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Have you ever heard someone way, “God can do anything”? Perhaps this type of comment comes from the fact that the Scriptures teach that God is all powerful. However, being all powerful does not imply that He can literally do anything. God has limitations! The difference between God's limitations and man's limitations is this: God's limitations are self imposed whereas man's limitations are imposed from without. This short miniseries will consider what God is able to do as well as what He is not able to do.

We begin our study by looking at one of the five biblical texts which explicitly state, “God is able...” Paul penned three of these statements, two of them occurring in the book of Romans: “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11.22-23; emphasis mine, jb).

As we begin, we make an affirmation, and here it is: The statements of Paul are the statements of God in such cases. Paul may have been the human author, but he was not the originator of the truths he committed to writing. One passage from his letter to the believers at Thessalonica will suffice to demonstrate this fact. Paul wrote, “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2.13).

Paul's knowledge about God came from God. Had that not been the case, Paul's comments and/or his writings about God would have been speculation equal in weight to that of any other man. However, Paul's knowledge about God was not of human origin inasmuch as God had chosen him as a spokesperson (prophet) much as he had chosen others before him. Therefore, when we read the writings of Paul, we are not merely reading opinions; we are reading God's word!

The “God is able...” statement in Romans 11 is contextually connected to surrounding statements. Notice a couple of them with me. First, the favor being shown by the Lord to the Gentiles was contingent upon their continuing in belief. Secondly, the potential salvation of the Jews was dependent upon their coming to faith. Both of these conditional statements are contained directly in the passage. The little word if is connected with the future of the Gentiles and the Jews, and in each case the ability to meet or to fail to meet the stated conditions was a matter of the free will of the people involved. If the Gentiles chose to continue in God's goodness, His favor would continue to be extended toward them. If the Jews chose to come to belief, then certainly God is able to graft them in again. However, in both cases, God's willingness to act is based on their respective reactions to the gospel message.

If it is the case that the gospel is God’s power to salvation, and if the gospel must be heard and believed in order for it to benefit any human being, then it follows that only those Jews who believe and obey the gospel will be saved. Like Paul said, God is able to graft them in; what He is not able to do is save them apart from the terms of the gospel! God cannot lie (Titus 1.2) and He has explicitly said that there is no other means to salvation!

Questions:

1. Who limits God? Does God limit Himself?

2. Name at least one thing which the Bible says God cannot do? Does that mean He is not all powerful? If not, what does it mean?

3. According to the “God is able…” text in Romans 11, what condition must be met for God to graft the Jews in again?

4. According to the same text, what conditions must the Gentiles meet in order to continue in God’s favor?

"'Christ in You...'" from Dale Krebbs

Longing For God