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What It Means That God Is Immutable and Why That Matters for You
God’s Unchangeable Being
Change fills our lives. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said that you cannot step into the same river twice.1 The Roman poet Ovid said, “Time is the devourer of things.”2 We grow up and grow old in years that, in hindsight, seem to have passed as swiftly as a flying bird.
Some theologians say that God changes. However, the Bible teaches that he never changes. This is the doctrine of God’s immutability. For us, the prospect of never changing would be horrible, for it would trap us in our limited, imperfect lives. But as Johannes Wollebius said, “The immutable life of God is absolutely perfect and absolutely blessed.”3
“In the beginning,” God already existed in all the power, wisdom, and goodness by which he created the universe (Gen. 1:1). There is no history of how God was born and grew up. In Psalm 90:2, Moses says, “From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” What God was, he is now and always will be, for he is eternal.
Men’s lives are disappearing “like smoke,” passing “like a shadow,” and withering “like grass” (Ps. 102:3, 11). But the believer can say to God, “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps. 102:25–27). “We ought therefore,” John Calvin said, “to seek stability nowhere else but in God.”4
Essentials of Reformed Systematic Theology
Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley
Written by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, this abridged guide combines content from all 4 volumes of Reformed Systematic Theology, making deep Scripture study accessible to a wider audience.
Immutability, then, marks a basic difference between the Creator and his creation, including humanity. God says, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). This verse links God’s immutability to his name “the Lord” (YHWH), or “I Am” (Ex. 3:14). God is the One who is. His self-existence and faithfulness guarantee that he will not change but will keep his ancient promises.
God’s attributes do not change. His love and faithfulness cannot change (Psalm 136). God never loses any of the infinite power he used to create all things (Isa. 40:28). God’s wisdom is immutable, for no one has ever “instructed him . . . [or] taught him knowledge” (Isa. 40:14). Nothing can increase his insight, for that would imply that his knowledge was limited, but “there is no searching of his understanding” (Isa. 40:28).
God is immutable because of his infinite perfection and sufficiency. He already has an unlimited fullness of goodness and glory. He can neither decrease nor increase. All change comes from a cause, but God’s aseity teaches us that he receives nothing from causes outside of himself (Acts 17:24–25). However, though God is unchanging, he is the living, personal, and active God, “the fountain of living waters” (Jer. 2:13).
The Bible uses various pictures for God’s immutability. He is called the “Rock,” a massive cliff or mountain (Deut. 32:4). This image shows his strength and stability. Another picture of God’s immutability is light. James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). The sun, moon, and stars are always moving in the sky and changing in appearance. God, the Creator of these lights, is the eternal light that never changes.
God’s Unchangeable Will
God is immutable not just in the perfections of his nature but also in the purposes of his heart. God’s immutable purpose of grace flows out of his immutable nature. He says, “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). The immutability of God’s will is reflected in the stability of his Word (Ps. 119:89). Heaven and earth will pass away before his words pass away (Matt. 5:18; 24:35).
Even wicked Balaam had to say, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23:19). Men are changing and unreliable. Sometimes they lie, promising one thing but doing another. Sometimes they commit to do something, but afterward change their minds. However, God is not human. He does not lie or change his mind or purposes. Thus, his blessing on his chosen people will not fail (Num. 23:20). Greg Nichols writes, “The church will never perish. Persecution will never destroy it. Temptation will never overwhelm it. Its enemies strive in vain. God has decreed its preservation and victory.”5
God has absolute freedom to decide what he pleases. His decree is “the counsel of his own will” (Eph. 1:11). He freely decided his good pleasure in eternity (Eph. 1:4) and now performs that unchanging plan in time (Dan. 4:24, 35). Man’s plans are often frustrated and have to be changed. God’s plan is never frustrated and will stand forever (Ps. 33:10–11).
Therefore, Christians have a hope that is “an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Heb. 6:19). God has revealed “the immutability of his counsel” (Heb. 6:17). His promises will never expire, for his plan will never change. We can trust his Word. Over the whole Bible flies this banner: “These words are true and faithful” (Rev. 21:5).
Only God’s immutability can be the basis of our hope.
Questions About God’s Immutability
The doctrine of God’s immutability has rich implications for our faith and obedience. But like God’s eternity, it can puzzle our minds. Two major theological questions confront us when we consider God’s immutability. We may summarize them in the words relationships and repentance.
God’s Relationships and Immutability
As we have seen, the Holy Scriptures teach us that God does not change in his being or plan. But the Scriptures plainly say that God’s relationships change. Unbelievers live under God’s wrath, but when they repent of their sins and believe the gospel, they come under God’s forgiveness (John 3:16–18, 36). Thus, the gospel of Christ demands that we recognize that God’s relationships change.
Some evangelical theologians argue that though God does not change in his attributes or plan, he changes in his experiences and emotions as his relationships with us change.6 This would mean that one part of God is unchanging (his attributes and plan) and the other part is changing (his experiences and emotions). However, there can be no change in God, for he says, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). The Bible also says nothing about God having two parts. Rather, God is one (Deut. 6:4). He is simple. His very essence is love (1 John 4:8). Therefore, if his love changed, his very being would change.
God’s affections are not changing emotions. God’s relationships with creatures in time, though very real, are not part of his essence. Relationships are outward actions of God. Changes in them involve no change in God himself. His relationships change, but he never changes.
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God’s Repentance and Immutability
In light of the Bible’s teaching that God is unchanging in the perfection of his nature and purpose, it sometimes confuses people to read that God does “repent” or, as it also can be translated, “regret” or “relent” (ESV). For example, Genesis 6:6–7 says, “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
Teachers of open theism point to Scripture passages such as Genesis 6 as evidence that God does not have an unchanging plan.7 Rather, he is said to change his plan to respond sensitively to those whom he loves. This means that when evil spread on the earth in the time of Noah, God felt regret over his decision to make man. Under this view, God had not known that man would sin. But if this is true, God makes decisions with horrible outcomes.
On the contrary, God is eternal and perfect in wisdom. He is not limited by time and cannot make mistakes. When this passage says that God “repented,” it tells us that he was very displeased with human sin, as the word “grieved” shows (Gen. 6:6). The Creator of the perfect world thus became the destroyer of the sinful world. However, that does not mean God changed his plan because of events he did not foresee. That would contradict the message of Genesis that God knows events many years before they happen (Gen. 15:13–16; 25:23; 37:5–8).
Sin does not cause God’s plan to fail but mysteriously fulfills it. Joseph could tell his brothers, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” because of results that came years later (Gen. 50:20). Therefore, we should interpret God’s repentance in Genesis 6:6–7 to refer not to a change of his plan but to a change in his dealings with man. God planned the flood from the beginning for his glory in judgment and salvation. Augustine said, “Thou . . . changest Thy ways, leaving unchanged Thy plans.”8
Trusting the Unchangeable
Lord God’s immutability entered our changeable world when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). In his human nature, Christ has changed and developed (Luke 2:40). In his eternal divine nature, he never changes. The Son remains the immutable Creator (Heb. 1:10–12). Once he became man, he is forever the God-man. Hebrews 13:8 celebrates “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
Therefore, if we trust in Christ alone for salvation, we can know that God has loved us with an everlasting love (Ps. 103:17; Isa. 54:7–10). John Preston said, “When thou knowest that God is knit to thee by an unchangeable bond, that he is a friend whom thou mayest build upon forever, whom thou mayest trust; this makes thy heart to cleave to him.”9
We should imitate God’s immutability by keeping our word. We should be reliable people by God’s grace (2 Cor. 1:17–20). We must change through the lifelong process of repentance. However, our repentance pursues greater steadiness and stability in the image of God.
Though we strive to imitate God’s faithfulness and admire the saints for their perseverance, we must view mere men realistically. People are full of changes: “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth” (Ps. 103:15). Therefore, we cannot hope in any mere man.
Only God’s immutability can be the basis of our hope. We must say with the psalmist, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved” (Ps. 62:5–6).
Samuel Willard said, “Live upon this attribute; it is enough to keep up your spirits, and strengthen you with patience to run that weary and difficult race that you are called unto. It is true, you meet with many changes among creatures . . . yet faint not, nor be weary, for in all these you have an unchangeable God to stand by you.”10
Notes:
- Cited in Plato, Cratylus, 402a, in Plato, vol. 4, Cratylus, Parmenides, Greater Hippias, Lesser Hippias, trans. Harold North Fowler, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926), 67.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.234, in Ovid, vol. 4, Metamorphoses, trans. Frank Justus Miller, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916), 380.
- Johannes Wollebius, Compendium Theologiae Christianae, 1.1.(3).3.iii.3, in Reformed Dogmatics, ed. and trans. John W. Beardslee III, A Library of Protestant Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 39.
- Calvin, Comm. on Ps. 102:25–27.
- Greg Nichols, Lectures in Systematic Theology, ed. Rob Ventura, 4 vols. to date (Seattle: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017–2024), 1:256.
- Bruce A. Ware, “An Evangelical Reformulation of the Doctrine of the Immutability of God,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 29, no. 4 (December 1986): 440–41; and God’s Greater Glory: The Exalted God of Scripture and the Christian Faith (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 148, 150.
- Open theism is a form of finite theism or belief in a limited god. See chaps. 10 and 14.
- Augustine, Confessions, 1.4, in NPNF1 , 1:46.
- John Preston, Life Eternall, or, A Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes, 2nd ed. (London: by R. B., 1631), 2:88.
- Samuel Willard, A Compleat Body of Divinity in Two Hundred and Fifty Expository Lectures on the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism (Boston: by B. Green and S. Kneeland for B. Eliot and D. Henchman, 1726), 64–65.
This article is adapted from Essentials of Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley.
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