If You Had Omnipotence and Omniscience for One Day, What Would You Do? What Those Words Actually Mean
Share
“If you had God’s omnipotence and omniscience for one day, what would you do?” sounds like a superhero question. Classical theology and philosophy make it stranger.
Omnipotence is commonly discussed as maximal power, but philosophers have long asked what follows from that definition. Does omnipotence include doing what is logically contradictory—or are contradictions not genuine tasks at all?
Omniscience is usually described as complete or maximal knowledge: knowing every truth. That immediately produces questions about future contingents, human freedom, indexical knowledge and whether divine knowledge changes with time.
The biblical texts usually approach these ideas less abstractly. Job’s final chapters contrast human limitation with divine knowledge and creative power. Psalm 139 imagines no place outside divine knowledge and presence. Romans 11 ends in astonishment at the depth of divine wisdom and knowledge. These passages do not solve every philosophical paradox; they supply religious language from which later reflection developed.
The moral problem inside the fantasy
If a human suddenly possessed maximal power and complete knowledge, the first problem would not be capability. It would be moral competence. Knowing every consequence would change what responsibility means. Having power to alter almost anything would magnify every ethical decision.
That is why traditional accounts usually discuss power and knowledge alongside goodness, justice and providence. The thought experiment becomes unstable if it borrows only the capacities while leaving out the moral attributes theology says belong with them.
Primary texts
- Job 38–42
- Psalm 139
- Isaiah 40:12–31
- Romans 11:33–36