Anti-Logorrhea

Immutability of God

27 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment

by Erinn in Uncategorized

I’m posting this mostly for my own reasons, but feel free to read it.  I’m handing it in this Tuesday.  Comments/critiques always appreciated.

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Within the arena of Christian thought, there are few non-negotiable doctrines.  One non-negotiable in particular is that of the necessity for – and the existence of – the attributes of God.  The divine attributes cannot be negotiated or disputed, for if such a thing were to occur, God would cease to be God.  Without divine attributes, such a God would be finite and unworthy of worship.  Consequently, while many attributes do exist, the immutability of God is perhaps one of the most important, for only a God who is unchanging in His entire being can truly be infinite.  Thus, for a God to be worthy of worship He must also be an unchanging God.

Nevertheless, it is important to first answer the question of who God is, for “a god begotten in the shadows of a fallen heart will quite naturally be no true likeness of the true God.”[1] In other words, the nature of God must be seen and evaluated through the presence of His divine attributes and not through the ideals of a sinful human heart.  Consequently, because the Christian is unable to fully know God through his own efforts, he must resort to believing in the rightness of the attributes and nature of God, for they are the basis to what the Christian believes.  If God’s attributes were unworthy or unholy, or if His nature were no longer upright, He would cease to be God, and such a god would be unworthy of worship.

As such, the evaluation of the attributes of God is vital for a sufficient understanding of Him.  However, due to the extreme broadness of such an ideal, only attributes that in some way affect the immutability of God will be thoroughly discussed.  Even so, at the very least it is important to clarify most of the agreed upon attributes of God before venturing into the necessity of immutability.  As such, the nature of God is usually defined by the following attributes: incomprehensibility, self-sufficiency, self-existence, eternality, infinitude, immutability, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, goodness, justice, mercy, grace, love, holiness, and sovereignty.  Certainly, attributes may be further defined as being either communicable or non-communicable, meaning, humanity as a whole may be able to incorporate some aspects of mercy, justice, and love, but no human can be fully self-sufficient or omnipotent.  In other words: God shares with His creation aspects of Himself through His communicable traits; yet, God does not share some aspects of Himself with His creation because of the fact that those traits are simply non-communicable.

Regarding the attribute of immutability, the basic definition is that “God is One who does not change.”[2] God is unchanging and there is no transition from one area to another.  Even the New Testament states “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).  The obvious implication being, whichever divine Person is present, the nature of God remains as One who does not change.  Even so, one must not forget “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6).  In addition other passages indicate such immutability: Exodus 3:14; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Psalm 102:26-28; Isaiah 41:4; 48:12; Romans 1:23; Hebrews 1:11-12; Hebrews 6:17-18; and James 1:17.[3] [4] This concept of changelessness can be stated quite delicately: “All things else are tottering; God sees all other things in continual motion under His feet, like water passing away and no more seen; while He remains fixed and immovable; His wisdom and power, His knowledge and will, are always the same.” [5]

It should be stated that both immutability and eternality must be linked together, for one attribute cannot exist without the other, as “true eternity is true immutability; whence eternity is defined the possession of an immutable life.” [6] Even so, a differentiation must be made: immutability refers to the essence of a thing, whereas eternity refers to the duration of a being in the state of immutability. [7] In other words, eternity is the measure of the state of immutability; one cannot be changeless without also being eternal.

Regarding the concept of change, Stephen Charnock defines change as such: “A thing is said to be changed, when it is otherwise now in regard of nature, state, will, or any quality than it was before; when either something is added to it, or taken from it; when it either loses or acquires.” [8] Consequently, this definition must be applied to the very nature of God.  For God “wants nothing; He loses nothing; but doth uniformly exist by Himself, without any new nature, new thoughts, new will, new purpose, or new place.” [9] In essence, every attribute of God flows out of the fact that He is unchanging, for He neither requires nor loses anything within His nature.

Charnock defines three aspects of immutability.  Firstly, that the immutability of God is a perfection.[10] Certainly, immutability in and of itself is not perfection, for even evil angels are immutable in their hatred against goodness.  Yet, since God is “infinite in essence, infinitely good, wise, holy; so it is a perfection necessary to His nature, that He should be immutably all this, all excellency, goodness, wisdom, immutably all that He is; without this He would be an imperfect Being.”[11]

Secondly, immutability belongs to all of the attributes of God.[12] [13] Consequently, in order for God to be all knowing, all-powerful, and outside of time and space, it is imperative for Him to be unchanging in His knowledge, unchanging in His power, and unchanging in His state of eternality.  Similarly, “mercy and justice have their distinct objects and distinct acts; mercy is conversant about a penitent, justice conversant about an obstinate sinner.  […]  The wisdom of God is not His power, nor His power His holiness, but immutability is the centre wherein they all unite.” [14] If God’s wisdom had the potential to change, this evolvement would inevitably create an opportunity for obscured wisdom.  Likewise, if God were given the opportunity to grow more powerful, He must also be given the opportunity to shrink in His power.  Yet this is obviously not the case, as “all that we consider in God is unchangeable; for his essence and his properties are the same, and, therefore, what is necessarily belonging to the essence of God, belongs also to every perfection of the nature of God; none of them can receive any addition or diminution.”[15] In other words, for God to be infinite in all of His attributes, the very nature of God must be unchanging.

Lastly, unchangeableness pertains to the nature of God.[16] Charnock states, “God is a necessary Being; He is necessarily what He is, and, therefore, is unchangeably what He is.  […]  If any perfection of His nature could be separated from Him, He would cease to be God.”[17] God is unable to be unrighteous and unholy because of the fact that His nature is pure and holy.  Similarly, God cannot change because of the fact that His very nature is unchangeable and to change would imply contingency and a sense of augmentation or diminution.  In the end, “necessity of being, and, therefore, immutability of being, belongs by nature only to God; otherwise, if there were any change in God, He would be sometimes what He was not, and would cease to be what He was, which is against the nature, and, indeed, against the natural notion of a Deity.” [18]

While it is certain that God is immutable, in what respects is He actually unchangeable?  To answer, God is unchangeable in His essence.[19] “He who hath not being from another, cannot but be always what he is: God is the first being, an independent Being; He was not produced of Himself, or of any other, but by nature always hath been, and, therefore, cannot by Himself, or by any other, be changed from what He is in His own nature.” [20] Similarly, if God’s nature was not immutable and the possibility for change did exist, He would no longer be able to state, “I Am that I Am” (Exodus 3:14) for “though He would not cease utterly to be, yet He would cease to be what He was before.” [21] Certainly, God’s essence cannot be changed, for “the Divine nature cannot be increased; for whatsoever receives anything than what it had in itself before, must necessarily receive it from another, because nothing can give to itself that which it hath not.” [22] Yet, God cannot give to Himself what He lacks, because all things are derived from Him.

In addition to being immutable in essence, God must also be immutable in His knowledge, for it has been stated that “all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).  As such, God knows all things, for “that which He knows now He always knows.”[23] A man is said to change in terms of his knowledge “when he knows that now which he did not know before, or knows that to be false now which he thought true before, or has something for the object of his understanding now, which he had not before.”[24] Obviously then, God’s knowledge must be unchanging, for “if God understood a thing at one time which He did not at another, He would be changed from ignorance to knowledge.”[25] Not to mention, a God with changing knowledge would be unfit to inflict judgment, for “a changeable mind and understanding cannot make a due and right judgment of things to be done, and things to be avoided.”[26]

In addition, God knows all things by His essence.  As such, “from the infiniteness of His essence we conclude the infiniteness of His understanding, so from the unchangeableness of His essence, we may justly conclude the unchangeableness of His knowledge.”[27] If God’s knowledge and essence were somehow different, and if His being were somehow not simple, God would be split into varying parts, yet if He were to exist in parts, He would not be an independent and simple Being and thus could not be God.  However, God is a simple Being, and as a simple Being, His essence “eminently contains all perfections in itself, so His understanding comprehends all things past, present, and future, in itself.”[28]

Consequently, God must also be outside of time, for “God hath no original; He hath no defect, because He was not made of nothing: He hath no increase, because He had no beginning.  He was before all things, and, therefore, depends upon no other thing which, by its own change, can bring any change upon him.”[29] In other words, in order to be immutable, God must also be outside of time, having no beginning and no end, an uncreated Being that can neither increase nor decrease in essence or in attribute.

God must also be changeless in regards to His will and purpose.  For, “whatsoever God hath decreed, is immutable; whatsoever God hath promised, shall be accomplished.”[30] Since God’s will is immutable, humanity was required to satisfy the Law whereby a Mediator was given to humanity, for it was the “unalterable will of God”[31] that death be the wages of sin.

Akin to that of God’s knowledge, God’s will is identical to God’s essence.  For, if God’s will varied from His essence, He would no longer be simple.  Even the “existence of anything supposeth an act of His will.”[32] Interestingly, there is no plausible reason for mutability within the will of God, as humanity desires foresight to alter both the past and the future, yet God already possesses full and complete knowledge in all things in and of Himself.  Or, to state it in better terms, “if God did change His purpose, it must be either for the better, – then the counsel of God was bad before; or for the worse, – then He was not wise and good before.”[33] Yet, because God is omniscient and omnipotent, God cannot – and will not – revise or change His will, for even the Psalms state, “The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 78:65).[34]

Consequently, one concern must be addressed.  That is, while God’s will is immutable, this immutability does not imply that whatever is willed will also be immutable, for what was once willed into existence may be willed out of existence.  For “He decreed that Christ should suffer, but He did not decree that Christ should always suffer; so He willed the Mosaical rites for a time, but He did not will that they should always continue; He willed that they should endure only for a time; and when the time came for their ceasing, God had been mutable if He had not put an end to them, because His will had fixed such a period.”[35] Consequently, though God willed the world into existence, the world was not given immutability.  While the decree that willed the world into existence is immutable, an end to the world was still predetermined.  As such, “the decree is immutable if the world perish at that time, and would not be immutable if the world did endure beyond that time that God hath fixed for the duration of it.”[36]

Certainly, there are various reasons that prove the immutability of God.  For example, the name Jehovah appears to imply the attribute of immutability.  For, “the very name Jehovah bears, according to the grammatical order, a mark of God’s unchangeableness; it never hath anything added to it, nor anything taken from it; it hath no plural number, no affixes – a custom peculiar to the eastern languages; it never changes its letters as other words do.”[37] Not to mention, Exodus 3:14, “I Am who I Am” signifies eternality, immutability, purpose, knowledge, and consistency.

Similarly, because God is perfect, He cannot change.  Change occurs in only two ways: in either greater or lesser amounts.  If God were to be less perfect, the implication is that He is not completely perfect, and thus cannot be God.  Likewise, if God were to become more perfect, the logical conclusion is that He was not perfect enough to begin with, and a God who is not always perfect cannot be God.  Additionally, because God is the most simple being, “if God could be changed by anything within Himself, all in God would not be God;  […] if one part were able to change or destroy another, that which doth change would be God, that which is changed would not be God.”[38] Obviously then, mutability is contrary to both God’s independency and His simplicity.

Consequently, God could not be eternal if He were mutable.  As such, if God “were sometimes this and sometimes that, sometimes know this and sometimes know that, sometimes purpose this and afterwards hath a new purpose; He would be partly temporary and partly eternal, not truly and universally eternal.”[39] God of course cannot be partly eternal, so He must be immutable in His purposes and in His knowledge in order to be wholly and completely eternal.

Some may question the affections assigned to God, contending a change in God must have occurred.  Such as when God repented of the good He promised (Jeremiah 18:10) and His repentance of the evil He threatened (Exodus 32:14; John 3:10).  However, repentance is not necessarily in God, for God is pure Spirit and is unable to experience passions that are a sign of weakness and impotence.[40] For “where there is a proper repentance there is a want of foresight, an ignorance of what would succeed, or a defect in the examination of the occurrences which might fall within consideration.”[41]

The answer to this difficulty lies in the fact that God must accommodate Himself to the weaknesses of humanity.  For God often describes Himself as having body parts or as waking, yet God is a spirit and He does not sleep.[42] Nor does He fly when He describes Himself as riding upon the wings of the wind .[43] Since humanity cannot “fully comprehend [God] as He is, He clothes Himself with our nature in His expressions that we may apprehend Him as we are able, and by an inspection into ourselves, learn something of the nature of God; yet those human ways of speaking […] are only designed to mark out something in God which hath a resemblance with something in us, as we cannot speak to God as gods, but as men, so we cannot understand Him speaking to us as a God, unless He condescend to speak to us like a man.”[44] As such, God’s nature must remain unchanged, for when “He institutes a change in His dealings with men, He describes His course of conduct as repenting.”[45] Similarly, if God is seen as “repenting, changing His intention, and altering His relation to sinners when they repent”, these events must be viewed as being anthropopathic in nature.[46] All perceived changes in God are due to changes in His creation; God’s purposes and promises do not change, even if His actions must differ according to the behaviour of His creation.[47] [48]

A stark contrast exists between God and humanity whereby humans must rely completely on the grace and will of God, for “by nature we tend toward nothingness, since we came from nothing.  Nothing stays our annihilation but the will and sustaining power of God.”[49] Even Acts 17:28 implies the glory and power of God, for in Him “we live, and move, and have our being.”  Yet, as fallen creatures everything within the unsaved human will is opposed to God.[50] All humans are inconsistent and undependable; “Put not your trust in princes, in the son of man, in whom is no help” (Psalm 146:3).  However, the immutability of God provides much needed comfort, for God’s will is stable, He is the same forever, and He is likened to an immovable rock (Deuteronomy 32:4).  God is eternal; He has always existed and will exist forever.[51] He is self-existent and self-sufficient, the only unique Being in existence, and “one who can suffer any slightest degree of change is neither self-existent, self-sufficient, nor eternal, and so is not God.”[52] As such, because God’s will cannot be compromised, He need not be persuaded into loving His children, for He is love.  God’s immutability entails Him “always doing the right and in adapting the treatment of His creatures to the variations in their character and conduct.”[53]

Consequently, if God were mutable, prayer would serve to be ultimately purposeless, for God’s purposes and all of His attributes would be fleeting and illogical.  Yet, because God’s will cannot be changed, what is the point of “praying to One whose will is already fixed?”[54] The most logical answer is simply: because He requires it.  Since God has willed all things that are for the good of His children, “to ask anything contrary to His will is not prayer, but rank rebellion.”[55] Likewise, so long as Christians “meet His clearly stated terms, bring our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly operative toward us in the manner set forth through the gospel in the Scriptures of truth.”[56]

Similarly, immutability does not presuppose immobility.  For God is a working and functioning God and He “enters into relationships with changing men.”[57] God is akin to a rock in His unchanging will and purposes, yet all of His divine attributes must flow out of His immutability.  Since humanity is finite and limited in mind and body, and as paradoxical as it may first seem, it is “necessary for an unchangeable God to change in his dealings with changing men in order to remain unchangeable in his character and purposes.”[58] Or, in other words: there is no change in God’s Being, His attributes, His motives, His promises, or His purpose, rather there is only change in the relations of men to Him.[59] This concept is illustrated through the threat of judgment found in Jonah.  In particular, lack of judgment does not imply mutability; rather, God simply adapted His actions towards the ever-changing human situation.[60] In other words, “God remained the same in character, infinitely hating sin, and in His purpose to visit sin with judgment; but as Nineveh changed in its attitude toward sin, God necessarily changed in His attitude towards Nineveh.  His character remains the same; but His dealings with men change, as they change from a position that is hateful to His unchangeable hatred of sin, to one that is pleasing to His unchangeable love of righteousness.”[61]

There is an interesting development regarding the human’s response to the concept of eternity.  That is, because God is the great I Am, the One who exists outside of time, there is much difficulty in comprehending the vastness of eternity.  One theologian, Gerald Bray, asserts that only two concepts of time truly exist: that is, the past and the future, for the present cannot truly exist.  This is in part because “no matter how carefully we pinpoint the moment in time which we call ‘now’, as soon as we have uttered the word, that moment has become past.”[62] The present is simply a concept used to differentiate between time that has occurred, and time that has yet to occur.  If this premise is accepted, one may perhaps state that the present is intimately connected to the eternal, for in a sense, “the present is really the end of time – the point which time has now reached.”[63] The main point being, because of the indefinable present, “God has implanted in us the ability to know the eternal as a dimension outside the flow of time […] and God can reveal Himself to us as present without violating His nature, because the present is the vehicle by which we can apprehend the eternal.”[64] This concept is relevant to the immutability of God because God cannot be immutable unless He is also eternal.  Regarding the abilities within the human mind, perhaps this new understanding of time and eternity may bring forth a refreshing view of God that is immanent and transcendent as well as personal and almighty.

Nonetheless, for God to be God it is imperative that He possess immutability.  Likewise, in order to be immutable God must also exist outside of time and space, be completely eternal, all knowing, and all powerful.  Any “changeableness implies a corruptibility” yet God’s will and purpose cannot be corrupted, thus He must be changeless.[65] Since God’s will is changeless, His moral law must also be changeless.  The result is that humans are left completely responsible for their own behaviour.

Perhaps a final consequence of the doctrine of immutability is that while humans are undependable and fallen creatures, when Christians reside in Christ, His immutability may be used for their good.  In other words, “the nearer we come to Him, the more stability we shall have in ourselves; the further from Him, the more liable to change.”[66] Children of God must take consolation in the fact that while the world is chaotic and fallen, their Father is the great I Am and He will never thwart His plans or purposes because He is a changeless God.

References

Bancroft, Emery H. Elemental Theology. Grand Rapids Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977.

Berkhof, L. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids Michigan: WM. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1982.

Bray, Gerald. The Doctrine of God. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993.

Chaffer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology: Volume One. Wheaton Illinois: Victor Books, 1988.

Charnock, Stephen. Discourses Upon the Existence and Attributes of God: Volume One. Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Book House, 1988.

Hodge, Charles. Systematic Theology: Volume One. Grand Rapids Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1982.

Lockyer, Herbert. All the Doctrines of the Bible. Grand Rapids Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1964.

Pink, Arthur W. The Attributes of God. Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Book House, 1977.

Pinnock, Rice, Sanders, Hasker, & Basinger. The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1994.

Thiessen, Henry Clarence. Lectures in Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy – The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1961.

Williams, J. Rodman. Renewal Theology. Grand Rapids Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1988.

Self Worth

04 Mar 2011 3 Comments

by Erinn in Uncategorized

The problem of self worth never disappears.  We experience life, and in life we must face rejection, criticism, failure, and the list goes on unendingly as if it were pi.

Most people – I assume – tend to place self worth on actions rather than on the “person”.  Example: I am lovable because I am beautiful.  I am smart because I am on the honor roll.

How ridiculous. But how true. The opposites then being, I am an idiot because my paper was only B worthy.  No one will ever love me because I am atrociously ugly.

How devastating.

My self worth has always been linked to what I can do; not on who I am.  How troublesome. This, of course, leads to perfectionism.  Perfectionism being, 93% on an exam isn’t good enough. 89% on a major paper isn’t good enough. A semester of 3.96 isn’t good enough. Playing some of Rachmaninoff but not all of Rachmaninoff is not good enough. And as you can imagine, the list is basically endless.

How tiresome.

As a child my self worth was based entirely on who I was, as homeschooling made it impossible to be “liked and accepted” solely based on my marks.  However, now being in College there is a constant urge to prove myself, for many reasons: Being homeschooled, the fact that I have not been part of a church since I was 9 years old (what a horrible confession from a bible college student!), and now we come to the most important factor of them all. Beauty.

If I can’t be beautiful, then I will be smart. It’s a simple statement but the ramifications are tremendous.

I think people have the potential to link their self worth to three possible things: beauty, intelligence, or the person as a whole.  Obviously, the last possibility seems to be the most healthy.  I’m sure every person would rather be loved and appreciated for who they are, what they think, AND how they present themselves, rather than one above the other.

The point is: a person (such as me) should not write papers because she thinks she’s unattractive or atrociously ugly.  She should write papers because she admires the written word and finds outside meaning in it.  The difference between self worth and outside meaning? Whether or not you fail the paper doesn’t matter. You found meaning in the mere activity of writing it.

Likewise, a person shouldn’t find self worth purely based on the fact that they’re gorgeous. Because in 30 or 40 years from now, they’ll be hopeless and depressed.

Rather, find self worth in the fact that you exist and people love you because of the person that you inherently are.

Granted, that’s a really stupidly difficult thing to do.  From the age of 8 I’ve been horribly self-conscious, (short story: kids at camp enjoy playing the “how much do you weigh?” game.  I weighed a lot).  So, from that moment on my self-worth would no longer be linked to how pretty I could be, because obviously I could never be pretty enough. So, I turned to books instead. I turned towards the piano and I left the world of pretty people.

13 years later the pretty people still exist, and so do my books. I probably have 30 books per 1 actual friend. How sad.

There’s a massive theological angle for this, but I have papers to write (ironically).

So with that, let’s be worthy of our worth because of the fact that we exist.

Anger

03 Jan 2011 Leave a Comment

by Erinn in Uncategorized

There are many nights where I burrow myself under blankets and pillows and I wonder if God is enough.  If going through hell will somehow make life worth living.  I wonder if the reason I feel so far from Him is because the only thing I can feel – and perhaps have only ever felt – is anger.  An anger that is so deep rooted, so twisted and burned, that breaking it, setting it free, escaping it, is not feasible.  I understand that sin is the reason there is pain and death and heartbreak, but that fact is no longer enough.

I am Doubting Thomas and I have no God to touch.  My doubt lingers.  It lingers because accusations and judgments feed it.  My anger lingers because I am stubborn and resentful and broken.

I am angry, frustrated, doubtful, stubborn, and rebellious, and yet my convictions remain.  My convictions have not left.  My God still exists… somewhere.  Somewhere deep inside of me, in this sinful, chaotic, mess of lies, God still exists.