Who is God? (Part 6): He Is Immutable

God does not change. God does not grow. God does not develop. God does not evolve. With God, there is no variation (James 1:17). God does not need to modify His words. God does not change for the better or the worse. God is immutable.

By contrast, we are always changing. We increase in knowledge or forget things. We gain or lose weight. We grow older. We get taller and sometimes shorter. We get smarter or wiser (and for me, I get dumber).

Consider salvation. “Getting saved” is all about change. It involves a new man, a new creation, a new commitment. The need for atonement is based on our need for sins to be forgiven. It’s based on the concept that we need to be changed or we will end up separated from God in hell for eternity.

And when we are saved, we still are changing. We are being transformed into His image (II Corinthians 4:16). And we are even commanded to be changing ourselves (Philippians 2:12-13).

So, what? Well, A.W. Tozer tells us why God’s immutability matters: “In this world where men forget us, change their attitude toward us as their private interests dictate, and revise their opinion of us for the slightest cause, is it not a source of wondrous strength to know that the God with whom we have to do changes not? That His attitude toward us now is the same as it was in eternity past and will be in eternity to come? What peace it brings to the Christian heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one. Neither does He change His mind about anything. Today, this moment, He feels towards His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind.” (The Knowledge of the Holy, pg. 53)

He is God, and He will not change (Malachi 3:6).