Is God subject to natural laws?

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The LORD (‘I AM’) is justice in act, 100%, is love in act, 100%, - natural law and divine law are from him, as the lawgiver, requiring all of “his subjects” to act as he is in act without stricture.
More about our lawgiver Law and Grace | SoftVocation here.

John Martin
 
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God made the Natural Law. Is God subject to things He made? No, not strictly.
 
God isn’t subject to anything. However, in his great love for us, he has willingly laid down his omnipotence in a limited fashon. That’s what’s required for us to have free will. God could control the actions of every human being, but he does not.

Another even more extreme example: The infinite Lord of the Universe choose to take on a human form. Limited in every way we are. Mortality, hunger, thirst, tiredness. But because if his great love for us God became man, than men might become gods.
 
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If He is, how is He omnipotent?
If is self-contradictory that God is subject to anything created.

Catholic Encylopedia
Omnipotence is the power of God to effect whatever is not intrinsically impossible. These last words of the definition do not imply any imperfection, since a power that extends to every possibility must be perfect. The universality of the object of the Divine power is not merely relative but absolute, so that the true nature of omnipotence is not clearly expressed by saying that God can do all things that are possible to Him; it requires the further statement that all things are possible to God. The intrinsically impossible is the self-contradictory, and its mutually exclusive elements could result only in nothingness.
McHugh, J. (1911). Omnipotence. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11251c.htm
 
Is the king subject to his kingdom? Is the artist subject to his brush? By no means. The creator cannot be subject to the creation.
 
In Judaism we are told natural law is a pagan invention. We are to follow instead, as best we can, divine law. Gd is therefore not subject to natural law although He created it and everything else.

Or are you referring to the natural laws of the universe? No matter. Gd created nature as well and is not subject to His creation.
 
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Well… God is what he is, and his act is what he is. It sounds almost too obvious to bother stating that. But God does not act counter to what he is (though be aware we cannot put all encompassing bounds around what he is with our finite minds). So in that sense, yes.

The natural order of the created world, however, is not binding on God. He can suspend or add to it as he pleases. Such things are what we call miracles.
 
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In Judaism we are told natural law is a pagan invention…

Or are you referring to the natural laws of the universe?
You’re speaking of two distinct things that may both be called “natural law”. Please explain and contrast what you mean - what is this that you say is a pagan invention?
 
If He is, how is He omnipotent?
Just to speak to this specific question… That will depend on your theological school of thought. As a Thomist, I’d say God is omnipotent because he is cause of all things real and possible. No thing could exist unless God was its cause. Therefore, only God has the underived power to cause all things real and possible. But to have the power to cause all possible things is what it means to be omnipotent.
 
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The Ancient Greeks believed that we are ethically guided by the virtue of natural law apart from the influence of deities. Judaism does not believe in the natural law of mankind but rather in the Torah Law (the 613 commandments), which is not based on the former.

The natural laws of the universe refer to the universe operating according to the laws of physics and nature.

Gd is not beholden to either the natural law of man, of Pagan origin, or the natural law of the universe, which He created. He is beholden to His own divine law although Judaism steps outside of this debate because the Law itself is subject not so much to change as to interpretation as well as the fact we are judged by our behavior and its intentions rather than only by our faith in the Law.
 
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You’re speaking of two distinct things that may both be called “natural law”. Please explain and contrast what you mean - what is this that you say is a pagan invention?
Is Divine Law the same as Natural Law? Thanks…
 
meltzerboy2, your post made me think of something. I don’t intend this as a response to your post, but just something else I want to speak to.

When someone talks of Natural Law, two things come to my mind. The first is a broader meaning. Quite simply, things have natures (brought into being by God) and behave according to those natures. This is the sense I had in mind in my first post. The second meaning is more specific and a subset of this: Natural Law Moral Theory. This focuses on questions of human nature, human dignity, human fulfillment and so determining what is moral. And the implications of how to be a good and moral human (and to conform to human nature) are specific to humans. One doesn’t have to be religious to study such questions or make such arguments, but a Thomist would hold that human nature is also created and brought into being by God.
 
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The Ancient Greeks believed that we are ethically guided by the virtue of natural law apart from the influence of deities. Judaism does not believe in the natural law of mankind but rather in the Torah Law (the 613 commandments), which is not based on the former.
Hmmmm… I’m not sure that you explained what that natural law is, so I still don’t understand the distinction you’re making.
Is Divine Law the same as Natural Law? Thanks…
In my understanding:
  1. The Natural Law is the moral law which can be arrived at through the right use of human reason, and which would include the Noahide Law. Everyone is bound to obey them, but it’s possible to not do so.
  2. Divine Law is that which is enacted by G-d and made known through revelation. The Torah Law is such a law: a special gift of G-d to the people of Israel.
  3. The natural laws of the universe are those which govern the physical operation of things, and no one is capable of disobeying them.
All true laws have their ultimate origin in God.

God is not subject to the natural laws of the universe.
 
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Whose god are we speaking of? Like “Legion”, there are many. As to the Lord God of Israel, this is an academic exercise in impossibility, such as creating a square circle.

Rather, consider His magnificence, His immutability, His impassibility and His omnipotence. Far more material for contemplation there.
 
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