Untitled Sermon

Challenges to the Immutability of God

‌

It has been said that God is not immutable because throughout biblical history it would seem that He has(d) changed His mind.

‌

In anthropomorphic terms scholars have argued that God relents (has compassion), or regrets (was grieved) and that evidence for this can be seen in several passages of the Bible including but not limited to:

‌

-In Gen 6:6, Ex 32:9-14, 1 Sam 15:11, 25-26, Am 7:6, Jhn 3:10, 4:2

‌

Do these passages describe a God that is not immutable, if God is immutable, then how could he possibly change his mind about something?

‌

If he changed Him mind that would imply that He lacks another divine characteristic such as omniscience for example. One could argue that because He is omniscient the changing of His mind is impossible because he already knows (is) the beginning and the end and any deviation from His purposes would create a contradiction within Himself.

‌

Subsequently, it would imply that God is not perfect and is able to be reasoned with by His creatures in some way thus altering His divine purpose or perspective as sovereign creator.

‌

That said, in order to properly challenge the assertion that God is immutable one must have a proper view of God and in order to have a proper view of God one must view His actions in the proper context.

‌

That line of reasoning can only be accommodated thru what God testifies about Himself with a lens that incorporates the other divine attributes of God that are wholly inseparable from His character.

‌

Therefore, if God appears to change His mind for one reason or another context is important because it often exposes a sin that either an individual or a people have committed against Him which in turn prompts a righteous God to respond according to what He said He would do if they failed to obey His word in the first place.

‌

In cases where the appearance of intercession with God was made on behalf of a person or people by one of God’s servants, often it is later revealed that intercession only served to delay righteous judgement from a righteous God.

‌

Context is very important, if something is said by God that demonstrates anthropomorphic sentiment, the broader picture of biblical events must be taken into consideration when scrutinizing the action taken by God.

‌

That kind of reasoning will likely expose that it was in keeping with God’s plan all along.

‌

Revisiting a couple of our examples we discover after further examination that

1 Sam 15:25-26

when God rejects Saul, He does so because Saul rejected God’s righteous law, and in

Jon 4:2

when Jonah expresses frustration with God, he does so because he rightly identifies/understands God as being merciful.

‌

Both instances serve to reinforce Gods’ character as immutable because He does not deviate from who He is, He instead illustrates fully Himself for as it is written, I AM what I AM.

Application

Because we know that God will not compromise His character by altering His righteousness to accommodate a less that perfect divine will it is important to approach the throne of grace with humble adoration and reverence. For when we ask in accordance with Gods’ will He will answer.

In the words of A.W. Tozer, “God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. “I am the Lord, I change not.” We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth.”