Immutability of God
This is the third blog post in a series of blog posts on the attributes of God. So far, we have covered the aseity and eternality of God, but in this blog post we’ll be looking at the immutability of God.
IMMUTABILITY OF GOD
Immutability means that God is unchangeable and thus unchanging. He is never inconsistent or growing or developing.
One of the places we see this in Scripture is in Malachi 3:6:
6 “I the Lord do not change.” (Malachi 3L6)
This is obviously God speaking here in this passage, and He clearly states that He does not change.
Another place we see this in the Bible is in James 1:17:
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
The apostle James, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, writes that God does not change. God wants us to know that He is unchanging.
J.I. Packer defines God’s immutability in this way:
[God] exists forever and is always the same. He does not grow older. His life does not wax or wane. He does not gain new powers nor lose those that He once had. He does not mature or develop. He does not get stronger, or weaker, or wise, as time goes by. (J.I. Packer)
God is life itself. He has no beginning, and He has no end. He has always just been who He is, and He will always be who He is and act in ways that are consistent with His unchanging character.
WHY GOD’S IMMUTABILITY IS GOOD NEWS
The immutability of God is good news for us. It means that we don’t have to worry about God being one way in one moment and being someone different in another moment.
God’s nature will never change.
God’s perfections will never change.
God’s purposes will never change.
God’s promises will never change.
You don’t have to worry about waking up each morning and wondering what God is going to be like on that day. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
All of God’s attributes will always be His attributes.
God is good and will always be good.
God is sovereign and will never not be in charge. He’ll always be in control.
God is omnipresent, and there will never be a time when God is not near.
God is all-knowing and will never not know the answer to your problems.
God is all-powerful, and there will never be a time when God isn’t strong enough to overcome evil.
God is love, and He will never become un-loving, cruel, or mean.
God is faithful and will always fulfill His promises.
Compare this to your experiences with other people. You’ve probably had people in your life who were loving and caring in one moment but suddenly could turn on a dime and be cruel, insensitive, mean, and maybe even abusive.
With those kinds of people, you never know when the change is coming. You never know what is going to set them off. You are just always walking on eggshells and living in fear all the time.
But you don’t ever have to worry about that with God. He doesn’t change. He is consistently faithful, loving, and good, and He always will be. You don’t have to live in fear of Him changing.
And because this is who He is, that means you can live in a consistent relationship with Him where you’ll know what He’s like and how He’s always going to interact with you.
You can count on Him and trust in His love and in His grace for you.
You don’t have to live in fear, worrying constantly if He’s going to change His mood and treat you differently because something set Him off.
God’s immutability means you can trust His character. He will always act in ways that are consistent with His attributes because He is unchangeable and thus unchanging.
Now that is good news.
