Is anything impossible for God?

Question

Matt 19:26-
According to verse, "with God all things are possible".
However, Hebrews 6:18 declares that "It is impossible for God to lie"

Tell me your thoughts about this.

Thank you for your answers!

I did some homework and this is what I found:

In the context in Matthew indicates that Jesus is speaking of what is HUMANLY impossible, whereas, Hebrews informs us that some things ( for example lying ) are actually impossible for God.

The former passage indeed tells that Jesus said "with man everything is impossible, " including that He was only speaking of what was humanly impossible, but not divinely impossible.

However, there are some things that even God cannot do. For example, He cannot do anything that would contradict His nature, such as, cease being God, or be unholy, or do what is logically impossible ( like making a square circle, or forcing people freely to love Him, or make 1+1 to be anything else than 2..I had to add that due to some answers I have seen from people who are mocking God )

God cannot make a stone so big that He cannot lift it, since the created things cannot be greater than the Creator.

HOWEVER, GOD CAN DO ANYTHING THAT IS POSSIBLE TO DO!!

He is all-powerful ( omnipotent ),
the Almighty (Job 5:17, 6:14, 42:2 )

Answer 1

As one poster rightly pointed out, the context of any scripture must be considered. In Matthew, Jesus was discussing the difficulty of a rich person gaining heavenly life and used hyperbole to illustrate this difficulty. Having heard this, someone said well, if that's the case, is it possible for anybody to be saved? And Jesus then said the words you cited. In this context he was explaining that despite the difficulty, it is possible for a rich person to get into heaven when God is involved.

Hebrews 6:18 however is declaring an undeniable fact: it is literally impossible for God to lie. Just as it is literally impossible for him to die, be unfaithful, disloyal, or commit sin.

For those who say God can do anything at all, that would reasonably include practicing deception and disloyalty. Would those same people truly want to worship a god who was that unreliable and capricious? That cannot be.

Therefore, just as the Bible says, there are some things that are impossible for God. This in no way detracts from his almightiness, however.

Answer 2

You have to look at the context of the verse, not just the few words you want to dissect. TAke the whole verse and the one before and the one after to see what the context is. With God all things are possible for whom? For us. God is the creator and all things can be done by Him but we are the ones that do not believe so have trouble with that. But if we have faith, all things are possible for us to accomplish, just as it was possible for Jesus to do the miracles He did. In Hebrews, it is saying that God cannot lie. Now THAT is in context. How can a pure holy God lie? Not possible or He would not be God. That is why Satan has such a hold on people as he is the father of lies and does it all the time but God has to be honest. There is something else God cannot do or He would have done it. That is, change His laws, the Ten Commandments. The Catholic Church says it has that power but God can't do it. Who gave that power to the Catholic church anyway? Does any man have a right to change a law of God?

Answer 3

The God of the bible has virtues that are intrinsic with who He is. These virtues are a necessary component of His character so much so that you could say that they are that which defines for us finite creatures who He is. At the core of all other virtues is the single virtue of benevolence or what we would rather refer to as love. All Gods actions or non-actions must flow from the fact that Love is the purest and radical definition of Himself. He cannot do anything that is against this fundamental truth of Himself. Even in those actions or instances whereby God seemingly appears not to act, when we feel or think He should, He has a broader understanding of the circumstances out side of space and time which we cannot possibly understand within our finiteness. So to answer your question, yes, some things are impossible for God. You must not take scripture out of context and apply it in ways that were not intended. The context here in the verse "with God all things are possible" has to do with Jesus' answer to the inquiry "who then can be saved?" and must be viewed within that venue. To pull scripture out of context and apply it willy nilly wherever is convenient is why we have so much schism in the church and the world today. If you want to know what the Word of God says, don't jump to making nonsense where sense is easily had. God Bless those who would take scripture for all that it is worth.

Answer 4

If you're going to throw scripture at us, at least read it.

In the KJV version it says:

That by, two immutable things in which it was impossibe for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.......................

Shall I translate?

If I said it was impossible for you to be lying about these texts, would I be saying you were incapable of lying at all? What is more Paul was just saying (read immutable) that the things of which he spoke were (As the Declaration of Independence puts it) "self evident" and, therefore it was not possible that God had lied.

Anyhow, if they were contradictory (and they are not) I'd take the word of Jesus (Matthew) over that of Paul (Hebrews)

This time I won't even say nice try.

Answer 5

It is impossible for God to sin. Sin is a deliberate disobedience to God's will. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) Can God separate from himself?

He is perfect. Matt 5:48 "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect". Perfect - lacking nothing, complete, pure, without blemish or defect.

You also need to remember who Jesus is talking to in Matt 19:26. He is talking to his disciples using the parable about the rich man getting into heaven. Jesus was stating that with God's help, all things are possible. God CAN do it. The rich man can get it in, but not by his own power or deeds or money. We need to rely on His strength to do the things He desires of us. He wants us to be Christ like. It is possible with God, we choose not to do it. We have the ability to make choices and unfortunately as humans it is in our nature to choose the sinful ways at times.

God can't lie, God can't make you sin (you have the ability to choose to do it and He does allow it and will use it for good).

So the answer to your question is yes and no.

Answer 6

NOTHING is impossible for God. You're not taking it too litterally, and the Bible is not contradicting its self.

The easiest way to put this is that God can do anything... of course... He is God after all.

The part about it being "impossible for him to lie" means this: Just as a (sane) parent would not willingly go up and poke out their kid's eye because they love the kid and it goes against what everything of being a parent is about. They won't do it because they can't, just because it would be impossible to do without destroying what they as parents are. Loving protectors.

God would not decieve because it goes against everything of who he is. God is a God of principals, of rules. He has no reason to lie anyway.

Answer 7

Sure, God makes himself incapable of lying. I believe when we go to heaven, he will make us completely forget those we knew on earth that get condemned. I mean it wouldn't be very heavenly if we felt sorrow knowing a friend or relative didn't make it to heaven and might be burning in fire forever. All things are possible with God. When satan was banished, satan was stripped of being able to tell the truth, stripped of love and all that is of God. Why do you think he is always so ticked off? If you wonder why I don't capitalize the 's' in satan, well I just do that out of disrespect.

Answer 8

This is a silly "gotch-ya." You think you found a contradiction, but they really are not. All things are possible with God, but the second quote is part of the declaration of God's commitment to us. Realize that you can trust Him always. That's what I sincerely hope that you take away from this.

Answer 9

I think there's something impossible for God, and sadly it is that he can make disappear the evil in our world, there are a lot of madness and injustice because of people that acts really badly but God loves everyone, so he cannot hate anyone, so it's hard for him to destroy the evil.... cuz he will have to destroy some of us and thats not what he wants

Answer 10

Why do you have to have others tell you what to think. Why would you belive a book writen 2000 yrs ago, in airamic translated into greek then latin then german, swiss, then english, and rewriten by 7 english clerks and changed as the king, James it was, mandated. Not to be insulting. Just do not understand the mindless following.