The Unchanging God
Suppose you were in prison with only a narrow window. You gaze out this window on the outside world. You can see the Sun, moon, stars, trees, birds, etc. Everything you see may be true, but at the same time it is very limited. Now suppose that you are free from your imprisonment. Your view is now enlarged as you walk outdoors, but it is limited by the horizon of some ten or twelve miles in distance. You climb a mountain or you look through the powerful 100” (2.5m) Hooker reflecting telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angles and your distance is pushed out accordingly; however, you still see only a small fraction of the total world and universe, though your observations are real and true. Our comprehension of God Almighty is comparable. We can know much that is true about God even though we do not and cannot know all there is to know about Him.
To speak on the subject of “The Unchanging God” demands we do so with the greatest of reverence and the deepest of modesty. It has been stated that the greatest and most profound thought of man is about God! God is set forth in the Bible as infinite, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent, et al. God’s nature and attributes are beyond our full comprehension. Why? There is a “‘qualitative difference’ between God and human beings. If we do not start with that, we can never be right anywhere . . .” (Lloyd-Jones 132)
There are many passages dealing with the unchangeableness or immutability of God; however, we briefly introduce our article with three biblical passages:
Psalm 102:25-27 contrasts the deterioration and changing nature of God’s creation with His unchanging nature. The Psalmist contrasts the things of nature, “They will perish . . . wear out . . . change . . . discarded,” with God, “You will endure . . . You are the same, and Your years will have no end.” Nature changes, but God’s nature does not change!
“‘For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘But you said, in what way shall we return?’” (Malachi 3:6-7). The background to the text is simple. Israel sinned almost perpetually against God. God loves them. The book affirms that “God has loved and still does love Israel, in spite of Israel’s sins” (Warren 411) and desires they repent. Both His love for Israel and His requirements for dealing with their sins are unchanging. Man changes in his relationship with God, but God’s love for man and His condemnation of sin is unchanging!
James teaches that all good things come consistently from God and can be expected to continue, because God is unchangeable! “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
Scripture reveals God’s nature and attributes. God’s nature and attributes, in turn, answer the questions: What is God like? How might we expect Him to act? Accordingly, the Bible speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8, emp. added). Unsearchable meaning “not able to track out. . . untraceable, incomprehensible, inscrutable” (Reinecker and Rogers 529, 374). Likewise, the Bible speaks that Christians are to “rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, emp. added). Inexpressible means “to which words are inadequate” (Thayer 44).
The five major points in this article are, with some modifications, taken from Chapter 7 titled, God Unchanging, in the masterful book, Knowing God, by J. I. Packer. We highly recommend serious students of God’s Word to acquaint them self with this rich book, studying it seriously, as well as, studying many other writings of Packer.
God’s Life Does Not Change
One of the fundamental differences between God Almighty and man is that man is finite, mutable, and ever changing in nature. God is infinite, immutable (immune to alteration), and changeless in nature. A. W. Pink states, “He cannot change for the better for he is already perfect; and being perfect he cannot change for the worse” (35).
The student has no reason to doubt the unchangeableness of God. The Bible uses various phrases to depict God’s as unchanging. Consider:
His Nature—“You are from everlasting” (Psalm 93:2).
His Kingship—God is the “everlasting King” (Jeremiah 10:10).
His Life—God “alone has immortality” (1 Timothy 6:16).
His Eternality—“from everlasting to everlasting You are God” (Psalm 90:2).
His Consistency—“You are the same, and Your years will have no end” (Psalm 102:27).
His Existence—“I am He, I am the First, I am also the Last” (Isaiah 48:12).
His Unchangeableness—“For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
Man has a beginning—a birth (Job 5:7; 14:1; 15:14) and end—death (Hebrews 9:27), as do all things, but not so with God! The age-old question, “Who made God?” is answered with simplicity. God did not need to be made, for He was always there. He has always existed, and He is always the same—unchanging.
The unchangeableness of God is difficult for man to understand because man and all things in and around man are in constant change. Charnock shows this contrast between the changeableness of man and the unchangeableness of God.
If a man continues in being as long as Methuselah, nine hundred and sixty-nine years; yet there is not a day, nay, an hour, wherein there is not some alteration in his substance. Though no substantial part is wanting, yet there is an addition to him by his food, a diminution of something by his labor; he is always making some acquisition or suffering some loss: but in God there can be no alteration, by the accession of anything to make his substance greater or better, or by diminution to make it less or worse. (319)
In the same line of thinking, Packer writes of the unchangeableness of God, “He does not grow older. His life does not wax or wane. He does not gain new powers, nor lose those that He once had. He does not mature or develop. He does not get stronger, or weaker, or wiser as time goes by” (69). Contrast the changeableness of our life with Packer’s statement concerning the unchangeableness of the nature of God. Each second a man lives, he grows older. Man’s life wanes from time he is born until he dies; i.e. each individual lives life only so long. Some die at birth, some die beyond the centenarian years, and others die in between. A twenty-one year-old has more strength than a newborn. A seventy-plus year-old does have the strength of his early youth. The longer a man lives he is in the process of maturing—at least he ought to be—and developing physically beyond the years of his birth. Years makes man wiser—at least they ought—than when man was born.
The Bible declares God’s unchangeableness or existence without variability by the words eternal and immutability. The biblical phrase, “he shall endure” (Psalm 102:26, 12) signifies the eternality of God Almighty. The word immutability (Hebrews 6:17-18) means “that God does not and cannot change his mind” (Erickson 104; cf. Hebrews 13:8; Malachi 3:6). To argue that God is the same is to argue that God cannot be changed into Someone other than who He is!
God is “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17, emp. added) in comparison with the lights or heavenly bodies.
This word conveys the idea of passing from one condition to another, and may here perhaps mean simply the change from light to darkness. We may find a contrast suggested between the natural sun, which varies its position in the sky from hour to hour and from month to month and the Eternal Source of light, who is absolutely unchangeable. (Ross 35)
The word variation is from parallage meaning “for the setting of the teeth of a saw, for stones set in alternately, or for a sequence of beacons or seasons; generally denoting some regularity or system in change” (Adamson 74). The conclusion is simple—God is unchanging or shows no variableness! God gives man all good things and man can expect God will consistently give him all good things.
The latter word means “indissoluble; not subject to destruction” (Thayer 21). The life of the Levitical priests was frail, short-lived, and corruptible. Whereas the life of Jesus and His priesthood is not subject to decay and destruction. “The idea is that the commandment was outward and perishable, liable at any time to be changed or abrogated, but the life of Christ is inherent and imperishable” (Milligan 261). The contrast is clear—man changes but God is unchangeable! The text shows a fundamental difference between God—the Creator, and God’s created—man. “For I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).
God’s Character Does Not Change
Inspiration’s words, “I do not change” (Malachi 3:16) emphasizes that nothing alters God’s character. Packer writes, “He never becomes less truthful, or merciful, or just, or good, than He used to be. The character of God is today, and always will be, exactly what it was in Bible times” (69).
What a contrast between God and man. Man lies, God does not! “God is not a man, that He should lie” (Num. 23:19). Man is not always merciful, just, and good to his fellowman; therefore, inspiration reminds us, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). Man’s character changes day-to-day, but God’s character does not change!
In setting forth the fact that God’s character does not change, consider two names of God given in the book of Exodus. First, in Exodus 3:14, God gives His name to Moses as, “‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’” The text occurs in the commission of Moses to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. Moses, who had been absent from Egypt for forty years, asked God, “What is his name? what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). God said, “I AM WHO I AM . . . you shall say I AM has sent me . . .” (Exodus 3:14). Note the present tense. God did not say, “I was.” Lloyd-Jones argues that inherent in the name “I AM” is also the idea “that God is still in control of everything” (137). Allis gives an excellent explanation of “I AM”:
Moses is told God’s name (iii.13 f.): “I am” represents the first person (ehyeh) of the imperfect of the verb “to be”, of which the name Lord, i.e. Jehovah (yahweh) would then be the third person, and mean “He is” or “He will be”. It would then describe God either as the One who is, the self-existent and eternal, or as the One who reveals Himself (“I will be what I will be”) in word and deed. That this name was not unknown to Moses is clearly indicated (verse 15). (63)
Second, God gave Moses in Exodus 3:15-16 His everlasting and memorial name as, “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” His name and memorial is Yahweh (Jehovah or Lord). “Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations” (Psalm 135:12; cf. 30:4; 97:12; Hosea 12:5). Yahweh is translated in our English versions as Jehovah or Lord. The meaning is significant suggesting that His name, person, nature, and mighty works are to be recalled by His children throughout time. “The Hebrew word yhwh is, in fact, the third person of the root hayah (hwh). If the simple Qal sense is maintained, it carries the fundamental idea of the self-existence of God, and simply means ‘I am the One who is” (Davis 64-5). Heffren asserts that “the word Jehovah conveyed the idea of the ‘Self-existent One,’ or the One Who provides for the needs of his people” (9).
Combining the name “I AM” with the names “Jehovah, Lord, or Yahweh” suggests the unchangeableness of God’s character, as well as His eternality and His all-sufficiency. Nichols states well, “Eternal truths are placed in the present tense to emphasize there is no beginning, nor end. Since God is eternal, he is self-sufficient and all-sufficient: the GREAT I AM” (46). Serle gives richness to the meaning of the name Jehovah in the following by showing that Jehovah:
. . . [S]tands simply for the divine essence, or for him who is, and who necessarily MUST BE. . . . It [Jehovah] regards the future Eternal, and demonstrates the immutability of the divine existence. . . . The title JEHOVAH includes the past, the present, and the future Eternal; that is, according to our conceptions: for all things, and every division of that duration which we understand by time, are present with him though successive to us. . .the name JEHOVAH [means]. . . He that IS, that WAS, and that IS TO COME. (3)
God’s Truth Does Not Change
Jesus states with clarity, and yet in simplicity, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. . . . Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 8:32; 17:17). The Godhead is expressed to man in truth, words, and actions (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). “In the Bible God issues explicit prohibitions and positive precepts, setting boundaries as to what one is to do and not to do. . . . The Bible simply abounds in definitive statements of truth that are to be believed and appropriated” (Van Kooten 146).
Man is a creature of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7); therefore, signifying His ever changeableness. Charnock states, “. . . [T]o be a creature is to be made something from nothing, and, therefore, creation is a change from nothing to something. The being of a creature begins from change, and, therefore, the essence of a creature is subject to change. God only is uncreated, and therefore, unchangeable” (336).
Man speaks. God speaks. The contrast between the words of man and God’s Word shows nothing in common! Man, at times, has to recall his words. Man changes his mind because of newly found truth or his words no longer express what he believes, and/or his words call for, at times, an apology. Consequently, man’s words are unstable—NOT SO WITH GOD’S WORDS! Because God is interested in the eternal welfare of man, God speaks or has revealed Himself to man in His Word. Without the truth of His Word, man cannot attain to any certain knowledge of God’s will for his life. Without the truth of His Word, man cannot know the true nature of God nor how to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Without the truth of God’s Word, we cannot know the origin of the world, the origin of man, man’s fall, and the promised redemption. The following syllogism sets forth the case that the Bible is from God.
Major Premise: If the Bible is from God, then the Bible is divine revelation.
Minor Premise: The Bible is from God.
Conclusion: Therefore, the Bible is divine revelation.
In that the Bible is the Word of God and God has all power, then the Word of God is omni-authoritative. The Word of God is empowered with authority from the Divine God in order:
To serve as a staff of life (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).
To serve as a lamp and light to guide man (Psalm 119:105).
To save the obedient (1 Peter 1:22; Romans 1:16-17).
To edify man (Acts 20:32).
To judge man (John 12:48; Revelation 20:11-15).
To not return to God void (Isaiah 55:11; Luke 8:15).
Empowered with authority and being the truth of God, these involve the Bible’s inerrancy and trustworthiness because “the word of God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). The Bible is verbally and plenary inspired by God and is truth. “. . .[I]t is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2). This being true the Word of God is non-contradictory and non-changeable.
Combined with the Word’s authority and trustworthiness is the Word’s eternality, unchangeableness, or indestructibility. Jesus said, “. . .[M]y words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35) and “. . .[T]he Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:34-35). That the Word of God is unchangeable is seen in Peter’s statement, “the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). The word abide is from meno means “not to perish, to last, to endure” (Thayer 377).
Consider the following testimony concerning the eternality and indestructibility of the Word of God:
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
“Forever O Lord, Your word is settled in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89).
“Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever” (Psalm 119:152).
“[T]he Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).
“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Corinthians 2:13).
We must conclude that the Word of God is as unchangeable, as is the Author—the Unchangeable God! Therefore, we conclude the Word is authoritative, inerrant, and trustworthy. Man can obey and trust His Word. Packer summarizes the Word:
. . . [C]arries with it the idea of stability. When we read our Bibles, therefore, we need to remember that God still stands to all the promises, and demands, and statements of purpose, and words of warning, that are there addressed to New Testament believers. These are not relics of a bygone age, but eternally valid revelation of the mind of God toward His people in all generations, so long as this world lasts. As our Lord Himself has told us, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Nothing can annul God’s eternal truth. (70)
God’s Will [plans or purposes] Does Not Change
Malachi 3:6-7 shows the unchangeableness of God’s will (plans or purposes). It is the case that over the centuries Israel sinned against God. God was unchangeable toward them. God’s law condemns the sin and requires the sinner to return to Him for forgiveness. In describing the importance of the unchangeableness of God, Henderson writes, “. . . [T]he Divine immutability secured the preservation of the Jewish people from destruction, notwithstanding their flagrant wickedness, till he had accomplished all his purposes of mercy. . . . There was still mercy in store for the Jews, if they would only repent” (458-9).
God’s justice and mercy cannot permit Him to change His Divine law against sin. God’s holiness cannot permit Him to refuse to take Israel back into fellowship if they repent. Laetsch comments: “Therefore He will be a swift witness against all transgressors of His law. Yet this unalterable holiness and mercy does not cancel or even interfere with His unchanging grace and mercy” (537).
It is the case that God’s will is unchanging. The Psalmist writes, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:11). “Forever O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). Packer writes: “What He does in time, He planned from eternity. And all that He planned in eternity He carries out in time. All that He has in His word committed Himself to do will be infallible done” (71).
When we speak in reference to God’s purposes we are including all those things within God’s intended plans, whether material or spiritual. There is no part of His eternal purposes, plans, or scheme that changes—they are all unchanging!
God’s will is totally different than man’s will. In discussing the fact that God and man are different in purposes, Pink writes, “God’s purpose never alters. One of two things causes a man to change his mind and reverse his plans: want of foresight to anticipate everything, or the lack of power to execute them. But as God is omniscient and omnipotent, there is never any need for Him to revise His decrees” (36).
We cannot leave this point without discussing the texts which speak of God repenting. Samuel says, “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or nor relent” (1 Samuel 15:29, NKJV). Relent is translated repent in the King James Version. Other Old Testament texts speaking of God relenting or repenting are Genesis 6:6; Exodus 32:11; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:11; 2 Samuel 24:16; Joel 2:13; and Jonah 3:10.
Butterworth makes the following comment on nacham (repent, KJV) as meaning:
. . . [B]e sorry, repent, change one’s mind. (a) The word is used to express two apparently contrasting sentiments in 1 Sam 15, where God says, “I am grieved (nhm) that I have made Saul king” (v. 11; cf. v. 35), but where Samuel also announces that “the glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind (nhm), for he is not a man, that he should change his mind (nhm)” (v. 29). The explanation seems to be that God does not capriciously change his intentions or ways of acting. It is the change in Saul’s behavior that leads to this expression of regret. The reference is notable as being one of the rare occasions when God is said to repent or change his mind concerning something intended as good (cf. Gen 6:6). (82)
From the above information, we understand that when the Bible refers to God’s repentance (nacham) it is a clear reference to His sorrow. Nacham is a relational term showing that God acts differently toward man’s response to His law; i.e. the sinner refusing to repent is condemned, which evokes God’s sorrow (nacham); whereas, the sinner willing to repent evokes God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love. When the King James Version states that God ‘repents” (nacham), it is totally relational and has absolutely nothing to do with God’s essence of unchangeability or immutability. Cottrell in explaining God’s repentance states: “The most obvious answer is that quite often an announced course of action is conditional, depending on the human response to the announcement” (496).
God’s Son Does Not Change
In order to give evidence that it is the case that Jesus, God’s Son, does not change consider the following arguments. First, Paul declares of Christ, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9, emp. added). The word fullness is from pleroma. The word affirms that Christ is fully God or Deity. Robertson says, “‘all the pleroma of the Godhead,’ not just certain aspects, dwells in Christ and in bodily form (somatikos . . . here only in N.T.), dwells now in Christ in his glorified humanity. . . . The fulness of the Godhead was in Christ before the Incarnation (John 1:1, 18; Philippians 2:6), during the Incarnation (John 1:14, 18; 1 John 1:1-3)” (491).
Second, the implication of the unchangeableness of God’s Son is suggested with Paul’s contrast between the Levitical priests and Jesus, who is our High Priest. The Levites became priests “after the law of carnal commandment;” whereas, Christ became Priest “after the power of endless life” (Hebrews 7:16). The contrast between the two is seen by the words carnal from sarkikes and endless (akatalutou). The former word means “belonging to the realm of the flesh in so far as it is weak, sinful, and transitory, and in these respects is the opp. of the spirit” (Arndt and Gingrich 750). The latter word means “not able to be destroyed, indestructible” (Rogers and Rogers 531).
In the same way God is the eternal “I AM,” Jesus is also called “I AM” (John 8:58). Jesus refers to Himself as:
“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).
“I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).
“Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).
“I am the door . . . the good shepherd” (John 10:9, 14).
“I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
“I am the true vine” (John 15:1, 5).
Possessing eternality, Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Paul writes of Jesus, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Jesus as our Savior is unchanging! The fact that this is so should be strong assurance, comfort, and consolation to all children of God.
Conclusion
The essence of God’s nature is involved in describing and understanding Him. All of His attributes are inter-related in accurately describing His work of redemption.
In eternity, the wisdom of the Godhead planned man’s redemption “with the precious blood of Christ . . . before the foundation of the world . . . who raised Him from the dead . . . so that your faith and hope are in God. . . . Since you purified your souls in obeying the truth” (2 Peter 1:19-22).
The first recorded Messianic prophecy is Genesis 3:15 and contains both the crucifixion of Jesus, “And you [Satan] shall bruise His heel” and the resurrection of Jesus, “He shall bruise your head [Satan].” Progressively, God revealed Himself through the Patriarchal and Mosaical dispensations. “[W]hen the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). After about three and one-half years of ministry, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
The unchangeableness or immutability of God not only brought about our redemption from sin, but also guarantees God will change nothing concerning His way of salvation, His establishing and maintaining the church, His elements of worship, His demanding we live for Jesus and abstain from the powers of sin. The unchangeable God and the unchangeable Scheme of Redemption gives the obedient child of God the motivation to be faithful through the vicissitudes of life, while anchoring his soul with hope. No wonder Paul writes of the unchanging God as, “He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:3).
Works Cited:
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Allis, Oswald T. God Spake By Moses. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1951.
Arndt, William F. and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Cambridge: University, 1957.
Butterworth, George Michael. “(nhm.)” New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis. Gen. Ed. Willem A. VanGemeren. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997. 5 vols.
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Erickson, Millard J. God the Father Almighty. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998.
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