The Cradle Of Christian Truth: The Apostles’ Creed (Part 4)—God . . . Almighty

by on February 25, 2025 | Comment

One question meant to trap Christians in an unsolvable philosophical problem is, “If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so heavy that even he can’t pick it up?” Or as my philosophy professor from college, who was an atheist, liked to ask it: “If God is all powerful, can he make a burrito so hot that even he can’t eat it?” The point of the question is to try to make you think that God’s almighty power does not make consistent sense, given a supposed trap either way you answer.

The answer is truly easy though. He cannot make something that outdoes himself because God cannot cease to be God. Christians have always understood that God’s almighty power does not mean power to do anything we imagine. God cannot lie. God cannot sin. God cannot condone sin. He cannot do things that conflict with what it means to be God. Because God is God, he is always above and in charge of his creatures and their affairs in his creation.

The point here is not just to give you the answer to a supposed philosophical conundrum. The point is to show that God’s sovereignty is connected to who God is. He is the Maker of all things, and so must govern them. We are not meant to play mental games about God’s sovereignty but to bow before him in awe that he is the Lord of the universe.

God’s sovereignty has troubled countless people over the years. It is hard for us to reckon with how God is in control and at the same time affirm that we make decisions and are not robots. It is even harder, perhaps, for us to understand why bad things happen and evil exists in the world when God is in absolute control of everything.

Despite how vexing these questions are, we can try so hard to untangle difficult questions sometimes that we miss the baseline point. Westminster Confession of Faith 3.8 says, “The doctrine of this high mystery is to be handled with special prudence and care” so that “this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel” (emphasis added). Our considerations of how God is almighty ought to strengthen us in our love for God and comfort in belonging to him.

The Apostles’ Creed’s first affirmation about God includes that he is almighty. He is sovereign. So, belief in God’s sovereignty is a fundamental Christian doctrine. Believers of differing traditions will attempt to explain it in different ways. The Creed, however, means that no true Christian can deny that God is sovereign. The true God is the sovereign God.

Sovereignty

In Ephesians 1, we see all the pieces of the Creed’s first article—“I believe in God the Father Almighty”—come together. The God who is sovereign is triune.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Eph 1:3–6)

This teaching develops to show how it is good for us that the Father is almighty. God the Father of Jesus Christ chose us. Immediately, we ought to see why God’s sovereignty should be heartwarming rather than philosophically mind-bending or frightening. God the Father of Jesus Christ, the loving God, in a fatherly way chose the elect to be related to Jesus Christ the Savior.

God the Father of Jesus Christ has showered heavenly blessings on his people, and this God who blesses is the one who chose every believer. At times, the idea of a “second blessing” has become widespread in Christian circles, claiming that you advance from a basic Christian to a Spirit-filled Christian. As my pastor Harry Reeder used to say, if someone ever asks you if you have the second blessing, you should say, “Yes, and I also have the third.” They will probably be shocked, but you could finish, “I actually have all the spiritual blessings.” It is what Ephesians says: God already gave us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The Father chose us to be blameless in Christ. He wiped away our sins so that he could look upon us as holy. Motivated by love, he chose us to be joined to Christ, so that he would see us as his adopted children, brothers and sisters of his natural Son through redemption.

This sovereign plan was according to his will for the sake of his praise. When we say God acts for his own glory, we also believe that is good for us. He gets glory as we praise him, and we praise him because he loved and saved us.

In him [Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:11–14)

God Almighty predestined us for an inheritance according to his sovereign purpose. He works for his praise by showing love to his people. Upon bringing us to faith, God grants us the Holy Spirit as the indwelling guarantee of our salvation.

My wife and I recently bought a house. One thing we needed was a down payment—a sum of money as a promise that the rest will come. It is the guarantee that the full sum will be given over.

The Spirit is likewise given as the guarantee. Because God chose you, believer, for everlasting life in the enjoyment of his love, he has given the Spirit to indwell you. He is the promise, the down payment, that because new life has begun in you, it must be completed.

So, God’s sovereignty is already wrapped in his identity as Father, Son, and Spirit. The triune God will from beginning to end see you to salvation. God’s sovereignty is his power to love you despite your rebellion against him. God’s sovereignty is his authority to deal with your sin without sending you to hell by redeeming you in the Lord Jesus’ work.

Strength

We live in an age when power is supposedly a bad thing. Everyone is out to prove they are the victim, eager to demonstrate how someone misused authority to get one over on them so they can get their recompense. Ironically, that itself is often a misuse of power because it weaponizes victimhood, making victimhood a powerful commodity, which then dilutes the reality, pain, and hardship of real victims and even makes a mockery of their trials. Regardless of those cultural games, people are suspicious of power, thinking it a tool for abuse.

God’s sovereign power is his ability to bring love, salvation, and redemption where it would never be were he not in control. If God were not sovereign, we would never turn from our sins. If God had not chosen us, we would be left in condemnation. God’s power is the strength of love, acting to bring good to those who need it, even though we do not deserve it.

We should reflect on that for a moment as a way of application to our own lives. So often, we think strength means being the biggest, baddest person on the block who could take out everyone else. When I used to go to the gym, it seemed like the guys with the biggest muscles always had the meanest looks on their faces, prowling around like they wanted everyone to be intimidated by their presence. That is too often how people think about strength, as a tool to intimidate people.

What does Ephesians 1 say about the effect of God’s power? God’s sovereignty is focused on the distribution of love, the comfort of his people, our reassurance of his commitment to us. God Almighty implements his strength to overcome sin, to bring blessing to his people, to ensure that we will receive good things from him, and to guarantee his love for us. So, God’s strength comforts his people.

So, we should highlight that true strength puts those we love at ease. True strength should settle our loved ones and provide a place of comfort, reprieve, and rest. Strength used to intimidate and bully almost always manifests some sort of fear of being inferior. Which means, intimidation and bullying is more about weakness than about real strength.1

God’s sovereignty brings peace upon those whom he loves. We need to consider what it means in whatever capacity of authority and strength we have, whether at work, in our families, or in any relationship, to use our strength to put people at ease. We might fear that people might make wrong decisions or not do what we want if they are not afraid of us. God, however, uses his strength for his people to experience his love and to make space for us to make good decisions. God’s love changes us from disordered, trapped-in-sin messes into renewed children chosen for holiness. The goodness of God’s sovereignty fuels our continual renewing, giving us what we need to walk rightly in his love. God’s strength puts us at rest, granting our renewal and bestowing confidence and assurance concerning the God who loves us.

Safety

One of the questions I hear a lot is: “If God is sovereign, why pray?” The assumption is that prayer is useless if God has already decided how everything in history turns out. My response is: “Why pray if God isn’t sovereign?” If God is not powerful enough to act and achieve things beyond our strength, then what is the use in asking him to act for us? Further, if God is not so powerful as to be able to answer his people’s prayer, would he be worthy of our praises? If God cannot keep his promises, is he trustworthy?

The bottom-line is that God’s sovereignty undergirds our hope, our ability to rejoice at who he is, and our ability to be at ease in his hands. Even in the worst and most frightening moments of our lives, Christians find rest and comfort because we know that all our hardship is under God’s control. We may not be in control. We may not be able to handle things. But our sovereign God is.

One of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, Casper Olevian, said that God’s immense power “ought to encourage us to trust in him, the God who calls those things which did not exist” into existence.2 If God could make the whole universe when nothing, literally nothing, existed but him, then certainly he is powerful enough to stand against whatever troubles you. In other words, God’s sovereignty grounds our safety. God can take care of us no matter what comes our way because he is sovereign. God ensures that we are safe because he is sovereign, because he is almighty.

God has proven his strength to make us safe in the gospel. There is no greater obstacle between us and God’s love than our sin. Our rebellion against God deserves everlasting condemnation. God’s love is so strong and so sovereign that he is able to overcome even our sin without undermining his justice. Jesus Christ took the penalty of our sin to reconcile us with God. In Christ, God nailed the demands of the law to the cross, removing condemnation from us. Only a sovereign God could secure salvation for us.

In Jesus, then, we learn to be at ease because nothing comes our way apart from what God wants for us, and what he knows will work together for our good. However bad things may seem, however daunting the world is, there is no safer place to be than in the hands of our sovereign God. He has appointed the ends of all things. And he has earned our trust in Jesus.

Notes

  1. Ben Myers, The Apostles’ Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism, Christian Essentials (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 26.
  2. Casper Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, trans. Lyle D. Bierma, Classic Reformed Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009), 24.

©Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

You can find the whole series here.

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