Matthew 19:26 “But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
One of the first songs I ever learned to sing was in Tiny Tots, I believe I was like three years old, but I still remember singing, “All things are possible, only believe.” Of course for a three year old mind, the word possible had not yet quite entered my vocabulary and apparently I had recently heard my uncle talking with my father about possum hunting, short form of opossum, and so I picture we were singing something about opossums, “nothing is possums.” Go figure.
Anyways, I should have left it at that because once I learned the true words to the song, “All things are possible only believe,” I was entering into some false teachings. Simple fact is that not everything is possible with God. God cannot lie, He cannot sin, He cannot hate, He cannot make a rock bigger than He can lift and one thing that I am very grateful for is that being perfect in love means that it is impossible for Him to stop loving me. So in one respect that little song is not as much a comfort as the writer intended. It so happens I would prefer a God who had some impossibilities.
Yet the Bible clearly states that all things are possible with God. So what do we do about this seeming contradiction? One thing we can do is check out this word impossible in the original language. Does the word in the original language really mean possible and impossible as we in our Western, 21 Century mind think it means?
The word in the Greek comes from the root word dynatos where we get the word dynamite from. With God all things are powerful? That doesn’t really fit. It would more than likely have the idea that with God He has the strength or power to accomplish all things. That still sounds like nothing being impossible to me.
As I have said many times, most scholars, both secular and religious, agree that Jesus did not speak Greek but Aramaic. The word that we render as possible is quite unusual in the Aramaic. There is really no separate word for impossible and possible in the Aramaic. It just takes a word that suggest possibilities and puts the word la which means no or not in front of it to make the word not possible or impossible. In fact I am not sure there is a word in Aramaic for impossible. The word that is used is shakach which means to be found or not found depending on whether you put the word la or not in front of it. It also has the idea of obtaining or not obtaining. What Matthew is saying in 19:26 and in Luke 1:37 is that with man there are things that are unattainable but with God nothing is unattainable. In its context in Luke it is merely saying what is unattainable for man, i.e., a woman to conceive without a man, is obtainable with God. In Matthew the reference is to a rich man and the disciples question as to who then can be saved. Jesus responded by saying what is unobtainable by man (i.e., salvation) is obtainable with God.
The Hebrew use of shakach gives a little different spin on the matter. Shakach in the Hebrew has more of the idea of forgetting and neglecting or with the word lo (not) in front of it would make it not forgetting and neglecting. The disciples as well as Jesus did use Hebrew as a ceremonial language and may have even conversed with each other in Hebrew when discussing sacred matters. I think it is highly possible what the disciples heard Jesus say is that man will be forgetful and neglectful of their relationship with God, but God will never forget nor be neglectful of His relationship with us.
Like the orthodox Jews I wear a cap, albeit mine is a baseball cap and not a kippah, to remind myself that I am constantly in the presence of God and that whatever I do I do as unto God. Yet, even with the old baseball cap on I still tend to forget that I am in the presence of God and that what I do, I do as unto God. It is a real discipline with me that I must work at. In fact it is la shackach impossible for me to think of God every second of every day. Yet with God all things are shackach, all things are in His remembrance and He will never neglect me.
I believe what Jesus was telling his disciples and what the angel was telling Mary is that not only are the things which are unobtainable with us but is obtainable with God, but also that where it is possible for man to forget or neglect God it is not possible for God to forget or neglect us.
God doesn’t need to wear a baseball cap to remind Himself that He is always in my presence and is working in my behalf.
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