Featured What Is the Immutability of God?

One of the fallacies of bible interpretation is to nullify the literal meaning of a passage because of some overarching doctrine believed to be true. An example, since God is love He would not send people to Hades and Gehenna. Obviously an invalid nullification.

Scripture says God relented and did not destroy Nineveh. Scripture does not say, God did what He had always intended due to knowing the future exhaustively.

 

Somehow I did not see where God changed His action based on responding to human action. Not a difficult concept.

 

"God is unvarying, reliable, constant, and perpetual. God never adds or subtracts from His character and emotions. They are constant and unmoving. We should be forever grateful that God is immutable, as this provides an assurance of His love and mercy toward us."

The above snippet copied from the internet provides an excellent hypothesis for defining the immutability of God.

However, to move from being an understanding formulated by man, we must verify these attributes are found in scripture, rather than read into scripture.

Numbers 23:19 (NASB)
“God is not a man, that He would lie,
Nor a son of man, that He would change His mind;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

The above clearly teaches God keeps His word and does not vary, that we can rely on His word, and that God is consistent.

Hebrews13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.

Here we can add that God's character and attributes do not change over time, thus we can now support the attribute of being perpetual, thus God's attributes do not change over time. However, God does as He pleases, thus He can treat one person one way and treat another person another way or both people the same way. He can condemn one individual and bestow mercy upon another.

God dictates His actions, rather than His prior actions dictating His future actions, so He can formulate the Old Covenant and then inaugurate a New Covenant.

 

Jonah 3:9 (NET)
Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die."

Those that deny God can change His planned actions in response to a change in human behavior are pushing false doctrine.

2 Timothy4:3 (NET)
For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things.

1 Timothy 6:3-5 (NET)
If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, ..."

 

So we are in agreement, God's immutability means His Character and attributes are the same, yesterday, today and forever, but He can change or adjust His actions to fit circumstances.

 

Oops., sorry for not responding to several of your posts. My bad.

We agree, God does not change his character or His attributes, He is perfect.

I maintain God does change His actions toward individuals and groups based on fulfilling His purpose. He makes conditional covenants, i.e. If you continue to do this, I will do that, but if your repent, then I will relent. Thus He will change His actions based on keeping His conditional

Yes, I think we are on the same page, God Himself never changes, but He can respond conditionally to human behavior. He can have mercy on one individual and not have mercy on another. He can harden the heart on some individuals, taking away their opportunity of salvation before they physically die, and allow others to have more or less opportunity of salvation. But His actions never change in that they are always just.