Immutability of God

The Immutability of God

When I was a boy – long before I got saved, I heard a Sunday School teacher explain to my class what I later learned was called an antinomy or tension. Here’s the definition of the word antinomy: “a contradiction or inconsistency between two apparently reasonable principles or laws.”

My teacher told us that salvation was like a door to a house. On the outside a sign over the door said, “Whosoever will may come.” But after you got saved, and looked back at the sign over the door once you were on the inside, it said, “Chosen before the foundation of the world.” In other words the tension here is, you can’t reconcile the difference between free will and predestination.

It would be like the father who had 4 sons. Even though they didn’t know how to swim, they were fishing from a boat in the ocean with their father. A large wave hit them unexpectedly and washed all the boys overboard. There were 4 life preservers. But the father threw only 2 of them to 2 of the boys and not to the other 2. Two were saved, but the other 2 died. The father explained that he loved all four of the boys, but he only desired to save 2. Do you believe that he really loved them? I don’t either.

But these days there are many theologians who teach God chooses some to be saved and others to be lost. What do they base this on? Unfortunately, most of them base it on Greek philosophy without even knowing it. Now, I’m not condemning all Greek philosophy. We have gained much from the thought of Greek philosophers. We can evaluate things in a rational manner because of the work of Greek philosophers. But we can’t base things about God on Greek philosophy. We can analyze and systematize different portions of Scripture better today because Greek philosophers laid the groundwork for rational thinking. But the Greek philosophers I’m referring to were pagans. One of these men, that pagan Greek philosopher of Athens was Plato. He lived about 23 hundred years ago and died in 347 BC. He popularized an idea about God called immutability. Immutable means it can’t change. Plato said God could not change in any way.

About 700 years later a man named Augustine came on the scene. Augustine had been thoroughly educated in philosophy. A vast majority of the philosophers at that time, 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 because of the strong influence of this Greek philosophy.

After his conversion, he incorporated this philosophy into his theology. But that’s not all, unfortunately, Augustine’s theology influenced the Reformation through an Augustinian monk, Martin Luther. In turn, Augustine and Luther had a great influence on Arminius and Calvin. The theology of these two men has been the basis for most evangelical theologies since the reformation.

The doctrine of immutability, especially, has influenced the theology of the Christian world. Theologians have coined a term, antinomy. An antinomy occurs when two “truths” contradict, or seemingly contradict one another. The antinomy we are looking at is this: God predestines the elect to be saved, but man has free will. Christianity has been stuck with that antinomy ever since Augustine.

Well, what’s the answer to the antinomy of predestination and free will? The only thing that counts in true biblical, systematic theology is God’s word. Therefore, we must look only at the Bible for the evidence.

The foundation of the Calvinistic view of predestination is immutability. Immutability means God can’t change in any way. Is God immutable? Is He impassible? Impassible means that He has no passion—that nothing outside of God has any influence on Him. That would mean that God is never influenced by our problems. Does God ever change? 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 has other attributes that do not change. But, again, 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. Further, these changes, instead of degrading God, 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 impassibility – because He suffers. In other words, He has passion. This is the opposite of having no passion – impassibility.

Impassible is defined in The Oxford Universal Dictionary: “1. Incapable of suffering; not subject to pain. 2. Incapable of suffering injury or detriment 1491. 3. Incapable of feeling or emotion; impassive, insensible, unimpressible 1592.” However, when we read God’s word, we see that 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 11:1-4,8,9 it says:

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 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. . . . 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? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. 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.”

We also see that some Scripture shows God’s anguish over Israel’s ungodly behavior. Only a passionate God could inspire the passionate Scripture which occurs in the prophets. For instance, 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. And I said, after she had done all these things, [‘She will] return to Me.’ But she did not return.

My modification of the New King James is based upon the Hebrew. Also, I want to present 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, and her false sister Judah saw it.

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 that Israel would return to Him. [The Hebrew is rm'aow: , “and I said”. Some translate it, “and I thought”.] He expected Israel to return. But Israel grieved Him again. She did not return.

In a similar manner, God spoke of Israel in Isaiah 5:1-5:

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? 5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

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.[1]

Because of Augustine’s statement, we must ask, does the Bible show God does repent or change, or does it show He does not? 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.’” Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, “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. And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “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. 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 some portions of Scripture which genuinely say God does change His mind. Here are some of the most obvious ones.

In Genesis 6:5-7, God shows His passion and ability to change. The KJV 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. And it repented[2] the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 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. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 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.” [The two words grieved are the translation of <j*n~ , nacham, repent. When it said, “his heart was filled with pain”, it showed God’s passion.]

No matter how you translate it, this passage still shows God was grieved. He was sorry that He had created man. It caused the impassible God of Augustine and Calvin to have intense feeling. It was the cause for the immutable God to change His mind. This didn’t just happen once. It happened repeatedly.

What does it mean when this word, <j*n~, nacham, repent, is used for God’s actions? Predestinarians 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, that He didn’t repent, wasn’t grieved, or didn’t change His mind was the truth? Of course not! My God is the great communicator!

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 impassibility 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, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. . . . And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 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; For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! 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. 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 from Titus 1:2, that God does not lie. “God, who cannot lie,” [o ayeudh" qeo", Robertson, Word Pictures, “The non-lying God.”] Since He does not lie, could “The non-lying God” 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 8:29-32,

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. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

He predestined the security of our salvation once we trust in Christ and are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.

In Isaiah 46:10,11, God shows us how He can declare what is going to happen in the future. He makes it happen.

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure, 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it.”

He makes a similar statement in Ephesians 1:11,

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works [the]all things [ta panta] according to the counsel of His will.

The specific all things He is referring to is the body of Christ of verses 10 and 23,

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things [ta panta] in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him; 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all [ta panta] in all.

Again, this has to do with our eternal security, since Ephesians 1:4,5 says:

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, [to] be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

He chose the body of Christ to be holy and blameless before Him, making it sure by His predestination. It doesn’t say He chose us to be saved. It says He chose us in Him.

The immutability of God as formulated by Plato, Aristotle and Augustine is not substantiated by the Bible. The Bible tells about a wonderful God Who changes His mind, repents and has passion. It also shows that God created man with the ability of a contrary choice free will. A will that could go against his wonderful God’s will.

[1] 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.

[2] The Hebrew word is µj,N:YIw way yi nachem, Niphal of nacham. It was translated repent 41 out of 108 times it was used in the AV. Many 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.