He Cannot Deny Himself

2023-02-09

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

God cannot deny His people because they are a part of His family. However, there is a broader truth here: God cannot deny His own character or contradict Himself.

Have you ever heard the question, Can God create a rock that is so heavy He cannot lift? The intent is to undermine God’s omnipotence. The intent: Is His creative ability limited or is His strength limited?

This is a non-sequitur. God would have to create an infinitely heavy rock. If God created something infinitely heavy, the rock would be of infinite matter. However, only God is infinite, being spirit and not matter (John 4:24). He was not created; He was from eternity past. A created object cannot be infinite or deity, and God cannot create a non-created object, which is self-defeating. Infinity exists in theory, such as in counting numbers, but it does not exist in creation.

God also cannot be tempted to do evil: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James 1:13). He also cannot lie: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2). And again, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18). God’s omnipotence cannot contradict Himself.