an attribute of God alone, and essential to his nature as an infinite, independent, and perfect Being. Among the distinct declarations of Scripture attributing such power to God are the following: Gen_17:1; Exo_15:11-12; Deu_3:24; 1Sa_14:6; Psa_62:11; Psa_65:6; Psa_147:5; Dan_4:35; Mat_6:13; Mat_19:26; Eph_3:20; Rev_19:6. It is also clearly expressed in the epithet Shaddai (q.v.), often applied to him in the O.T. The power of God is especially evinced:
1. In creation (Gen_1:1; Rom_1:20);
2. In the preservation of his creatures (Heb_1:3; Col_1:16-17);
3. In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ (Luk_1:35; Luk_1:37; Eph_1:19);
4. In the conversion of sinners (Psa_110:3; 2Co_4:7);
5. In the continuation and success of the Gospel in the world (Mat_13:31-32);
6. In the preservation of the saints (1Pe_1:5);
7. In the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians ch. 15);
8. In making the righteous happy forever, and in punishing the wicked (Mat_25:34; Php_3:20-21). This power is only limited by God's own holy nature, which renders it impossible for him to do wrong (Num_23:19; Heb_6:18), and by the laws of possibility which he has himself created in the nature of things; in other words, we cannot conceive of his performing either a metaphysical or a moral contradiction. See Cocker, Theistic Conception of the World (N.Y. 1876, 12mo), p. 355 sq.; Malcom, Theol. Index, s.v.; Haag, Histoire des DogmesChretiens, 1:291; 2:16 sq., 139 sq., 147. SEE LAW.