient (Psalm 139:1-6), His omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12) and His omnipotence (Psalm 139:13-18). It is verses 13 through 18 that we want to expound upon and get a grasp of His power and might:
Psalms 139:13 (ESV) For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
This eludes back to God as Creator of the heavens, earth and everything in-between including you and me. God created man and wife, Adam and Eve, from dust in the ground and breathed life into this dirt mold. Know that this point on, life is not man and woman coming together as husband and wife, knowing each other and loving each other. Life begins with and ends with God alone, despite what the wisdom of the world might teach. Remember in the Book of Ruth. Boaz, an older man and Ruth, who was married for ten years and never conceived. Yet…
Ruth 4:13 (ESV) So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.
Life, both mortal and eternal life, begins with God.
Psalms 139:14 (ESV) I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My soul knows and yearns for God despite our depraved selves. God declares in…
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV) He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
… in that we are built to worship. Whom we worship is dependent on God revealing Himself to us and granting us the wisdom to know of His salvation (1 Corinthians 2:12). Furthermore…
Romans 2:15 (ESV) They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
Even without the knowledge of the Scriptures, every human being is guided by their conscience, given by God, in order to know what is morally right and morally wrong. Just the fact we have our conscience bears witness to God. Even further still:
Romans 1:19-20 (ESV) For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Psalms 139:15 (ESV) My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Everybody knows the saying, “the devil is in the details”. Clearly, it is God who is in the details. He is the master of the details, down to the last particle. God states this about His own Son, Jesus Christ in…
Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
While God the Father is invisible, Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. That is why so many people would state when God was visible in the Old Testament (Genesis 3:8, Genesis 18:1, Genesis 32:22-32, Exodus 3:1-6, Joshua 5:13-15, Isaiah 6:1-7 cf. John 12:41), that it was in fact Jesus Christ. This passage clearly states that all things were created by him, through him and for him. Furthermore, Jesus Christ existed before all things and in Jesus Christ, all things, the wood in the trees, the mountains, the sky and especially our mortal bodies, are held together. He is the only One who is keeping this universe together.
Psalms 139:16 (ESV) Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
This explains the power of God’s love. Before you were even a twinkle your dad’s eye and before your mom was even pregnant with you in her womb, God knew you, God loved you and knew your life before creation took place.
Psalms 139:17 (ESV) How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
It is God’s omniscient that reveals some of His omnipotence. God states in…
Proverbs 25:2 (ESV)
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.
… that in His all-knowing and all-wisdom and understand, it is in His goodness and mercy that we are to know the things that we know, either of the spiritual realm or of the earthly realm. Spiritual realm revealed to us by the Word of God. Earthly matters like science revealed to us by the wisdom of God given to us by God alone.
Psalms 139:18 (ESV) If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
The psalmist here declares, “You are still majestic and wonderful and my mind cannot begin to comprehend you. Yet, I am fully alive and I am with You and You keep me close.” God is all powerful but He is all personal as well.
Now we have a tiny, little glimpse of that power, let us see what He does with it in Psalm 139:19-24
II. God uses that power and might to free you from sin and death
Psalms 139:19 (ESV) Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me!
Jesus gives us a revelation of this in his Revelation 19:11-21. But remember what Paul said about what happened to the power of sin and death when Jesus Christ was put to death:
Romans 6:6-10 (ESV) We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Psalms 139:20 (ESV) They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain!
God ultimately declares in His commandment:
Exodus 20:7 (ESV) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Psalms 139:21-22 (ESV) Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
Our enemies are not flesh and blood but the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12), this much is true. But sin is an enemy that we fight against. Paul openly and sincerely expresses this in Romans 7:7-25, more specifically in…
Romans 7:15 (ESV) I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now that God is in your heart, and from that love comes a delight in His Word, you wage war against sin (Romans 7:22-23).
Psalms 139:23 (ESV) Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
The psalmist can declare this openly, boldly and audaciously because it is not that anything we can do to be declare righteous before God but it is the power and might of God Himself and all the work He has done Himself to be fully merciful and just in order to declare you righteous before Himself.
Psalms 139:24 (ESV) And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
It is the same power and might of God that not only declares you to be right standing before Him, but it is that same power that would remove any grievous way in me (sanctification) that would also lead you in the way everlasting (glorication).
God did it all by sending His Son to this earth. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life that we did not live, took upon all of our sins and took on the full force of God’s wrath in order to die the death we should have died. In his death and burial, went the power of sin and death into the ground. But because Jesus Christ is perfect and righteous before God the Father, the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, raised Jesus Christ out of the ground 3 days later. It is the same power that will raise you from death into eternal life if you believe and trust in Jesus Christ.
Comments
There is proff in the bible that God is not omnipotent. Apparently, God can’t win battles against chariots of iron.
Judges 1:19: And the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but He could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
This is not an omnipotent god.
We can take one verse, apart from the narrative, out of context and dictate the attributes of God.
Logically, you wouldn’t do that to any other form of literature. You certainly would not do it to the Bible.
Where one verse gets taken out of context is how cults and sects gets started. Scripture is all sufficient and in places where something might be off or confusing, we let Scriptures clear up such matters.
One, the “He” is mis-capitalized (if that is even a word) because that pronoun is referring to Judah, not God.
Joseph,
I’m not trying to take a verse out of context. It’s just not practical to cut and paste the first nineteen verses of Judges onto your blog.
How do you know that he pronoun “he” in verse 19 is referring to Judah and not God?
Let me ask this one question, why would you say that God is not all powerful?
That is, if you are not taking verses out of context.
Joseph,
You avoided my question by asking another question. So I ask you again, how do you know the pronoun “he” in verse 19 is referring to Judah and not God?
If you answer my question, I’ll be more than happy to answer yours. Thanks!
My apologies, I didn’t mean to do so.
Start with Judges 1:17 and finish in 19:
17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
Who defeated the Canaanites? Judah along with his brother Simeon.
18 Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
Who captured Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron? Judah.
19 And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
So who took possession of the hill country? Was it the Lord or was it Judah?
Your post prompted me to look more closely at the different translations because something didn’t seem right. The pronoun (he/they) in verse 19 changes according to which translation one is reading. Below are some examples.
ESV – he (Judah) took possession
NASB – they (God and Judah) took possession
NLT – they (God and Judah) took possession
NIV – they (God and Judah) took possession
At best, I think this verse is ambiguous because apparently translators translate the pronoun differently in the various versions.
Another ambiguous word/phrase in this passage is Judah itself. According to which verse you’re reading, Judah could be referring to the man or could be referring to the tribe/people of Judah. Samples are below.
ESV – verse 16 – people of Judah. Verse 17 – Judah (the man)
NASB – verse 16 – sons of Judah. Verse 17 – Judah (the man)
NLT – verse 16 – tribe of Judah. Verse 17 – people of Judah
NIV – verse 16 – men of Judah. verse 17 – men of Judah
In each translation, verse 16 referred to Judah as a people. But in the very next verse, the subject is either Judah the man or the people of Judah, depending on the translation one reads. It left me wondering: Is the subject Judah the man or Judah the people?
Whether one argues for he/they or Judah the man/Judah the people in chapter 1, verse 19 still states that “the Lord was with Judah” during the battle. If that the case, then why couldn’t they win against the men with the iron chariots? It seems strange to me that God was with them, meaning God was on their side, but the charioteers were too powerful to overcome. You don’t find this puzzling as well?
I hope this answered everything. If not, just post it again and I’ll address it.
No, not at all because of the context of Judges 1. It was a series of failed military campaigns.
v19 – And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
The Lord was with Judah and yet, Judah failed to obey.
v21 – But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
The Benjaminites tried, failed and didn’t get back into fight. Proverbs 24:16 states it beautifully: “for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Instead of being righteous and trying again, they tried once and went “oh, I guess we will settle with these Jebusites”. In other words, to fall and stay fallen is a sin. You fight and wrestle with sin and then just give up and believe the lies of the enemy when Scriptures declared that Christ died once to bury sin (Romans 6:10-11)
Now, for the rest of the chapter, check out the series of fails:
27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean…
29 And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron…
31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco…
33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh…
34 The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country…
This is all failing to do what God called them to do in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 in order to protect them from apostasy that He knew they would fall into according to Deuteronomy 7:1-5.
But… they did not persist in driving out and wiping out the inhabitants of that land. Many tribes end up settling in the land with the original inhabitants. Shockingly enough, just as God said would happen (if you dwell with sin, you become in bondage to sin even though it is God who has defeated your sin), the Israelites fell into apostasy starting with Judges 2.