By: Gen. Jim – 4/24/25
While many things are impossible for men, they are not with God. So, in this study I want to examine the many scriptures (adjs./verbs) that relate to my opening statement.
Impossible
Adunatos (ἀδύνατος), Greek, from dunatos = “able, strong,” is used of persons:
Acts 14:8 describes a man “impotent (the Gk. word above) in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked.” In other words, it was impossible for him to walk… but the impossible became possible by the power of God (he had faith to be healed, vs.9).
Paul uses this Gk. word in Rom. 15:1 (fig.), “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, & not to please ourselves.” He uses the word “weak” figuratively.
Matthew uses the Gk. word, as does Mark & Luke of persons, “impossible”, Mt. 19:26: “But Jesus beheld them, & said unto them, ‘with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” (Gk. dunatos, au adj.). Here we have both the words impossible & possible together. Mark says the same, as does Luke; Heb. 6:4,18 both have our Gk. word adunatos/impossible; Heb. 10:4 uses the words “not possible”; Heb. 11:6 tells us, “without faith it is impossible to please Him…”; In Rom. 8:3 says, “for what the Law could not do” (KJV), in, more literally, “the inability of the Law”; the meaning (according to some Gk. scholars) may be either “the weakness of the Law,” or “that which was impossible for the Law”; some believe the latter is perhaps preferable; literalism is ruled out here according to Gk. scholar W.E. Vine. He says the sense is that the Law could neither justify nor impart life. Right! If the Jewish Law could give eternal life, then Jesus would not have sacrificed His life for the sinners. The “Law” is the “substance”, see Heb. 10:1. Vs.4 tells us, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls & goats could take away sins.”
Anendektos
(ἀνένδεκτος)
Here is the second Gk. word (adj.) for “impossible”: It signifies inadmissible (euphonic, & endechomai, = “to admit, allow”).
Luke 17:1 reads: “Then He said unto the disciples, ‘it is impossible but that offences will come: but WOE unto him (or her), through whom they come.’” Yep! Offenses, persecutions, prosecutions, even prison time will come unto those who follow Christ. As I write this, we are under HEAVY persecution from the state (it/they have classified us as being “a very dangerous cult!”). Could they be AFRAID of what we preach & teach? They distain our Christain/Biblical stand against abortion/LGBTQ/militant Islam especially.
Luke 17:1 (NKJV) says, “It is impossible that NO OFFENSES should come…”
Paul was also writing about inner offensives (from factions, see 1 Cor. 11:19). These factions (causes divisions, vs.18) can result in internal warfare. We’ve experienced all this as well from many “Christians”/ “Christian churches” that sided with the state in persecutions/prosecutions.
Verb
Adunateō (ἀδυνατέω) signifies to be impossible (corresponding to “(nothing) shall be impossible (unto you); “For with God nothing shall be impossible” – Lk. 1:37; see also Mt. 17:20, “… and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
(In the Septuagint the verb is always used of things & signifies either to be “impossible” or to be “impotent”, e.g. Gen. 18:14; Lev. 25:35, “to fail”; Deut. 17:8; Job 4:4, “feeble”; 42:2; Dan. 4:6; Zech. 8:6 etc.).
Do We Believe?
Do we really believe “nothing shall be impossible unto you (us).” – Mt. 7:20? I wish I had this kind of faith. Was Jesus merely using hyperbolic language? He does so in some of His teachings. Faith, it has been said, does not move physical mountains by magic, but its own proper triumphs are more marvelous than large-scale engineering.
Possible (Adj.)
Dunates (δυνατός) means, “strong, mighty, powerful, able” (to do), in its neuter form; it signifies “possible”: “… with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” – Mt. 19:26.
The impossible made possible! We ask, how final & how far-reaching? This applies to more than man’s/women’s inability to overcome the temptation of riches (as our context implies). Certainly, a man/woman cannot save themselves from sin. If so, Jesus would not have come as SAVIOR. And I may state, a person cannot save themself from death. True, all die physically (with several exceptions in the Bible) but by & thru Jesus’ death will also be put to death as well as Hades/Hell (see Rev. 20:14).
Mt. 24:24 speaks of false Christs/prophets that “will rise & show great signs & wonders to deceive, if POSSIBLE, even the elect.” Here the Gk. dunatos is used again; Mt. 26:39 & Mark 9:23; 10:27; 13:22; 14:35,36; Lk. 18:27; Acts 2:24; 20:16 all use dunator. Acts 27:39 has in some mss., dunamai, “to be able”, in the most authentic, R.V., (“they could”). Rom 12:18; Gal. 4:15 have “possible” as well. (see Able).
Verb
Eimi (εἰμί), “to be”, is used in the 3rd person singular, impersonally, with the meaning “it is possible”, negatively in (R.V.) 1 Cor. 11:20 reads “it is not” (NKJV), and Heb. 9:5, “we cannot” (NKJV/A.V.), lit. “it is not possible”. Heb. 10:4, “it is not possible” (A.V.), i.e. “it is impossible”.
[note: εἰμί has the force of a predicate [i.e. is the substantive verb]: “to be”, i.e., “to exist”. My Gk. – Eng. Lexicon of the N.T. (J.H. Thayer) has 5 pages dedicated to this Gk. verb.].
Heb. 10:4 is the last place we find the word “possible”: (Strong’s #102 = adunatos (ἀδύνατος), a neg. particle = “unable, impossible, could not do, not possible.” The common Gk. word for “possible” is dunatos (as we have looked at.), it is rooted in dunamai/dunamis = miraculous power.
So…
Mt. 19:26 has both the words “impossible” & “possible” together. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Yet not all things God will allow for men. Could you imagine a world if God allowed this!
Synonyms:
“Unattainable, unachievable, infeasible, unfeasible, impractical, & unconceivable” [note: according to some there are 456 synonyms & antonyms for “impossible”].
Antonyms:
“Believable, conceivable, hopeful, imaginable, logival, practical, reasonable, sensible, achievable, obtainable, possible” et al.
With what is written in the Bible, salvation/redemption is POSSIBLE ONLY BY & THROUGH the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ; “not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:9). It is, as Paul writes, “by grace you (we) have been saved through faith, & that not of yourselves (ourselves); it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8).
Salvation:
With the noun “salvation” (Gk. sōtēria) is directly associated with the verb “save” (Gk. sōzō) & rather more obliqiquely the noun “savior” (Gk. sōtēv). In both the Gk. O.T./Septuagint & the secular Gk. the first two are connected with the notion of physical deliverance, e.g., from peril, illness/sickness, death etc. “Salvation”, however, issues from the vocabulary of the ruler CULT of the Greco-Roman kingdoms of the N.T. era. According to the Priene, writes Prof. P.W. Barnett, Bishop of North Sydney, i.e., the Priene inscription from Asi Minor, “Providence… has sent to us… a Savior… who has put an end to war… (aesor [Augustus]” (Spicq., 3:353).
Throughout the N.T. this word group lends itself metaphorically to the notion of eschatological “salvation”. The title Sōtēr is applied to both God the Father & God the Son. [see my other articles on “Salvation”].
Impossible: Heb. 6:4-6 has been a text of endless debate: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God & the powers of the coming age, if they fall away (lit. apostatize), to be brought back to repentance…” (the Heb-Gk Key Study Bible, NIV).
These much-debated passages, vss.4,5, discuss unbelievers who “fall away (v.6) by consciously rejecting the salvation enlightment/experience they have received (vs.4), (see my many articles on “can a believer lose their salvation”, esp. my “if”/ “then” clause articles – posted).
Some deny these texts talk about a genuine born-again believer. They read into it what they want it to say (eisegesis), rather than what it actually says (exegesis).
“If” one literally “falls away”, i.e. becomes an.. apostate, “then” they remain in an unsaved condition. A large part of the Christian Church does not entertain this but nevertheless it is true. The words apostasy, apostate, & apostatize describe “falling away” from the Christian faith. This is what these words mean. Deliberate apostasy will place a soul in peril – not to be “brought back” (Gk. anakainizin/anakainizō/ἀνακαινίζω = restore / brought back. We can point to Judas Iscariot. These “you can’t lose your salvation” try to convince us that JI was never a true believer. Jesus knew that he would become His betrayer even though He chose him to be a disciple. Some say that he was never a true disciple, only outwardly, but never inwardly. Well, how can one “fall away” if one never was in grace/faith/salvation?
The NIV (et al.) has “fall away” (see Strong’s #4178 = parapiptō = “to fall away, comit apostasy”, from 4406, piptō = “to fall, collapse, to die (spiritually)”.
The opposite of the above is palingenesia = (Gk.) “renewed; rebirth”.
Jesus said, “… unless one is born again (from above), he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Jn. 3:3. He repeats this again in vs.5.