What God Cannot Do

Augustine said it — and it is one of the most discerning observations mere man ever has made concerning God.

“There are three things God cannot do! He cannot (1) lie or (2) die or (3) be deceived.”

And Scripture confirms the eternal truth of the ancient theologian’s declaration. God has three distinct inabilities. Would you care to examine them with me for a moment?

God cannot lie. Look at the testimony of Paul the apostle to his youthful friend, Titus: “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

It is completely outside the realm of possibility that God should speak an untruth. Yet God has spoken much! This means that His utterances are infinitely more dependable than the testimony of even the most trustworthy of mortal men. He speaks the truth, and chief among His promises is that of eternal life — forgiveness of sin and restoration to his fellowship — to all who receive Jesus Christ as Lord.

God can never die. “(Jesus), who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life” (Hebrew 7:16).

Jesus, the Son of God and Saviour of sinners, is not subject to the carnal laws that govern all other life. “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Cor. 4:18). All that we see with our eyes and touch with our hands is doomed to degenerative process — whether slow or fast — and must some day pass away. Life runs its course. The grave is never satisfied. But neither Jesus nor the life He gives is held in such bondage. His and His alone is the “power of an endless life,” and His alone is the authority to impart that life to believing men. God cannot die.

Nor can He be deceived! “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).

The life of every man is an open book to the Judge of all the universe. Too many of us live as if God were some distant cosmic power that can be tuned in or out at our own convenience. He sees our sin and He hates it, and His Word takes pains to warn us that the consequence of our sin is death.

How then can we escape the wrath of a God who cannot lie or die or be deceived? Left to our own resources there would be no hope. But God Himself has provided an unfailing solution for all who will yield themselves to Him in self-abandoning faith. In Jesus Christ He has come to earth, and in His own body He has paid the penalty for our sins. As our substitute Jesus died, and in His death all the just demands of God against sin are forever satisfied. For certain because God cannot lie. Forever because God cannot die. For you because God cannot be deceived.

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