Feb
21
Not Limits
Filed Under Devotional
What does a square circle look like? Have you ever seen a three-wheeled unicycle? Can you imagine bright, shining dark?
If I’ve twisted your mind a bit, that was intentional. What makes these questions painful to consider is that they are logical impossibilities. It’s not just that they are unlikely or strange. They describe states of being that are logically impossible. A circle cannot be a square and still be a circle. Those two words are defined such that they cannot co-exist. The same with my multi-wheeled unicycle. The words themselves are defined in a such a way that they conflict and cannot be used to describe the same thing.
Now, would you say that the circle is limited by the fact that it isn’t as square? Maybe, but really it’s just that if it could be square, it wouldn’t be a circle anymore. It’s not a limit so much as a recognition of logic.
This leads me to the fascinating idea of the so-called limitations of God:
“O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! [...]” Ezra 9:15
“I the LORD do not change. [...]” Malachi 3:6
“[...] it is impossible for God to lie, [...]” Hebrews 6:18
“for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ ” 1 Peter 1:16
So, God cannot be unrighteous, God cannot change, He cannot lie, and He cannot sin. Are these limitations? Only in the sense that a circle is limited because it cannot be a square. A changing God is a logical impossibility. A lying God is too. A sinning God or a God that causes evil are also faulty concepts.
These are not inherent limitations of God’s power or knowledge. These are logical impossibilities that make no sense when you consider God’s nature.
God has all power. God has all knowledge.
Don’t let anyone kid you into thinking He has limits.