God Is... Truth and Unchangeable

God Is Truth

Definition of truth:

Traditionally: That which is consistent with facts and reality

Currently: That which is firmly believed

Problem: Current definition is subjective and allows anything, even falsehoods to be truth

God is truth - John 14:6

John 14:6 NIV

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

God must be worshipped in Spirit and truth - John 4:24

John 4:24 NIV

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Jesus, as the Son of God, was full of truth - John 1:14

John 1:14 NIV

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God’s word is truth - John 17:17

John 17:17 NIV

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

The Spirit is the Spirit of truth and guides us into the truth - John 16:13

John 16:13 NIV

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Why is it essential that God is Truth?

Falsehood would conflict with His righteousness

God would be untrustworthy

God is Unchanging

The Son of God is unchanging - Hebrews 13:8

Hebrews 13:8 NIV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

It is to our benefit that God does not change - Malachi 3:6

Malachi 3:6 NIV

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

This assures us of God’s good gifts - James 1:17

If God were to change it would be an admission of wrong - Numbers 23:19

Numbers 23:19 NIV

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

What about times that the Bible says that God changed His mind?

God seemed to change His mind about Nineveh - Jonah 3:10

Jonah 3:10 NIV

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

God’s will is often conditional and from our perspective and looks like a change. - Jeremiah 18:7-11

Jeremiah 18:7–11 NIV

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it. “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’

God’s unchangeableness gives us hope - Hebrews 6:16-19

Hebrews 6:16–19 NIV

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,