The Unchanging God
This past Sunday I preached on James 1:16-17:
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 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.”
The second half of this text was a needed reminder of a profound theological truth: God does not change!
When James says there is no variation, he is saying that God has no differences within Himself. This truth would not have been anything new to the dispersed Jews to whom James was writing. It was a self-attested attribute of God. In Malachi 3:6, God states: “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” This attribute (known as the immutability of God) is one of His incommunicable attributes (which means that God has not shared this attribute with any other being). His other incommunicable attributes include: aseity, infinity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, and sovereignty (to name a few).
The immutability of God is something you will find throughout the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Here is a brief list of some passages that reveal His immutability:
Num. 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
Psa. 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”
Ezek. 24:14 “I am the LORD. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD.”
Titus 1:2 “…in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began”
Hebrews 13:8 is also a helpful passage, not just regarding the immutability of God, but also as a clear affirmation of the deity of Jesus: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Remember, immutability is an attribute that God shares with no other being. The author of Hebrews (in writing to protect against false teaching), appeals to this divine attribute of Jesus.
This should be obvious.
The fact that God does not change should be a matter of common sense. Because God is perfect, any addition or subtraction would render His original essence flawed (or you end up with a flawed God). This is the gaping problem with what is known as Open Theism. Open Theism would say that God “changes…discovers…grows”, which is far from what the Bible teaches and does not describe the One true God.
In James 1:17, James doubles down on his point of God not changing, going on to write “…or shadow due to change.” Think about it this way: Every time you go set up a picnic in the shade or try to find the best place to settle in the park under the sun, you should remember God’s unchanging nature. Why? Because before long, as the sun and earth rotate, the shade and sunlight will shift. Contrary to those constantly changing shadows, our great God does not change!
To the reader.
If you are reading this and are not a Christian, know that this means His righteous judgments against sin will not change either. His holy standards are eternal. The only way out from underneath His wrath against sin is faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul (one of the Apostles) writes this in his letter to the Colossian church:
Colossians 2:13-15 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
Friend, the same can be said of you if you place your faith in Jesus Christ: Your sins can be forgiven. You can receive the gift of eternal life. If you have any questions about the gospel, please feel free to reach out to me at joey@gbcnyc.org. I would love to share more with you.
If you are a Christian reading this, I hope you are comforted in knowing that God does not (and cannot) change! None of His promises to His children go away. Even by implication, we can rest in knowing that He knows all things and that there is nothing that will happen that will surprise Him or change His mind!
Be encouraged.
John Feinberg puts it well:
"In reflecting on all of God's wonderful perfections, it is reassuring to know that our lives are entrusted to such a God. Still, we would be greatly troubled if our magnificent King should lose or change some of those perfections. But Christians can rest assured that this will not happen, because in addition to all His other perfections, our God is unchanging." 1
In Christ,
Joey.
Footnotes
Feinberg, John S.. No One Like Him: The Doctrine of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 264.