Why God Can't Change (and other thoughts on God)

Last night Bob did an incredible job of conveying the nearly impossible to convey idea of God’s aseity – his eternal, unchanging independence. I believe these truths of God to be incredibly important and not talked about nearly enough.


Why are they important? Well, first, if God isn’t eternal, how did he come to be? Was he created? If so, then whoever created him must be eternal and more powerful. No. If God is God, he has always been God. Isaiah 40:28, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” ESV

Also, it is incredibly important to affirm that God does not change. Think about it for just a minute. If God changed, then it would mean that either he wasn’t perfect before the change, or he isn’t perfect after the change. That won’t work.

Bob did mention last night the unbiblical idea that God doesn’t experience any emotion, sometimes called God’s impassibility. I agree - it is unbiblical. But we can fall off the fence another way too. Some have argued that God is growing into his Godhood (an idea called Process Theology). Process theologians assert that God, to be a real being, must change. One process theologian says that God is continually adding to himself all the experiences of the universe. Frankly, it just doesn’t square with Malachi 3:6, “"For I the LORD do not change” or with Psalm 102:25-27, “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.”

Finally, asserting God’s independence is essential. We are creatures and draw our life from God. He is Creator, and draws his life from nothing other that himself. He is self existing and, as Bob’s sermon title mentioned, all sufficient. Consider Paul’s words as recorded in Acts 17:24-26, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” No, we serve God, not because he needs us, but because it is an absolute privilege to be included in his awesome plan (which is also eternal and unchanging – but that’s another blog for another day)!