The Unchanging God

Romans 1:18–23 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Illustration: Ozymandias Poem

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.” - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias was a Greek name used for the Egyptian Pharoah, Ramesses II. The poem tells of a traveler from an ancient land who says that he saw in a desert country the remains of a huge statue, two vast stone legs standing, and on the sand, half sunk, he saw a shattered head whose ugly, sneering face accurately portrayed its original. On the pedestal he read the proud lines: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.” Many centuries had worn down the statue, this was all that remained. No matter how carefully a proud despot may try to be remembered forever, he will finally be conquered by time. Nothing in this world is immutable. Pride will go down before time.

This truth is not limited to earthly rulers because everything in this material creation is subject to change and decay. As the saying goes, “Nothing lasts forever.” In technical terms this is referred to as mutability, which simply means that a given thing is subject, or has a tendency, to undergo change. There is, however, one exception to this rule that we should be extremely thankful for: the immutability, or unchangeableness, of God.

I. The Unchanging God

When we typically think of things that are changing, we tend to think in terms of changes common to the world we live in or even common to humanity specifically. We think of change in terms of changing seasons, the passage of time, and so forth. However, we also experience changes that may seem less than intuitive. What types of changes might these be that we commonly experience and what is their significance when we consider that scripture tells us that God is immutable or unchangeable? First of all, we should establish how we arrive at the truth of God’s immutability from scripture before preceeding to discuss the significance of change within the creation, including within us, when juxtaposed or contrasted that against the unchangeableness of God.

Evidence of God’s Changeableness.

Passages that describe God’s unchanging nature are found in Exodus 3:13-15

Exodus 3:13–15 ESV

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

The famous I AM statement given to Moses not only indicates God’s eternal name and title but describes his unchanging nature. When God says that he is I AM WHO I AM, the Hebrew phrase used is ehyeh asher ehyeh, and is a Hebrew construction that denotes a future or uncompleted state. In other words, God is not developing and becoming complete, he simply always is. This is further driven home by the fact that this is God’s name forever, reinforcing the idea that God is unchanging.

In 1 Samuel 15:29, God’s unchanging nature is described in the sense that he never undergoes changes of emotional states.

1 Samuel 15:29 ESV

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

This idea of God’s unchangeability with regard to emotional states follows from the fact that God can not undergo or experience new states of emotional change. This is formally known as impassibility, or the doctrine that God is without emotions or passions. This may seem counter intuitive, because in every relationship we have we continually experience new emotional states; and if we are to enjoy a real relationship with God through his Son, doesn’t that entail that God must also go through an emotional change in his nature moving him, for instance, from a state of anger because of our sinfulness to one of love and acceptance in our reconciliation? If we have ever fallen in love, for instance, then we know that there was a time that we did not love the object of our affection. We may have been moved to that state of affection either by that person’s personality or physical attraction. Conversely, we may have also experienced the loss of affection for someone we formerly felt affection for. Why is it important for us to understand that God does not undergo emotional states of change? It’s important because only finite and temporal things can experience change. Why do I say this? To change entails a modification in some sense. In other words, change implies that the object undergoing change previously lacked something that in the process of undergoing change it acquires. In the example above regarding a new state of affection, there was a time when we were not experiencing that emotional state. Something changed in us to acquire that state, so that in a real sense we lacked something: a state of affection, that was subsequently acquired after we were moved to that state of being. However, we know that God needs nothing outside of himself since he is self-sufficient and self-existent, so that nothing causes him to be God. In other words, God is uncreated and has no source outside of himself for his being. If God lacks nothing, then he can’t acquire something he formerly lacked, even an emotional state, therefore, God can’t undergo new states of emotional change.

This truth is starkly illustrated by a passage in the Book of Acts where God uses Paul and Barnabas to heal a man in Lystra only to have the towns people begin to worship them, “lift[ing] up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, ‘The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!’ 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ac 14:11–12.

The passage goes on to say that Paul and Barnabas tore their garments in response to the crowds reaction. At this point, Paul says something very interesting. In Acts 14:15, Paul asks,

Acts 14:15 (ESV)

“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.”

While not immediately evident when reading the passage in a translation such as the ESV, the KJV does help us appreciate the setting in a new light. It reads, Acts 14:15

Acts 14:15 (KJV 1900)

Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

The word passions, is the same word translated nature in the ESV, and carries the idea of like-affections, or like-emotions. The significance of the passage is this: Paul is not telling the people of Lystra, “stop worshipping us and go and worship the Greek and Roman gods.” By equating the gods of the Greek and Roman pantheon with the same nature as that of humanity, he is saying that they are completely unworthy of worship precisely because they are always in a state of emotional flux and are, therefore, untrustworthy. The worshippers of the ancient Greek and Roman gods never knew whether they would be loved or despised because often the emotional state of their deities was unstable, vacillating between anger and love, depending on any number of factors. Paul contrasts these “vain things” with the “living God,” or the God who possesses life in himself and is the source of all life. God is not emotionally unstable, moving from one emotional state to another depending on his own personal whims, such as whether he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed or has enough coffee in the morning.

What does God’s Immutability Mean in terms of Change?

So what is the take away from all of this? Does this mean that God is completely impersonal and static so that nothing we do has any impact on him, and he is unmoved by our love, affection, praise, distress or any other emotional state we find ourselves in? In one sense this is true: God doesn’t cop an attitude because he doesn’t get his way. He isn’t emotional unstable so that we have to worry that he might change his opinion about us, or stop loving us, etc.

God is omniscient, or all-knowing, and isn’t taken by surprise by anything we do, and therefore, doesn’t react to unforeseen events or conditions that leave him anxious or disturbed, wringing his hands as it were.

So, while God may not experience changing emotional states, it does not follow from this that God is then uncaring, unloving, unconcerned, etc. Scripture tells us that God is perfect in his being, therefore he cannot improve. So when John writes in 1 John 4:7-8 & 16

1 John 4:7–8 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 1:16

John 1:16 ESV

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

John is revealing something about the essential nature of God: love. In other words, love is not an emotional state that God assumes or clothes himself in from time to time. God is love. His very essence and existence is love, he is the ground and reality of all that is lovely and communicates that reality in himself to us in a finite way. Because he is infinite in being love finds its its greatest expression and highest ideal in God. God is incapable of growing in love precisely because he is infinite in his being and in his perfections. There is nothing to perfect in God, therefore, love can find no greater reality than in the God who is in his very nature love. In other words, it is impossible for God to care or love more than he does because these attributes in God are infinite in their scope.

What are the implications of this? God is unchanging in all of this attributes, though the manner of their expression may differ depending on our relationship to him within creation. This means that God is always righteous, always just, always holy, as well as always love and, therefore, loving. Finally, we will look briefly at two of these attributes in light of God’s immutability.

II. God’s Unchanging Justice

God’s immutability means that his justice never fails. It is equally impossible for God to be unjust as it is for him to be unloving. This means, depending on our relationship to him, we will experience some aspect of his justice in our lives.

God’s Unfailing Justice: His Veracity.

Further implications of God’s immutability involve his justice. Since God cannot change, an appeal can be made to his veracity or truthfulness, such as Paul makes when writing to Titus when he says in Titus 1:1-2

Titus 1:1–2 ESV

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

Because God is infinitely perfect, he is not susceptible to any form of untruthfulness. His veracity is part of his identity and, like his love, is not something that he assumes or experiences in varying hues or intensities. There are no white lies or any other shades of untruth in God. He is impeccable in his character and untouched by relativism, since he is the “source of all truth…[such that] not only…[is he an] unimpeachable truth teller but [is] also...the source of truth itself. In other words, God’s Word is true not because it conforms to some external reality called ‘truth,’ but because his Word is an expression of the truth itself—namely, God’s own essence. This is why the Scriptures insist that God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2), for such would entail God’s denial of his very self—an impossibility.” - Lexham Survey of Theology.

When James speaks of God as having “no variation or shadow due to change,” in James 1:17, he may have “two possible views on this: (1) God renders the astral forces powerless, thereby giving people the freedom to determine their destiny in trials (Davids, Dibelius, Ropes); (2) God is sovereign over the stars; while they constantly move, he never changes in himself or in the way he deals with people.” - Grant R. Osborne, “James,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary.

James 1:17 ESV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

This truth is immensely encouraging for that one who has been redeemed by the blood of Christ so that that one may know that God will regret or change his mind with regards to the mercy and grace he has bestowed on him, so long as he remains in Christ by faith. It is also a sobering warning for those who have not repented of their sins and turned to God through faith in Jesus Christ! In returning to our key passage in Romans 1, the immutability of God should be a strong incentive for one to consider where they are with respect to God’s unchanging justice! Paul tells us that ‘his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived…so that we are without excuse.”

The psalmist reminds us, on account of God’s unimpeachable character and truthfulness, that there is but one end for those who despise God’s righteousness and reject him to their own peril and destruction.

Psalm 1:1–6 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Paul is emphatic in describing God’s immutable and unchanging justice:

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 ESV

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

God’s Unfailing Mercy in Response to His Justice.

The antidote to remedy God’s unfailing judgement is found in the immutability of his unfailing mercy. The mercy of God has been described as, “his focused disposition of compassionate forgiveness toward his people, especially in light of their distressful and dire circumstances.” Nothing is more distressful or dire than to be found in the condition just described! J. Owen Caroll says this regarding God’s mercy, “Mercy is a relational expression of God’s character and flows from his attributes of goodness and love. It is a vital aspect of God’s grace-based covenant relationship with his people. God’s mercy is evident whenever he delays punishment, even when his people are lost in sin and not aware of the relational consequences this sin entails (Exod 34:6–7; Ezek 33:10–11). When the circumstances of God’s people are dire—due to impending conflict, physical and spiritual persecution, or other types of suffering—those who fear God appeal precisely to his merciful character. They pray with an expectation that he will willingly and powerfully act as he has in the past (Dan 9:17–19; Pss 25:6–7; 51:1–2). Over and over again in Scripture, God demonstrates his mercy by saving, redeeming, and restoring his people.” - J. Owen Carroll, “God’s Mercy,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

III. The Unchanging Love of God

The Immutable Character of God’s Love.

The immutability of God is a reminder and encouragement to God’s people that no matter how often they may fail to live up to the expectations laid out in the gospel, so long as they abide in Christ through faith, they are assured that God’s love for them never changes, nor diminishes. Paul extols love’s perfect expression in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, revealing the character of true love - God’s love.

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Justice is Manifest in Love For His Children in their Times of Disobedience.

For God’s people his justice means that he will deal not in wrath with our disobedience, but in love. The author of the book of Hebrews understands how God relates to His people in their disobedience and says:

Hebrews 12:4–8 ESV

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Conclusion:

Children Know their Father’s Love is Unchangeable

Suppose someone were to tell my children that the continuance of my love to them will depend entirely on their good behavior. My children would repel the suggestion with indignation. They would answer, “We know better; you speak falsely. Our father will always love us.”

Even so the Lord’s children know that their Father’s love is immutable. For our transgressions, our heavenly Father will visit us with the rod, but never with the sword.