If we believe not, yet he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself.
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Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Now the socalled gods of the Greeks, unworthy of the name, are faithful neither in their essence nor in their promises. They do not abide everywhere. The local deities come to nought in the course of time and undergo a natural dissolution…. But the God of all, being one really and indeed and true, is faithful, who is ever the same…. He is ever the same and unchanging, deceiving neither in his essence nor in his promise. As again says the apostle writing to the Thessalonians, “Faithful is he who calls you, who also will do it”; for in doing what he promises, he is faithful to his words. And he thus writes to the Hebrews as to the word’s meaning “unchangeable”: “If we believe not, yet he abides faithful; he cannot deny himself.”
God is allpowerful, and, since he is allpowerful, he cannot die, he cannot be deceived, he cannot lie, and, as the apostle says, “he cannot disown himself.” Very much he cannot do, yet he is allpowerful. It is because he cannot do these things for the very reason that he is allpowerful. If he could die, he would not be allpowerful. If he could lie, if he could be deceived, if he could deceive, if it were possible for him to do an injustice, he would not be omnipotent. If it were in him to do any of this, such acts would not be worthy of the Almighty. Absolutely omnipotent, our Father cannot sin.
The only thing the Almighty cannot do is what he does not will, in case anybody should consider it was very rash of me to say that the Almighty “cannot” do something. The blessed apostle said it too, “If we do not believe, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.” But it is because he does not wish to that he cannot do it, because he cannot even have the will to. Justice, after all, cannot have the will to do what is unjust, or wisdom will what is foolish, or truth will what is false.
If we believe not; i.e. if we refuse to believe in God, or if after having believed, we depart from our faith, the Almighty still continues faithful; he is still what he was. Our believing in him cannot increase his glory, nor can our disbelief in him cause any diminution thereof, since it is already infinite. (Estius)
The sense may be: when we renounce God, and refuse to believe in him, will he be less powerful to punish us? or, will his menaces be less true or less efficacious? He will effect his work without us, for he will infallibly bring about the salvation of his elect. (Bible de Vence)
Therefore, “He can do nothing of himself” means nothing else than that he can do nothing in opposition to his Father, nothing different, nothing foreign. This is an attribute especially belonging to one who is giving proof of his equality with the Father and of complete agreement as well. But why does he not say, “He does nothing in opposition” instead of “He cannot”? It was in order that he might show from this once more that his equality is undeviating and complete. This statement does not imply any weakness in him but testifies to his great power. Besides, Paul says elsewhere of the Father, “That by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to deceive”; and again, “If we disown him, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Now this word “cannot” is not, of course, indicative of weakness but of strength; indeed, ineffable strength.
Besides, we injure ourselves; Him we cannot injure. And to show this, he has added, If we believe not, He abides faithful: He cannot deny Himself: that is, if we believe not that He rose again, He is not injured by it. He is faithful and unshaken, whether we say so or not. If then He is not at all injured by our denying Him, it is for nothing else than for our benefit that He desires our confession. For He abides the same, whether we deny Him or not. He cannot deny Himself, that is, His own Being. We may say that He is not; though such is not the fact. It is not in His nature, it is not possible for Him not to be, that is, to go into nonentity. His subsistence always abides, always is. Let us not therefore be so affected, as if we could gratify or could injure Him. But lest any one should think that Timothy needed this advice, he has added,
