0

Can God sin? If God cannot sin, is He truly omnipotent?



    
    

Clarify Share Report Asked July 01 2013 Mini Anonymous (via GotQuestions)

Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.

8
Open uri20120113 17347 9mq5kn Nick Koogler Supporter
I believe that in order to answer this question one must start by defining the core aspects of the question. I will attempt to help with the sin part of the question. As many words in the English langue sin has multiple uses. In this question we a referring to the verb usage. Can God do, commit, or preform sin? Is at its core to "miss the mark." If stated another way it say, "to deviate from the best possible corse of action" or "to alter your designed path." These are simply possible methods of understanding the word and not necessarily definitions. Let's break down some logic. 

Can a cup sin? If I fashion a cup out of steel can it choose to be a vase? We control it's fate and decide wether it ever fulfills it's purpose. 
We humans have choice. But between what? Our choice boils down to this: our best possible path or a deviation. (Granted our ignorance of perfect path is the most common cause for deviation but we can never truly understand the depth of our purpose no more than God Himself. We can only act on the knowledge we currently have.) 
Knowingly or unknowingly we can choose to deviate. 
God can choose but He cannot deviate because Every choice He makes is in perfect alignment with His perfect design. God cannot choose to be anything other than Himself anymore than I can choose to be Aristotle or the cup can choose to be a vase. And because He is beyond creation there is no other possible purpose besides just Being God. For this reason God cannot sin because cannot be anything other than God. Gods omnipotence is completely intact.

June 11 2014 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


4
Shea S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries
To answer this question, we must first consider who God is. The human mind, however, cannot adequately grasp who He is if it were not for the special revelations He has given us. One avenue of reve...

July 01 2013 1 response Vote Up Share Report


4
Mini Al Mari Supporter Private practice as a cardiovascular & thoracic surgeon
Regarding omnipotence, God can do anything because his power is limitless. Can he then sin, is the question. 

This question can be answered depending upon understanding the definition of sin, who defines what is sinful or who is a sinner and to whom the Law is for. 

Undoubtedly, as God is the only and ultimate judge, he is the only one who defines what sin is, who is a sinner and what is sinful. 

Everyone knows that sin is a violation of God's law. Is the Law above God that he needs to follow? 

One who defines the Law has to be out of reach of the law.

Moreover, the "law was made for man" (I Tim. 1:9), not for God. 

In fact, God can kill anyone, yet sinless. He can do anything "we call" sinful, yet He is sinless. 

And, he can also declare and call a person "perfect in his eyes" like Job, even when no one is perfect but God.(Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). 

So, our understanding of omnipotence should include the power to do all, whether or not "we define" that as sinful. 

Yet God who did any of it is "sinless". Therefore, on these grounds, omnipotence includes no possibility for God to sin (as in "lie" in Heb 6:18; Titus 1:2).

November 10 2014 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


3
Mini Derrol PORTER Supporter Emancipated by the Liberating King
The New Testament word for sin, sinful or sins is "harmatia" in the Greek.It is used 173 times. It's foundational meaning, is to miss the mark or target. 

What mark or target? The mark or target God sets. Thus if God sets the mark or target, it is irrefutable truth, that God can't miss His own mark or target.

That doesn't make God not omnipotent, it makes God, God.

June 23 2019 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


2
Mini Al Mark Supporter
This question is like the one raised to try to catch believers in a conundrum - can God make a rock so heavy that he can't lift it? Whether the answer is yes or no, it results in God not being omnipotent.

What the question asker fails to consider is that God can't do anything that is logically impossible or contrary to His character. Both questions fail to satisfy these criteria.

May 30 2020 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


0
Mini Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit
Since God is the creator of all things, he is also automatically the judge of whether his creation is fulfilling the purpose for which he created it.

So a better definition of sin would be "any rebellion against the will of God".
What is the will of God? It is the revelation God has given us in his Word, the bible. Everything God has said in his word that expresses his expected behaviour from human beings represents his will. We often measure sin by comparison to the "law of God" but his revelation also includes everything he expects us to do, not just those things we are to avoid.

So getting back to the question of whether God can sin, let's summarize it by two logical statements.

The will of God is:
I will do what I want to do

The sin of God would be:
I won't do what I want to do

If God can logically sin then:
I won't do what I will do

This statement is a logical impossibility therefore God cannot sin.

March 20 2017 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


0
Mini Simplicius Pereira Supporter Education Trainer & Trading Enterprenuer from Mumbai
Can God sin and Is he truly omnipotent?

Whatever God does is right and with a purpose and so there cannot be any sin. Secondly if he is capable of doing anything, anywhere, anytime whatever happens is out of his will and power and so it is righteous and not sinful. So we can say he is omnipotent.

The Lord has explained it beautifully in the parable of sower. 
The sower sowed the seeds. Some fell on the street and the birds of air ate them. Some fell on the thorns and thistles and when they grew into plants they were crushed by them. Some fell on the rocky grounds and when they grew they burnt by their heat and some fell on good soil and the plants grew to give fruit some in thirty fold, some in sixty fold and some in hundred fold.

Here, has the sower committed any sin? No. Because he knew what is going to happen and he let it happen. Are the seeds wrong in falling in the wrong place and getting destroyed? No. because it was the sower who made them fall there. Are the seeds wrong who gave thirty or sixty fold when others gave a hundred fold?. No. Because even if the soil was same, the making of seeds are of different potential and it was the sower who chose them to grow and bear fruit according to their capacity.

Here, the Lord is sower and we human beings are the seeds. We have no choice but to accept in what way the Lord has made us and in what way we are to grow or be crushed or taken away in whatever circumstances we are put. But if we accept our fate and be faithful in carrying out our role we will be not sinning. But if we are trying to become something else then we would commit sin and act against the will of our Lord, the sower. Our sower the Lord is sinless and omnipotent and can put us anywhere he wishes to put us.

October 18 2017 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


0
My picture Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church
God can't lie (Titus 1:2), sin, or violate His own character. Refuse the claim that statements of His authority over His creation contradict statements about His character.

September 22 2019 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


Add your Answer

All answers are REVIEWED and MODERATED.
Please ensure your answer MEETS all our guidelines.

What makes a good answer? ▼

A good answer provides new insight and perspective. Here are guidelines to help facilitate a meaningful learning experience for everyone.

  1. Adhere to the eBible Statement of Faith.
  2. Your answer should be complete and stand-alone.
  3. Include supporting arguments, and scripture references if possible. Seek to answer the "why".
  4. Adhere to a proper tone and spirit of love and understanding.
  5. For more info see The Complete Guide to eBible
Header
  1. 4000 characters remaining