· Theology Proper ·

Lecture Twenty:  The Incommunicable Attributes of God II

TH330 Systematic Theology I · Moody Bible Institute · Dr. Richard M. Weber

II.  The Incommunicable Attributes of God (continued)

A.  Immutability / Unchangeableness

“God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 163)

1.  God is Unchanging

a.  Unchanging in Attributes

Ps 102:25-27.  “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.  … But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

Mal 3:6.  [In the context of judgment, God says] “I the Lord do not change.  So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”

b.  Unchanging in Character

James 1:17.  “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

c.  Unchanging in Purpose

Ps 33:11.  “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”

Isa 46:9-11.  “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say:  My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  … What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

Cf. Matt 13:35; 25:34; Eph 1:4, 11; 3:9, 11; 2 Tim 2:19; 1 Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8

d.  Unchanging in Promises

Num 23:19.  “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?”  (Cf 1 Sam 15:29)

Discussion:  How do we reconcile verses that teach immutability with these verses which suggest God changes his mind, relents, and even regrets previous actions?

· Ex 32:9-14.  God says he is going to destroy Israel.  But after Moses pleads for the people, “the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

· Isa 38:1-6.  God says that Hezekiah is not going to recover from his illness – he is going to die.  But after Hezekiah prays, God says, “I will add fifteen years to your life.”

· Jon 3:4, 10.  God proclaims through Jonah:  “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”  But in v10, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

Discussion:  Does God change his mind so as to regret a past action?

· Gen 6:6.  “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”

· 1 Sam 15:10.  God says to Samuel:  “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.”

2.  God Acts, Feels, and Responds

“There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions…”  (The Westminster Confession of Faith)

Ps 78:40.  “How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland!”

Ex 32:10.  “Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.”  (Cf. Isa 54:8)

Ps 103:13.  “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”

“The doctrine of God’s immutability is of highest significance for religion.  The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature.  Every creature is continually becoming.  It is changeable, constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, and finds this rest in God, in him alone, for only he is pure being and no becoming.”  (Herman Bavinck. The Doctrine of God, 149)

3.  The Significance of the Doctrine of Divine Immutability

“If God is not unchanging, then the whole basis of our faith begins to fall apart, and our understanding of the universe begins to unravel.  This is because our faith and hope and knowledge all ultimately depend on a person who is infinitely worthy of trust – because he is absolutely and eternally unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises.”  (Grudem, 168)

B.  Omnipresence

1.  The Meaning of “Omnipresence”

“God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 173)

2.  God is Everywhere Present

Jer 23:23-24.  “ ‘Am I only a God nearby,’ declares the Lord, ‘and not a God far away?  Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord.”

Ps 139:7-10.  “Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there you hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

“God is a being who exists without size or dimensions in space.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 175)

3.  God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions

1 Kings 8:27.  [At dedication of temple, Solomon says:]  “But will God really dwell on earth?  The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.  How much less this temple I have built!”  (Cf. Isa 66:1-2; Acts 7:48)

John 4:20-24.  Samaritan woman said:  “‘Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’  Jesus declared, ‘Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.  … [A] time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.’”

4.  Reminder:  God is Distinct From His Creation

5.  God is Present in Different Ways in Different Places

Isa 59:2.  “But your iniquities have separated you from you God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Prov 15:29.  “The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.”

a.  Present to Punish

Amos 9:1-4.  “I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:  ‘Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.  Bring them down on the heads of the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword.  Not one will get away, none will escape.  Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them.  Through they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down.  Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them.  Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.  Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them.”

b.  Present to Sustain

Col 1:17.  “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Heb 1:3.  “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

c.  Present to Bless

Ps 16:11.  “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (cf 1 Sam 4:4)

“When you wish to do something evil, you retire from the public into your house where no enemy may see you; from those places of your house which are open and visible to the eyes of men you remove yourself into your room; even in your room you fear some witness from another quarter; you retire into your heart, there you meditate:  he is more inward than your heart.  Wherever, therefore, you shall have fled, there he is.  From yourself, whither will you flee?  Will you not follow yourself wherever you shall flee?  But since there is One more inward even than yourself, there is no place where you may flee from God angry but to God reconciled.  There is no place at all whither you may flee.  Will you flee from him?  Flee unto him.”

(Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, 164; italics mine)