Power (theology)

“ It was an effect of the power of God to make man holy at the first; but more remarkably so now, because there is a great deal of opposition and difficulty in the way. ’Tis a more glorious effect of power to make that holy that was so depraved and under the dominion of sin, than to confer holiness on that which before had nothing of the contrary. It is a more glorious work of power to rescue a soul out of the hands of the devil, and from the powers of darkness, and to bring it into a state of salvation, than to confer holiness where there was no prepossession or opposition. ”

“ What we want is not law, but power, and what the Gospel gives us, and stands alone in giving us, is not merely the knowledge of the will of God, and the clear revelation of what we ought to be, but the power to become it. ”

“ Are we to understand by the Holy Spirit anything different from ‘power from on high:’ or rather are we not to understand by both the fulfilment of the promise of the Father by His own power and presence? ”

“ I would, by Thy power and Thy might, soar to such heights that nothing whatsoever would have the power to keep me back from the manifold evidences of Thy transcendent dominion, nor would any earthly scheme shut me out from the manifestations of Thy Divine holiness. ”

“ What then is God's scheme of saving men? You say "it is putting men into possession of the power of God." Now look at it. The gospel is the power! The power is the scheme!! and the scheme is the putting men into possession of the power!!! ”

“ Or else, the irresistible force of his inward nature impels man to recognize that higher power from which he would fain free himself entirely, and to seek that connection with it which he cannot but feel needful to his comfort; but, inasmuch as he is without any real inward sympathy of disposition with the Divinity, and wants a true sense of holiness, the Divinity appears to his darkened religious conscience only under the form of power and arbitrary rule. ”

“ Is any one so rash as to believe your words, of which he sees that you are yourself doubtful, and to admit that there is a certain power unknown to God the Creator, and to Moses, and the prophets, and the law, and even to Jesus our Master, which power is so good, that it will not make itself known to any but to one only, and that one such an one as thou! ”

“ We have the power in our own hands, if we live with our lives hid with Christ in God. We are here where the the Lord wants us to be; and if we will be as he wants us to be, the kingdom is ours—the greatness, the glory, power, excellency, light, intelligence, and eternity of the kingdom of God are ours, and no power can hinder it. ”

“ Now, power here is a matter of steering, so far as our part is concerned. We steer to get into the current of our Lord Jesus' will, and, by His grace, we use all our will power in keeping in that current, and out of the shallows and suction-eddies at the side. The Lord Jesus, once spit upon and crucified, now seated "far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named," and at work on earth through His Holy Spirit,—this Lord Jesus, free to do as He chooses,—this is power. He is power. ”

“ And although the breath of all this mighty and immeasurable power, and the vigour itself produced, so to speak, by its own existence, proceed from the power itself, as the will does from the mind, yet even this will of God is nevertheless made to become the power of God. ”

“ Whether There Is Power in God?
Objection 1: It seems that power is not in God. For as primary matter is to power, so God, who is the first agent, is to act. But primary matter, considered in itself, is devoid of all act. ”

“ The idea of an omnipotent power, moving in and of itself in obedience to the dictates of infinite wisdom and goodness, would be forever merged and lost in the dark scheme of an implexed series and concatenation of causes, binding all things fast, God himself not excepted, in the iron bonds of fate. ”

“ Before the Power "manifest in the flesh" in Jesus Christ, our souls hush, in an awe which breathes within us worship, trust and love. And if this Power be the very Power felt in history and in nature, whose ways therein are so often baffling to the moral sense, then all is well. ”

“ But a person, called the Holy Spirit, living in me—shall I make it very definite by saying, living in my body?—that is power. If restrained by sin, or disobedience, or ignorance, or wilfulness of any sort, then power restrained, held in check, not evident. If utterly unrestrained, given free sway and control—ah! then power manifest, limitless, wonderful, all exercised in carrying out God's will in, and with, and through me. ”

“ If power, they shall have all power to fulfill their will, as God to fulfill his. For, as God will have power to do what he wills, through himself, so they will have power, through him, to do what they will. ”

“ I feel my own nature rebelling against my aspiration, and I want power to conquer it. The apostle says the gospel is power unto salvation, and that power is needed where life must be one combat, as mine must be for the time to come. ”

“ Is prayer really a power with God, or is it merely an expedient by which our own piety may be cultivated? Is it not merely a power (that is, a stated antecedent accompanied by the idea of causation) , but is it a transcendent power, accomplishing what no other power can, over-ruling all other agencies, and rendering them subservient to its own wonderful efficiency? ”

“ For if we believe on the one hand in the divinity of our Lord and Saviour, we also believe that 'the Son is subject to the Father' and listen to His own words when He says, 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.' So that whatever difference there may be between His relation to the power which He wields and that of a prophet or miracle-worker, who derives his power from Him, this is true, that Christ's power, too, is a power given to Him. ”

“ The Gospel then reveals the Mighty Power that lifts itself between us and judgment, the Mighty Power that intervenes to prevent absolute destruction, the Power which saves from sin, from wrath, from death. ”

“ But adopting that in the text the argument is: there is unquestionably a providence implying the exertion of divine power. That power is not exercised by idols or heathen gods. The only other alternative is, that it is exercised by the one self-existent God. ”

“ Behold, God exalteth by his power," that is, "He does, may, and can set up and pull down whom he pleases, and therefore it is not for thee nor me to contend with him." The more we magnify God the more do we humble and abase ourselves. Now consider, (1.) That God is an absolute sovereign: He exalts by his own power, and not by strength derived from any other. ”

“ And again, if it is not our doing to form within us a heart of flesh, but the work of God alone, it will not be in our power to live virtuously, but it will in everything appear to be a work of divine grace. Such are the assertions of those who wish to prove from the authority of Holy Scripture that nothing lies in our own power. ”

“ And if it be replied that all this is nothing but one form of the development of humanity and shows no proof of a Divine Ruler, we have a right to ask what then could be the source of such a development, and how is it that so great a power should always have worked in the name of God and should have always referred everything to His command? ”

“ We profess to know that God has revealed his law, that he has restored the holy Priesthood, and that he is communicating his will to the human family. We profess to believe that the kingdom of God will overrule and prevail over every other power and every other form of government and that it will go on from strength to strength, from power to power, from intelligence to intelligence, from knowledge to knowledge ”

“ Therefore, the spiritual power, inasmuch as it concerns the best things—things having their sufficiency in themselves—excels the earthly power, since the latter is of no avail independent of the spiritual power which is the chief regulative force. On the other hand, the spiritual power may act by itself without the aid of the earthly power. ”

“ And that is the task that the Gospel sets to itself. Now, I need not remind you how, for the execution of such a purpose, it is plain that something else than man's power is absolutely essential. It is only God who can alter my relation to His government. It is only God who can trammel up the inward consequences of my sins and prevent them from scourging me. ”

“ For the act of a power is not found to fail except that power be inordinately disposed with regard to its object. Now the object of the higher reason is the eternal law, in respect of which there can be no disorder without mortal sin. ”

“ Man needs a power out of and above himself to restore him to the likeness of God. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ.” 9. What two facts testify to the union of divinity and humanity in Christ?
“Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” ”

“ Have we not power? Yes. Have we not authority bequeathed to us from the heavens—a legacy from God to hold dominion over the elements? Yes. Then go to like men, like angels, like Him we read of, whom we love and serve and worship, who in his former capacity organized the elements as we are taught to do for our own benefit, beauty, comfort, excellency, and glory, and beautify the earth and make it like the garden of Eden, so that the angels will delight to come and dwell here, and Jesus Christ will delight to dwell with his brethren on the earth. ”

“ Power and authority sent down from heaven and conferred upon weak mortal man to baptize for the remission of sins! Power and authority sent from the eternal heavens to build up his Church here on the earth; and we see divine power and authority accompaning those who he has thus called and to whom he has thus revealed himself. Consequently our Gospel does not come with the cunning craftiness of man's wisdom. Though we may be poor, illiterate men, taken from our common avocations of life and sent forth by the Lord Almighty to proclaim his Gospel, we have one thing the world has not got. ”

“ I venture to affirm that there is no power known, either to thinkers, or philanthropists, or doctrinaires, or strivers after excellence in the world—no power known and available which will lift a life to such heights of beauty and self-sacrificing nobility, as will the power that comes to us by communication of the grace that is in Jesus Christ. ”

“ Can it be believed that a mere man could be advanced at once so high as to be above angels, and to be qualified to rule and judge the world ? Do not all things rise gradually, one acquisition laying the foundation for another, and perhaps for higher acquisitions? The power, in particular, which the scriptures teach us Christ possesses, of raising to life all who have died, and all who will die, is equivalent to the power of creating a world. ”

“ This is a splendid prerogative and hard to attain, and a true omnipotent power, a spiritual dominion, in which there is nothing so good and nothing so evil, but that it shall work together for good to me, if only I believe. And yet, since faith alone suffices for salvation, I have need of nothing, except that faith exercise the power and dominion of its own liberty. ”

“ One movement of God’s power is worth more than all our artificial power, and what the Church of God wants to-day is to get down in the dust of humiliation and confession of sin, and go out and be separated from the world ”

“ But, before I conclude, I must give a caution to those who hear me, that they may not think I am pleading for absolute unlimited power in any one man. It is true, all power is from God: and, as the apostle says, "The powers that be are ordained of God;" ”

“ All power belongs to God; and it is not in all the vain power of dogma and philosophy to dispossess the divine Mind of healing power, or to cast out error with error, even in the name and for the sake of Christ, and so heal the sick. ”