His effable nature is Holy, and it is not the perfection of one attribute of His nature that makes Him holy. His attributes are mercy, wisdom, compassion, knowledge, beauty,judgment etc.
"effable"? Not playing gotcha, just asking.
Clearly I agree, with possible quibbles around the edges, but I don't think there are any.
To MOI (everybody else's mileage may vary) the critical point is :
Thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitperson ... and try the veal: it's delicious.Whether the impossibility of God's lying a DISability or lack of some kind.
Objection:It would SEEM to be a disability, because we can imagine situations in which being able to tell a really persuasive lie would seem to be a good, a positive thing.Sed contra: (stop me if you've heard this one before) The psalmist says, He does whatever pleases Him.
I answer that: In God there is no lack, no disability. It is only a manner of loose speech which presents the possibility of doing evil -- in this example of swerving from the truth -- as a positive ability.
And even in our own lives we find that speaking the truth requires knowledge and wisdom, as well courage and other virtues in differing situations. We may think that telling a really plausible lie is a 'gift' or a positive ability -- right up until the day we resolve to try to speak only the truth in love. Then we find that we are, as it were, addicted to putting our own spin on reality.
And this is not even to mention the painstaking task of find out all the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day.
Formally: Man pursues what he thinks to be good. He fails in the pursuit because of failing to know what is good AND because of lacking the strength and purity of will to choose effectively the good.
Reply to the objection: There is no such thing as an existent which is perfectly evil, since existence itself is a good. Similarly there is no perfectly evil act, as such. A particular sin involves faculties and powers which are good in themselves but which are, in the event, misdirected and perverted in their relationship to one another.
Also, reaching ultimate good may involve intermediate steps which appear evil, and the avoidance of which, for the time being, can be accomplished by an evil, like lying.
Therefore a capacity to sin may APPEAR to be an ability, since it involves goods (albeit misdirected and perverted) and seems to lead to goods (temporary evasion, for example, of the consequences of hitting the baseball through Mr. Wilson's window.) But this appearance is illusory.
Therefor the impossibility of God's lying is not a defect but a strength. And therefore it is more precise to say, It is impossible for God to lie," than to say "God cannot lie."