The Incommunicable
Attributes of God
Because divine aseity is so often
misunderstood, that attribute has been treated separately. In this article, I
want to compress the incommunicable attributes of God in one place. To begin
with, the incommunicable attributes of God are different from the communicable attributes
of God due to the fact that they cannot be shared with anyone or any being that
is not God. Hence, they are incommunicable.
The Immutability of God
Proposition/Claim: God does not
change
The proposition, “God does not
change” follows naturally from the proposition that “God is self-contained” or “God
is independent.” Francis Turretin deals with this subject by asking this
question: Is God immutable both in essence and will? We affirm.[1]
The term immutability means the possibility of change. Is there any
possibility of change in the divine being? And the answer is, there is none. In
order to demonstrate that Christians know that God cannot change, we must call
on the source for that knowledge once again; Christian Scripture. “I am the
Lord and I change now.” (Mal. 3:6) But you are the same, and your years have no
end. (Ps. 102:27) Christian knowledge about God is revelational in its nature.
God reveals himself in divine acts and then works to reveal the interpretation
of those acts in Scripture. We come back to Exodus 3:14 where God said to
Moses, “I am that I am” is my name. God’s name is being.[2]
Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. He does not change. James 1:17 tells us that there is no variation or
shadow of change in God. The Greek word used by James here is parallage.
It means a change or variation in the nature or character of something[3]
In fact, James said that even God’s shadow is ever fixed so that it does not
move or change even in the slightest degree. Notice that Turretin says that God
is immutable both in essence and will.
Proposition/Claim: God’s will
does not change.
The word will can mean any number
of things. It can mean a wish, a desire, a plan, etc. The sense in which will
is used here is God’s plan, his counsel, or decree. It is not the purpose of
this section to discuss divine impassibility. I will come to that subject
elsewhere. If God is simple, an attribute discussed below, then it follows that
God’s will does not change any more than His being or essence changes. This is
disputed by some theologians, especially those who take a more rationalistic
approach to theology. God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that
he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken,
and will he not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19) “Remember this and stand firm, recall
it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God,
and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end
from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and
I will accomplish all my purpose,’ (Isa. 46:8-10) The counsel of the Lord
stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Ps. 33:11) And also
the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he
should have regret.” 1 Sam. 15:29) These texts are very clear. And because they
are very clear, they introduce tensions with other verses that will be
addressed else. When these tensions are addressed, links will be embedded here.
In the meantime, if you want to know how God can hold men responsible for evil
behavior if all things are within his decree to begin with, read Paul’s
interaction with this thinking in Romans 9:13-20. The objection is raised in
this section of Scripture and Paul basically tells the objector to shut up.
Paul would not have passed a modern philosophy class for debating in that way,
but that doesn’t mean his method was inferior. In fact, God is the one working
through Paul to tell us to put a sock in our objection. I suggest you read that
section several times.
What are the implications of the
Christian doctrine of immutability?
1. The same God who acted in the Old Testament is the God who acts
in the New. Some modern evangelicals and many liberal protestants seem to think
that God has changed from the Old to the New. He has not. Our God ordered what
we would call in modern terms, Genocide. Our God never prohibited a
certain model of slavery. These are issues with which we must come to grips if
we are to understand God’s revelation about who He is and what He is like.
He does not change. It is in your best interest then to learn how to reconcile these events with modern sensitivities to these issues. The skeptics, critics, and liberals are ready to launch their objections.
2. God’s will does not change. Everything that happens, happens by
divine decree. Nothing happens outside the divine counsel of God. This is not
just saying that God is in control of everything and then attempting to get him
off the hook with libertarian free will. That everything happens because God
decreed it would happen negates the idea that men act in a way that is contrary
to the divine decree. See the argument in Romans mentioned above. When my 2
year-old nephew was tragically hit and killed by a truck, it was an event that
God had decreed before He created the first blade of grass. When I was brought
to Christ and you were brought to Christ, we were brought to Christ because God
decreed he would bring us to Christ.
3. God’s will does not depend on human freedom in order to succeed.
The man in the jungle must hear the gospel if he is to know Christ and avoid
eternal damnation. He cannot hear the gospel unless someone takes it to him. And
someone cannot take the gospel to him unless God sends him. So the man in the jungle who dies
without the gospel suffers eternal judgment, not because no one went to preach
to him, but because God did not send anyone to preach to him. But that is not
entirely true either. The man in the jungle faces eternal judgment because he
rejects God who has made himself known to him so that he is without
excuse. While natural knowledge of God is sufficient for culpability, it is not sufficient for salvation. Nevertheless, in the end, God decreed that he would NOT send this man
the gospel of redemption and therefore, the man would fail to avoid eternal
judgment. The man is responsible because the man did exactly what he wanted to
do. He lived a life of rebellion against God. Now, if you think this is harsh,
or unloving, or unfair, then you need to spend several hours studying grace. It
is clear that if this is how you feel, you do not understand the Christian
doctrine of grace. And if you do not understand grace, it is possible that you
do not know Christ. Search your heart and examine your own salvation to make
sure that you are in the Way.
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