56. 3. In the universe and everything in it, God's omnipotence follows and works through the laws of its design. God is omnipotent, because he has all power from himself. All others have power from him. God's power and his will are one. Because he wills nothing but what is good, he cannot do anything but what is good. In the spiritual world no one can do anything against his or her will - a condition there that comes from God, from the fact that his power and his will are one. God is in fact goodness itself. When he does something good, he is in himself. He cannot walk away from himself.

Clearly then, his omnipotence fills, and works within, the sphere of the extension of goodness, a sphere that is infinite. At a deep level, this sphere pervades the universe and everything in it. At a deep level, this sphere also governs things outside of itself to the extent that they become part of it through their own design. If things do not become part of that sphere, it still sustains them. It tries in every way to bring them back to a design in harmony with the universal design that God inhabits with his omnipotence and follows in his actions. If things against the design are not brought back into the design, they are cast out of God; but there he still sustains them from deep within.

From all this you can see that divine omnipotence cannot move outside itself into contact with any evil, nor can it move evil away from itself. Evil turns itself away, which is how it ends up being completely separated from God and thrown into hell. Between heaven, where God is, and hell, there is a huge chasm.

From these few points you can see how insane people are who think that God can condemn anyone, curse anyone, throw anyone into hell, predestine anyone's soul to eternal death, avenge wrongs, or rage against or punish anyone. People are even more insane if they actually believe this, let alone teach it. In reality, God cannot turn away from us or even look at us with a frown. To do any such thing would be against his essence, and what is against his essence is against himself.

341. To believe that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is not saved, but that God has freedom to save or damn at His whim anyone He wishes, would enable the person who is lost justifiably to accuse God of lack of mercy and unforgivingness, not to say cruelty. In fact it would amount to denying that God was God, and to asserting that what He said in His Word was worthless and that His commandments were of no, or at any rate trifling, importance. Moreover, if a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is not saved, he too can convict God of breaking His covenant which He made on Mount Sinai and wrote with His finger on two tables. It is evident from the Lord's words (in John 14:21-24) that God cannot avoid saving those who live in accordance with His commandments and have faith in Him. Indeed anyone who has a religion and sound reason can convince himself of this, if he reflects that God, who is continually present with man, giving him life and the ability to understand and love, must inevitably love him, and by His love link Himself to those who live a good life and hold a proper belief. This is surely something God has imprinted on every human being and on every living thing. Can a father or mother reject their young children, can a bird reject its chicks, an animal its whelps? Not even tigers, panthers and snakes can do this. For God to act differently would be contrary to the order in which He is and according to which He acts, as well as contrary to the order He imposed by creation on man.

[2] Now just as it is impossible for God to damn anyone who lives a good life and holds a proper belief, so in the reverse case it is impossible for God to save anyone who lives a wicked life and as a result holds a false belief. This second proposition is also contrary to order, and therefore contrary to His omnipotence, which can only proceed by way of justice; and the laws of justice are immutable truths. For the Lord says:

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to fall out, Luke 16:17.

Anyone who knows anything of the essence of God and of man's free will can grasp this. For example, Adam was free to eat of the tree of life, and of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he had only eaten of the tree or trees of life, would it have been possible for God to drive him out of the garden? I hardly think so. But after he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would it have been possible for God to keep him in the garden? Again, I hardly think so. Likewise I hardly think God could cast any angel who had been received into heaven down to hell, nor admit anyone judged a devil into heaven. Neither of these things are possible for God by His own omnipotence, as may be seen in the section on the Divine omnipotence (49-70 above).