God Never Changes: How God’s Unchangeableness Changes Us

We live in a world of constant change. Technology is advancing at a more rapid pace than ever before. Things once considered immoral in our society are now not only legal but celebrated. All around us, people make thousands of choices every day that either directly or indirectly affect us. It can all be overwhelming. Yet, in a busy world of constant change, we can take comfort in knowing that God does not change.

What Does the Bible Say About God’s Unchangeableness?

The Bible is clear that God does not change. God, himself, says, “I the Lord do not change” (Mal 3:6 ESV). James writes, “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” (Jas 1:17). Psalm 102 says heaven and earth, “will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end” (Ps 102:26-27).

God’s name reflects his unchangeableness. When asked his name, God replies to Moses as “I am who I am” (Ex 3:14). Referring to this moment, J.I. Packer remarks that God’s very name is “simply a declaration of his self-existence and his eternal changelessness; a reminder to mankind that he has life in himself, and that what he is now, he is eternally.”¹ God is who he always will be. Unlike his creation, God is immutable—he does not change.

Because God does not change, we trust his faithfulness to fulfill his promises and accomplish his plans. We can trust God because, “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?” (Num 23:19). The Lord’s counsel, “stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Ps 33:11). His, “faithfulness endures to all generations” (Ps 119:90). God promises, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose… I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it” (Isa 46:10-11). God makes a promise by, “the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Heb 6:17-18).

Because God does not change, God’s Word does not change. We can trust God’s Word to be as true today and forever as it always has been. Grass and flowers fade, “but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isa 40:8). The psalmist writes, “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens” (Ps 119:89). This is why Jesus could say, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Trusting in the words of others is like building on the sand, but God’s words are a rock—a firm, unchanging foundation.

Because God does not change, we can trust in Jesus. Jesus Christ—God incarnate—is, “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). This means that we can trust that Jesus will continue to save those who trust in him because, “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:24-25). We can place our hope and trust in Jesus because he will maintain his character and fulfill his promises forever.

Wayne Grudem defines God’s unchangeableness as follows: “God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.”² This first half of this definition means that God will never change in who he is, his perfect nature, the mission he desires to accomplish, and his faithfulness to fulfill every promise he makes. He will always be who he has always been since before the creation of the world. However, the second half of the definition reminds us that God does act and feel differently in response to different situations. He is not a robot. He is not some impersonal, static force.

Objections

There are some who use Scripture to argue that God does change. For example, those who believe Process Theology say that change is an essential aspect of existence that must affect God as well.³ Also, the more recent thought of Open Theism claims that God does not know what humans will freely choose to do, so he is affected by our actions.⁴ Both views point to scripture to back their claims. In his book, Christian Theology, Millard Erickson explains that they believe, “passages stating that God repented are to be taken literally… he actually changes his mind.”⁵

At first glance, these passages of Scripture do seem to say that God changed. For example, we read in Exodus that after the people of Israel create the Golden Calf in the wilderness, God tells Moses, “let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them” (Exod 32:10). But Moses pleads with God to not be known for miraculously freeing his people from Egypt only to kill them in the wilderness, and to remember his promise to Abraham. In response, “the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people” (Exod 32:14). In this situation, it does at first appear that God changes because of Moses’ plea, but did God really change?

In response to passages of Scripture like this example in Exodus, Louis Berkhof explains that this is only an “anthropopathic” way of speaking (attributing human feelings to something not human). “In reality,” Berkhof argues, “the change is not in God, but in man and in man’s relations to God.”⁶ God did not change; man did. In the case above, it was not God who changed; Moses changed with his plea to save the people. Also, we see upon further reading that the people of Israel soon repented and changed as well. Therefore, God responded as he always does to repentance—with forgiveness. God did not change; the situation changed.

We see another example of this with the people of Ninevah. Jonah is sent to declare God’s intention to destroy their city, but the people repent. Then, we read, “when God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:10). Once again, who changed? It was not God; it was the people of Ninevah. They repented (the situation changed) and God responded with forgiveness. “If the situation changes,” Grudem says, “then of course God’s attitude or expression of intention will also change… God responds differently to different situations.”⁷

Another argument that Process Theology and Open Theism may use is that Scripture seems to show God expressing remorse for his actions. Therefore, God must not know the future results of his actions, regretted the outcome, and changed by learning from these regrets. For example, God says, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments” (1 Sam 15:11). The question is: did God really wish he could do it all over again and appoint someone other than Saul as king?

Grudem argues that the language in Scripture such as this is not strong enough to necessitate the belief that God wished he could go back and do things differently. It might be interpreted that way, but a more plausible explanation is that “God’s previous action led to events that, in the short term, caused him sorrow, but that nonetheless in the long term would ultimately achieve his good purposes.”⁸ God allows bad things to happen that cause himself sorrow because he knows the good that will ultimately come from it. For instance, the failure of Saul paved the way for the triumph of David. Grudem compares this to a good father who knows his child is about to do something that will cause pain for both the father and child but allows it to happen anyway because of the greater good that will result from it.⁹

Further proof that God did not have regret about Saul is found just a few verses later. Samuel tells Saul, “the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret” (1 Sam 15:29). “The Glory of Israel” is a title Samuel is using for God. Therefore, after we read that God regrets making Saul king, we read that God has no regrets. This can only mean the original mention of God having regret is another example of using human language to describe God’s feelings the best way we can. I believe this is why Samuel makes sure to declare twice that God has no regret. God does not change. He does not desire to go back and change his decision to make Saul king. He allowed it to happen, knowing the greater good that would come from a bad situation.

What If God Could Change?

Before studying God’s unchangeableness, I agreed with the belief that God does not change, but it was always a truth that I took for granted. I never put much thought behind it. It was something I believed on the way to more “important” doctrines. However, I now see that God’s unchangeableness is perhaps the very foundation of everything else we know and believe about God.

The turning point in my understanding came when I read Grudem’s challenge to imagine a God that could change. If God could change, then he could either become better or worse. If God could become better, then he is not the perfect being we believe him to be. If God could become worse, then how much worse could he become over time? “Thus, the idea that God could change,” says Grudem, “leads to the horrible possibility that thousands of years from now we might come to live forever in a universe dominated by a wholly evil, omnipotent God. It is hard to imagine any thought more terrifying.”¹⁰ Thankfully, God cannot get better, because he is already best (perfect); and God cannot get worse because he cannot be less than perfect.

If God could change, we could not trust him always to be who he says he is, and do what he says he will do. If we cannot trust what God says, then we would also not be able to trust in God’s word. As J.I. Packer remarks, “When we read our Bibles, therefore, we need to remember that God still stands behind all the promises, and demands, and statements of purpose, and words of warning, that are there addressed to New Testament believers.”¹¹God’s unchangeableness is the foundation for being able to open Scripture and still find it relevant today.

How This Applies to Us

My wife is a talented dancer. She was very involved in performances into her college years. Now, my daughter dances as well. If you watch any dance recital, you will undoubtedly see an iconic dance move called the pirouette, where the dancer elegantly spins on one foot around and around. If you look closely, you will notice that the dancer keeps their eyes locked on one point in the room. I asked my wife about this once, and she told me that it is called spotting. As the dancer’s body spins round and round, their head remains held with eyes fixed on a constant spot. When the neck is turned as far as it will go, the dancer whips their head around and again fixes their gaze on the same spot. Why do dancers do this? Dancers practice spotting so that they do not get dizzy from the spin. In a rapidly moving environment, they need a constant spot to focus on.

In a similar way, God’s unchangeableness is our constant. When the world is spinning all around us with so much uncertainty and change, God remains the same. We can fix our eyes firmly upon him and know that no matter what happens, he remains faithful and true. No matter what comes our way in life, the Lord will never change.

At first glance, God’s unchangeableness may not seem like it is an attribute as big as God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, or many others. However, when we take the time to think about it, we realize that God’s immutability is the very foundation of all that we place all our trust in—the assurance that God is the same today and forever as he always has been. It is the promise that everything we know about God still holds true and applies to our lives today. It is what makes God our rock and firm foundation. It is what keeps us from worry and fear. The world will change, but God remains the same.

---

1. J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 86.
2. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 163.
3. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 165.
4. Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 252.
5. Erickson, Christian Theology, 252.
6. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939), 46.
7. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 164.
8. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 165.
9. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 165.
10. Grudem, Systematic Theology, 167.
11. Packer, Knowing God, 87.