Immutability and Charles Spurgeon

I was at the Christian Booksellers convention in Dallas, Texas for Bible Discount Bookstore. One company, Pilgrim Publications, which publishes the works of Charles Spurgeon, was handing out booklets with one of his sermons in each booklet. The one handed to me was titled:

THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD

Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 7^th, 1855, at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark

“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” — Malachi 3:6

I read the whole sermon. I expected to find a well supported argument from this prince of preachers, but I did not. In fact, I found just the opposite. I found a sermon with dogmatic statements without Scripture to substantiate them. I want to examine portions of the first 10 ½ pages of the sermon which deal with God’s immutability. The last 5 ½ pages deal with “The Persons To Whom This Unchangeable God Is A Benefit.”

His text was Mal 3:6 “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Before we look at Spurgeon’s remarks, I want to show you why God would not change in His statement in Malachi 3:6.

God makes this statement through His prophet Malachi to a disobedient generation. Let’s look at the context of Mal 3:6.

Mal 3:5-7 5 And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien— because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts. 6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 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.

God would not change in this case because He had made a covenant with David and sworn to David that He would establish his seed and throne forever. Here is what Psa 89:2-4, 29-37 says: “For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens. 3 I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 4 Your seed I will establish forever, And build up your throne to all generations. Selah 29 His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. 30 If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, 31 If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, 32 Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. 35 Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: 36 His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; 37 It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky. Selah.” So this is a special case. God will not consume them because of His sworn promise to David. This is why Heb 6:17,18 says “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”

Here is what Spurgeon said:

“1. I shall offer some exposition of my text, by first saying, that God is Jehovah, and he changes not in his essence.”

I agree with Spurgeon that God does not change in His essence.

“The substance of mortal things is ever changing. . . . All creatures change. Man, especially as to his body, is always undergoing revolution. . . . The fabric of which this world is made is ever passing away . . . .But God is perpetually the same. He is not composed of any substance or material, but is spirit — pure, essential, and ethereal spirit — and therefore he is immutable. He remains everlastingly the same. There are no furrows on his eternal brow. No age hath passed him; no years have marked him with the mementoes of their flight;”

But, Spurgeon continued with a statement that is not biblical but only philosophical. He said, “he sees ages pass, but with him it is ever now.”

Unfortunately this idea was foisted upon us by philosophers. That pagan Greek philosopher of Athens, Plato, who died in 347 BC, popularized this idea about God called immutability. He said that when something or someone is immutable, that means it can’t change. He said God could not change in any way. Plato explained this view of God in one of his dialogues in The Republic, “A dialogue between Socrates and Adeimantus.”

“But God, surely, and everything that belongs to God is in every way in the best possible state. . . . Then does he (God) change himself for the better and to something fairer, or for the worse and to something uglier than himself? It must necessarily . . . be for the worse if he is changed . . . the gods themselves are incapable of change.”[1]

About 700 years later a man named Augustine came on the scene. Augustine had been thoroughly educated in philosophy. The philosophers, including Augustine, believed that God could be understood by human reason alone. By Augustine’s time, Plato’s thought had permeated most philosophies, and Augustine learned the doctrine of the immutability of God from Greek philosophy. He incorporated this philosophy into his theology after his conversion. Augustine’s theology influenced the Reformation through an Augustinian monk, Martin Luther. Luther and Augustine had a great influence on John Calvin whose theology has been the basis for most evangelical theologies since the reformation. And, apparently, Calvin had a great influence on Charles Spurgeon too.

This doctrine of immutability, especially, has influenced the theology of the Christian world. Calvin wrote in his Institutes,

By that immutable counsel of God, by which he predestined to himself whomever he would, was alone effectual for their salvation. That Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction.[2] Where it is said that God repented of having made Saul king, the term change is used figuratively. Shortly after it is added, “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man, that he should repent.” In these words, his immutability is plainly asserted without figure.[3]

As proof that God remains unalterably the same Calvin declared that God remains unmoved. Compare this statement with Aristotle “for there is something which always moves that which is moved, and the prime mover is itself unmoved.”[4] It seems that Calvin was influenced by the philosophy of Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, for he mixed these philosophical thoughts with his thoughts and formed his theology of immutability.

Spurgeon continued: “Had he wisdom when he planned the way of our salvation, and when from all eternity he marked out his awful plans? Yes, and he is wise now; he is not less skillful, lie has not less knowledge; his eye which seeth all things is undimmed; his ear which heareth all the cries, sighs, sobs, and groans of his people, is not rendered heavy by the years which he hath heard their prayers.”

With these thoughts I agree, but then, he said, “He is unchanged in his wisdom, he knows as much now as ever, neither more nor less . . . .” I can agree with the wisdom statement, but he seemed to equate it with knowledge. And the Bible contradicts Spurgeons’ statement. Spurgeon believed strongly in predestination, and The foundation of the Calvinistic view of predestination is immutability. As we have seen, immutability came from philosophical reasoning, not the Scriptures. Therefore, we must look at the Scriptures and ask, is God immutable? Is He impassible – that is, not influenced by our problems? Does God ever change His mind? The question is not, does God change in His attributes. He doesn’t. He is omnipotent. He is always holy. God is light. God is omniscient. God is love. He also has other attributes that do not change. But that is not the question. The question can be stated a number of ways: Does God ever repent? Does God ever change His mind? Does God ever think something will happen, and then it doesn’t? Does God show emotion? Does He change in any way in the state of His being?

The biblical answer to all these questions is, yes. God moves and is moved by our failures, afflictions, sins and, thank God, our prayers. These ideas cause us to appreciate and glorify Him all the more. He does do the things asked in these questions, but the most significant fact for me concerns His supposed impassability – because He suffers; He has passion. This is the opposite of having no passion – impassability.

God suffers! What comfort that gives me. Our God is touched by our sufferings. God suffers because of us, with us, and for us. For instance, in Hosea 11:1-4,7-9 it says,

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. 2 As they [the prophets]called them, so they [Israel] went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images. 3 I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. . . . 7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? 8 How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst, and I will not come with terror.

Then, we observe Him as the loving husband, in Hosea 1:2.

The LORD said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD.” 2:5 “For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’” 2:13 “She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; but Me she forgot,” says the LORD. 3:1 “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.” 6:4-7 “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.”

Some Scripture shows God’s anguish over Israel’s ungodly behavior. God was speaking about Israel and Judah like this in Jeremiah 3:6-10:

The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7 And I said, after she had done all these things, [‘She will][5] return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9 So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.

God thought or said[6]that Israel would return to Him. He expected Israel to return. But Israel grieved Him again. She did not return. In a similar manner, God spoke of Israel in Isaiah 5:1-4:

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes. But it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. 4 What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?

When Augustine explained what he referred to as the “ridiculous” Old Testament doctrines in, On the Morals of the Catholic Church, we can see his influence on modern theology. He wrote,

We do not worship a God who repents, or is envious, or needy, or cruel, or who takes pleasure in the blood of men or beasts, or is pleased with guilt or crime, or whose possession of the earth is limited to a little corner of it. These and such like are the silly notions . . . the fancies of old women or of children . . . and in those by whom these passages are literally understood. . . . And should any one suppose that anything in God’s substance or nature can suffer change or conversion, he will be held guilty of wild profanity.[7]

Does God repent or change? Let’s look at God’s actions with Hezekiah as they are told in 2 Kings 20:1-6. God emphatically told Hezekiah that he was going to die. Listen!

In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’” 2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. 6 And I will add to your days fifteen years.’””

Hezekiah prayed, and the Lord responded. This is not the impassible, immutable God of Plato, Augustine, and Calvin. Further, there are other portions of Scripture which flat out say God does change His mind. Here are some of the most obvious ones.

In Genesis 6:5-7, God shows His mutability. The AV stated it well:

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented[8] the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

The NIV translated it this way: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”[9] No matter how you translate it, it still shows God was grieved. He was sorry that He had created man. It caused the impassible God to have intense feeling. It was the cause for the immutable God to change His mind. This didn’t happen just once. It happened repeatedly. What does it mean when this word, <j*n~, nacham, repent, is used for God’s actions? Those who are influenced by Plato, Plotinus, Ambrose, Augustine, and Calvin, like to call this action an anthropomorphism or an anthropopathism, but is our God such a poor communicator that He would continually use a figure of speech which showed He repented, was grieved, or changed His mind, if the opposite idea was the truth? Of course not! My God is the greatest communicator in the universe! This Hebrew word, in any of its translations, undermines the rationalistic idea of immutability derived from Greek philosophy.

Some more passages should lay the ideas of impassability and immutability to rest. Numbers 14:22,23,26,27 says, Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, 23 they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. . . . 26 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me.

Then, in Psalm 78:38-41 it says, But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; 39 For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. 40 How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! 41 Yes, again and again they tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.

Later, God expressed His passion again. In Jeremiah 15:6, God even said, “I am weary of repenting!” In these passages we not only see that God changed his mind ten times (mutability), but He was weary (passion) of repenting.[10] God’s repentance when He changed His mind after Moses prayed in Exodus 32:9-14, shows us something about God’s foreknowledge. We understand that God does not lie from Titus 1:2, “God, who cannot lie.”[11] Since He does not lie, could He have told Moses that He was going to destroy the nation when He knew He was not? No! On the other hand, if God changed His mind because Moses prayed, He did not lie. Does this mean that God does not know any of the future? Of course not. God knows the future of the events He predetermines. In fact, that is what the Scriptures show us. For instance, He said in Romans 8:29,30,

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

[1]Plato, Republic I, Loeb Classical Library, Book II, pp. 191-197, trans. by P. Shorey.

[2] Calvin, John. Calvin’s Institutes, Book One, Chapter XVII, c2, p. 494.

[4] Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book IV, The Loeb Classical Library, trans. by Hugh Tredennick, Harvard University Press, 1933, p. 207.

[5] My modification of the New King James is based upon the Hebrew. Also confer the following translations: ASV, And I said after she had done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Darby, And I said, after she hath done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not. And her sister Judah, the treacherous, saw it. NASB, And I thought, “After she has done all these things, she will return to Me”; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. NIV, I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. NRSV, And I thought, “After she has done all this she will return to me”; but she did not return.

[6] The Hebrew word is rm^a)w`, “and I said”. Some translate it, “and I thought”

[7] Oats, W.J., “On the Morals of the Catholic Church,” Basic Writings of Saint Augustine, New York: Random House Publishers, 1948, p. 327. My emphasis.

[8] The Hebrew word is <j#N`Y]w~ way nachem, Niphal of nacham. It was translated repent 41 out of 108 times it was used in the AV. The modern translations use the word relent to soften the idea when it refers to God. But, relent has the idea of giving in. That gives me the idea that God gives up, as in a wrestling match. That sounds too demeaning to me.

[9] My emphasis to show the translation of <j*n~ , nacham, repent, and God’s passion.

[10] Look up repent in your Strong’s. You’ll be amazed how many times God repents.

[11] oJ ajyeudhV" qeoV", Robertson, Word Pictures, “The non-lying God.”