omnipotence

For some reason I was dipping into AA Hodge's exposition of the Westminster Confession the other day, and came across this passage which it might be worth sharing.

"The power of God is the power of his all-perfect, self-existent essence. He has absolutely unlimited power to do whatsoever his nature determines him to will. But this power cannot be directed against his nature. The ultimate principles of reason and of moral right and wrong are not products of the divine power, but are principles of the divine nature. God cannot change the nature of right and wrong, etc, because he did not make himself, and these have their determination in his own eternal perfections. He cannot act unwisely or unrighteously; not for want of the power as respects the act, but for want of will, since God is eternally, immutably, and most freely and spontaneously, wise and righteous." (AA Hodge, The Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, p 52; on WCF ch 2, sec 1-2.)

The bits that were particularly striking were the statement that moral right vs wrong is not a product of divine power, but comes from the principles of the divine nature, and the last few phrases, "God is eternally, immutably, and most freely and spontaneously, wise and righteous."

Hodge was an American theologian of the nineteenth century (1823-1886); he succeeded his father Charles as professor of sytematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, and was famous not only as a speaker, writer, and preacher, but even as someone who was able to popularise theology, making it clear and accessible without compromising on depth and spirituality.