God immutably acts to talk with Abraham, and either does so atemporally or, if God is inside of time, has always and will always so act. One might also think that personhood requires rationality, consciousness, the ability to communicate, and being self-conscious (William Mann, 1983, p 269-272). But take heart; I have overcome the world.. The Distinction between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties. It also includes a nice discussion of immutability and personhood. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. So it seems that these two doctrines together rule out Gods being different at all, either across time or across worlds, and so, together, they seem to entail a modal collapse. General Editor. CH SPURGEON. Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? If all the evidence from the Bible were against immutability, one might think that the case against divine immutability, at least for the Christian and the Jew, would be closed. F He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? L (This is a rough understanding of intrinsic properties, since if you quarantined me off from the influence of everything I wouldnt have air to breathe, wouldnt be under the influence of gravity, light, or anything else. There are many subtle and nuanced views of immutabilityfar too many to receive individual attention in this article. This is a negative response, since it only says we dont know as God knows, and doesnt spell out the mode of knowing that God has. "We shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as he is." He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. In theology it signifies the attribute, or perfection, of God whereby He remains the same in His divine nature and purpose. Blog, A One is so near to another that no air can come between them. Notice that none of these properties are inconsistent with immutability. M At that time, Ill know a different truth: that it is now 2:24pm. For to the snow he says, Fall on the earth, likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour. In theology it signifies the attribute, or perfection, of God whereby He remains the same in His divine nature and purpose. Geocoding He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword! Notice, too, that the claim is made to defend against the unorthodox view that the twin natures of Christ mixed in the incarnation. Q See Dorner (1994), especially the helpful introduction by Williams, p 19-23, and Dorners third essay, The Reconstruction of the Immutability Doctrine. For discussions of Dorner, see Richards (2003) p 198-199 and Williams (1986). He can, for instance, change in going from not promising to promising and be impassible. Labs This anathema is an attempt to rule out such a position by ruling out change in the Son, which only makes sense if God is changeless. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, Why have you returned? After the death of Saul, when David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. A Song of Ascents. Thus a god cannot improve or deteriorate, making any change within God impossible. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. But the point remains: one action can have multiple effects at multiple times. This level of God's (1012 ) demonstrates He is of history, ie always in charge! You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. Divine Immutability and Impassibility | Garrett Ham In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. For instance, consider the conclusion to the creed of the first general council, Nicaea, in 325 (note that this is the end of the original creed, and not the more familiar Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed commonly employed in liturgies today): And those who say there once was when he was not, and before he was begotten he was not, and that he came to be from things that were not, or from another hypostasis or substance, affirming that the Son of God is subject to change or alterationthese the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes (Tanner, 1990, p 5, emphasis mine). One may wonder here, though, whether indexicals can be eliminated from all indexed propositions without any change in the meaning of the propositions. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.. So anything God knows now, he knew a thousand years ago. Even for a temporally located immutable person, there are still responses to this argument. And if, for every one of my actions, I cant do otherwise, then I cant be free. U The Problem of the Essential Indexical. An excellent two volume work which contains the decrees of the councils in the original languages, with facing translations. Here the council anathematizes those who claim that the Son of God is subject to change or alteration. The ascended Christ can sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb 4:15) and the Holy Spirit can be grieved (Eph 4:30). See 1012 ("the Lord's immutable plan for ").]. The Glory of Israel will not lie or repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent (1 Sam 15:29). God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And thats true. For instance, the Fourth council of Constantinople teaches that God is immutable and unchangeable, and this not in relation to Gods character but in discussion of Gods very existence (ever existing without beginning, and eternal, ever the same and like to himself, and suffering no change or alteration.). One response to this problem is to invoke divine timelessness. A third problem is that this view, far from keeping God unchanging, instead has some of his properties changing every instant, since he extrinsically changes with every passing instant. "The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple //white/the great controversy between christ and satan /25 gods law immutable.htm, God's Law Immutable Chapter 25 God's Law Immutable. This book is about divine immutability and simplicity. In fact, the second quotation from Ephesus has it that God is unchangeable and immutable by Gods very nature. Even if it is clear that traditional Christianity includes the doctrine of divine immutability, what, precisely, that doctrine amounts to is not perspicuous. [Illustration: Chapter header.] So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, You are my Son, today I have begotten you; Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Rather God simultaneously knows (on the assumption of divine eternity) in one act of knowing all temporally indexed truths (Stump and Kretzmann, 1981, p 455-458). Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan! But divine immutability must be more robust than that to do the work it has been tapped to do in traditional Christianity. So while the fact that it provides some way to reconcile some of the biblical evidence is a point in favor of the constancy of character view, it still faces a difficulty in understanding the scriptures that seem to claim that God does not change his mind. (See Exodus 32:14 and Numbers 14:12-20; Jonah 3:10; Amos 7:3-9; Jeremiah 26:3). ( Trenton Merricks, 2009; see also Kevin Timpe, 2007). Topical Bible: Immutability So the early church councils dont have the constancy of character view in mind when they claim that God is immutable. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. This book is an interesting historical discussion of what it means to say that God is immutable but became man. Truthmaking and Divine Eternity. God doesnt change by coming to be or ceasing to be; by gaining or losing qualities; by any quantitative growth or diminishment; by learning or forgetting anything; by starting or stopping willing what he wills; or in any other way that requires going from being one way to being another. For instance, see the fourth council of Constantinople (869-870), the eighth ecumenical council, by western reckoning, where the Fathers claim in their creedal statement: We confess, indeed, God to be oneever existing without beginning, and eternal, ever the same and like to himself, and suffering no change or alteration (Tanner, 1990, p 161). "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia". Is Gods knowledge intrinsic or extrinsic to God? Gods action is everlastingly the same, and everlastingly brought about by Gods choice, which is also everlastingly the same. If God cannot change, then how can He become man? Hebrews 6:18 chapter context similar meaning "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:" Hebrews 6:18 KJV copy save That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold . Isaiah 40:28 says "his understanding no one can fathom". Unchangeable. //aquinas/summa theologica/whether to be eternal belongs.htm, The Eternity of Heaven's Happiness. Some Historical Evidence for Divine Immutability, Biblical Evidence for and against Divine Immutability, Conciliar Evidence for Divine Immutability, The Protestant Reformers and Divine Immutability, Divine Immutability and Traditional Christianity, Strong ImmutabilityGod Does Not Change in Any Way, Gods Knowledge of Temporally Indexed Truths, Omniscience and Immutability. He who formed the eye, does he not see? The perfectly free, temporally located, immutable person neednt have his actions brought about by anything else besides his own choices. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia IMMUTABILITY; IMMUTABLE i-mu-ta-bil'-i-ti, i-mu'-ta-b'-l (ametathetos): Occurs in Hebrews 6:17, 18 of the unchangeableness of the Divine counsel. And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. 25. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. The immutability () of God is His unchangeableness. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. Another, stronger, view of immutability is that the doctrine of divine immutability rules out all intrinsic change in God. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Infallibility: The characteristic of being incapable of failing to accomplish a predetermined purpose. Immutability - Encyclopedic Dictionary of Bible and Theology Immutability (theology) - Wikipedia Given that God is atemporal, it isnt true of God that he previously intended to do anything. Holman Bible Dictionary. (I speak in a human way.) /i/immutable.htm - 7k, Faithfulness (91 Occurrences) in Exodus 3:13-15, which not only expresses God's self-existence and unchangeableness, but, as the context indicates, puts God's immutability in special /f/faithfulness.htm - 58k, Unchangeableness (1 Occurrence) the Finite 3. In addition, see the first head, eleventh article of the canons of Dordt, from 1618-1619: And as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient, and omnipotent, so the election made by him can neither be interrupted nor changed, recalled nor annulled; neither can the elect be cast away, nor their number diminished (Schaff, 1877, p 583). The following section discusses the two leading rival theories of what it is for God to be immutable. Copy freely. And if God were different, he would be mutable. The Immutability of God by C. H. Spurgeon - Blue Letter Bible It could be said that God knows beforehand all the possible steps each creature i.e., which steps each human could take at any given moment, whether good or bad, and God also knows beforehand from eternity what he will or will not ultimately do in any given situation, knowing that sometimes he will say he is going to do something worse and then doing either a less negative response or nothing at all. V But you say, How have we robbed you? In your tithes and contributions. That is, God can act in certain ways because his followers ask him to, and he might not have acted that way had they not asked. For if a god is already the best possible in these respects, a god cannot change for the better. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. I is for Infallible, Inerrant, Impassible and Immutable - Tripp Fuller But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? Psalm 33:11 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Both of these texts, and others like them, seem to indicate that God changes, at least in changing his mind and commands. So they are without excuse. (a.) He was in the beginning with God. Finally, this strong understanding of divine immutability is very common in church history. By Christopher Kuo In one video . But an immutable God can still be aware of what Moses does, still respond in a way we can call wrathful, and still love Moses. There must be a point in time before the change and a point in time after the change. Immutability - King James Dictionary - StudyLight.org The greatest religious significance of the unchanging God is His eternal stance of salvation toward His creation. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. The Bible is the immutable story of her husband's love. (I speak here of a proposition changing its truth-value, though it is not essential for divine immutability that propositions can change truth-values. Nevertheless, if it is true that God knows in a way unique to him, then that way may help solve the problem. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. For instance: God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Divine immutability is compromised if that God is planning to redeem creation changes in truth-value, but it is not compromised if that God is being praised by Father Jones changes in truth-value. These texts show that the dogmatic and confessional affirmations of divine immutability carry on into Protestantism. One way to support such a rejection is to provide an analysis of responsiveness that doesnt require change across time. Perry, John. By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, a division of The Zondervan Corporation, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. Such a truth is neutral to whether or not God changes. Likewise, he would have no past choices to fix his actions. Their response assumes divine eternity, which implies, in part, that God is atemporal. Real change is (roughly) change involved in causing something, change an item is caused to undergo or change not "logically parasitic" on change in other things. Gods course of action is, as Swinburne says, fixed by past choices, but those past choices are identical with the current choices, and the choices are not brought about by anything else. This is an excellent article on divine immutability and eternality from a philosophical viewpoint. ; H. Bavinck, The Doctrine of God (1951), 145-152. Likewise in other situations: God doesnt go from being one way to being another; rather, something else changes and on account of that a proposition about God changes its truth-value. It is the perfection of Yahweh that He changes not in character, will, purpose, aim (Malachi 3:6; so of Christ, Hebrews 13:8).See FAITHFULNESS; UNCHANGEABLE. Other relevant biblical passages include, but are not limited to, Exodus 32:14 and Amos 7:1-3. Objection 1: It seems that truth is immutable. Neither entails the other. Immutability of God - Holman Bible Dictionary - StudyLight.org And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. Consider the proposition: God is talking to Abraham. All rights reserved. What does that have to do with whether Christs flesh was turned into the nature of the godhead or that the unspeakable Word of God was changed into the nature of the flesh? Has he said, and will he not do it? Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.. One of the essential attributes of God is immutability, or the total absence of change, or even of //boudreaux/the happiness of heaven/chapter xxi the eternity of.htm, Whether to be Immutable Belongs to God Alone? In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. I convey some information to those whom the bottles reach, but the action I performed to do so has long since ceased. The biblical idea of immutability is couched in the constancy of God's self-revelation to humanity: He is holy (Joshua 24:19 ), jealous (Exodus 20:5 ), zealous, (Isaiah 9:7 ), beneficent (Psalm 107:1 ); and righteous (Exodus 9:27 ). Notice that if immutability is understood in this sense, the Bible passages cited in section 1 may be easier to reconcile than on strong immutability. This kind of God, who is possessed by an immutability which prohibits relationship to His creation, is not the God portrayed by the Bible. G First of all, an unchanging God; secondly, the persons who derive benefit from this glorious attribute, "the sons of Jacob;" and thirdly, the benefit they so derive, they "are not consumed.' We address ourselves to these points. GOD'S LAW IMMUTABLE. God does it as a result of the calamity the angel was causing when destroying the people. Answer The aseity of God is His attribute of independent self-existence. The proponent of an eternal, immutable God doesnt face this problem, since on that view God doesnt, strictly speaking, know anything before anything else. Williams, Robert R., I. It still leaves a problem for biblical exegesis. Hebrews 6:17 - God's Unchangeable Promise - Bible Hub An atemporal God cannot change at all, since change requires time. 15:29; Ps. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. IMMUTABILITY. Similarly for all other truths. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Something that is immutable is unchangeable. The doctrine of divine simplicitythe thesis that in God there is no composition whatsoever, that God is uniquely metaphysically simpleseems to rule out difference across possible worlds. Just like the constancy of character model of divine immutability, however, this understanding is not without its own problems. And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? Facts about the Bible can be interesting and riddled with both history and meaning. In fact, it could be exactly because his character does not change that he responds to prayers. For what is there in God to be different if God is wholly simple? The Bible is clear that God does not change His mind, His will, or His nature. Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. God cant change to do anything else. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. The "canon event" videos play on the film's idea of certain events in life being immutable. The second thing to note here is that the doctrine of divine simplicity can be understood in many different ways, some of which do not require simplicity to entail modal collapse. Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary Immutability His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.