Gandalf on Tom Bombadil

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Legolas

Tom might be presented as greater than men, elves, etc. but I have not found anything to suggest that he is a being of such power on the order of Manwë. Much of his peculiar stature comes not from power, abilities, or active strength, but from his aloofness and resilience. For instance, he is not able to overpower the Ring; he is only immune because he is wholly unconcerned with anything it could offer him.

Bombadil could have been an Ainu without being the equal of Manwë. After all, Manwë was the "Elder King", given the charge of moving along Ilúvatar's Themes.
As Mumriken notes, an inability to alter the Ring's influence over others doesn't preclude Tom's "divine" status either. It could be argued that Gandalf was more powerful than the Noldor who made Narya, yet there is no indication that its power as used by him was anything beyond what was put into it by its makers.

Originally Posted by Legolas

There are some revealing statements at the Council of Elrond that should be taken into consideration. Gandalf corrects Erestor's suggestion that Tom had a power over the Ring; Glorfindel and Galdor assert that Tom could not withstand Sauron.

I thought of the Council's words too. I wonder if they might be not explained by the notion of Tom's "outsider" status.
If he entered Arda apart from the Valar, though in nature a similar spirit, he would not have possessed the authority to affect the course of history in the World in the same manner as they did. The Valar were tasked to act as governors for the One. Perhaps Bombadil simply knew that it was not meant for him to meddle directly in ME events, save in very special circumstances. That would explain why he was so secluded, and unwilling to interact much with the Children of Ilúvatar.
Maybe if Tom had tried to guard the Ring, in essence doing Middle-earth's job for it, he would have been guilty of going too far in the eyes of the One, and perhaps would have been disciplined and allowed to fall to Sauron.

Speculation, of course, but it's fun.