The Immutable God

One difficult doctrine for Christians to understand is the Immutability of God—that the eternal God who creates, sustains, and directs all things in Himself does not change, even while his creatures are in flux.

As soon as we say God changes not, many picture Him as a cold machine or insensitive stone who micromanages the world with regard for nothing but Himself. In harsh reaction against such an impersonal God, some rush to the opposite picture of God as fluidic, co-dependent, turbulent. On the one side is the deterministic, static god of fatalism; on the other side is a determined, ever-changing god in process. These represent radically different and equally deficient doctrines of God.

The problem with either picture is not that it cannot find a biblical reference but that it does not account for the immediate context of those references nor for the whole Canon. These opposing pictures typically mutilate the immediate historical context and/or reduce the Canon by exalting one set of texts and downgrading others. Instead of a partial picture of God, we must gain the fuller picture through careful readings of equally representative texts. 

On the one side consider Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17. “Because I, the Lord, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” These passages teach that God obviously does not change or shift (cf. Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29).

On the other side, Jeremiah 26:2-3 presents God as willing to change. “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all Judah’s cities that are coming to worship there. Do not hold back a word. Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.” God obviously does “relent,” which indicates change (cf. Exo 32:14; 1 Chron 21:15; Amos 7:1-3; Jonah 4:2).

Does the Bible, therefore, contain “inconsistencies,” as one liberal Baptist recently opined? No, that approach does not honor Scripture as the written Word of God. The one God, who is Father, the incarnate Word, and the Holy Spirit, is perfect by nature. Therefore, the written Word he gives us is perfect by grace. Any inconsistency resides in the interpretation rather than in the inspiration. 

The answer to this dilemma is to pay attention to the text itself. That the Lord does not change in Malachi 3:6 refers to his character as a righteous God. He is a God of מִשְׁפָּט, “justice,” according to Malachi 2:17. The problem developed in Malachi 3 concerns not the just God but unjust humanity. God remains just while both bringing judgment and showing mercy. The character of God is always the same, even while the character of humanity varies. The Lord does not change in his being, his perfections, his character.

That the Lord does change in Jeremiah 26 refers not to God’s character but to man’s repentance. If a human being will hear God’s Word of grace and שׁוּב, “turn back,” “return,” or “repent,” then God will נחם, “be moved to pity,” “have compassion,” or “relent.” The first term, shub, speaks of human repentance from sin and is never used of God in the Hebrew Bible. The second term, nacham, indicates a different type of change. The change with God is not intrinsic or internal to God, but extrinsic or external, in relation to his creatures. God promises not to change his character but his response to particular human persons. If you repent, He will relent.

God does not change in who He is in Himself but in how He relates to his changeable creatures. To speak of the immutability of God is not to speak of a cold, manipulative, insensitive God but to say you can trust God to be always just, always merciful, always loving, always gracious. God is always faithful, even when we are unfaithful. The onus is not upon the perfect God to prove Himself faithful but upon imperfect human beings to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. 

The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ, like his Father whose divine nature He fully shares, “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8). Moreover, the human Christ presented his effective sacrifice to the Father through “the eternal Spirit” (Heb 9:14). This once-for-all event simultaneously demonstrated both the Holy Spirit’s participation in divine immutability and the permanence of the free offer of redemption to humanity. The immutable Trinity has permanently sealed our salvation. 

When God’s grace by the Spirit moves the convicted human person to repent of sin and to turn in faith to Jesus Christ, the perfectly faithful and just character of God is revealed through his act of sanctifying the human character to enter a relationship with the blessed Trinity. That such an eternal, immutable God both can, does, and will faithfully keep his gracious promise of salvation provides our frail and variable humanity with the ultimate reason to rejoice in Him.

Two Letters from Birmingham: Pursuing Biblical Justice

During the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, our churches' messengers did many good things. For instance, we finally began addressing the sexual abuse crisis. Much attention was also given to the indispensability of women in our churches. Again, our President, J.D. Greear, reminded us that our constant theme must be the "Gospel Above All," even as we address gospel issues created by errant anthropologies with us since our denomination's foundation.

However, one convention action that deserves more attention, but has not yet received it in the news and social commentary, concerned the struggle for biblical justice. The juxtaposition of two letters from Birmingham should help put more light on something that requires emphasis. These letters remind us of the need to take positive action in undoing the effects of evil anthropologies.

The First Letter from Birmingham

It should not be lost upon us that 56 years ago, in the hot summer of 1963, Birmingham was seized by non-violent demonstrations after the city fathers failed to stem the tide of unconscionable bombings of churches. Martin Luther King Jr. came from Atlanta to help put the spotlight on the horrific problems faced by a huge segment of the Christian population of this city. But rather than listening to King, Birmingham's authorities unwisely threw him into jail.

Adding salt to King's wounds, a group of white Christians who sought to support his goals asked him to be more patient in the pursuit of justice. The letter King wrote in response to the white moderate Christians has since become a classic text. Filled with biblical and theological reflections on the theme of pursuing justice in the midst of an unjust society, reading it again brought me to tears. King's rebuke to the white moderates, who were generally friendly to him, was necessary. That letter grips the soul of this privileged white man. For instance, he rebukes those Christians who blithely dismiss the suffering of others:

In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churches stand on the sidelines and merely mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities. In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard so many ministers say, "Those are social issues which the gospel has nothing to do with," and I have watched so many churches commit themselves to a completely otherworldly religion which made a strange distinction between bodies and souls, the sacred and the secular.

Many white Christians have been complicit in keeping civil rights from their fellow human beings and, even more hypocritically, from their own Christs' blood-bought Brothers and Sisters. Today, it is clear that many of us who are Southern Baptist lament the evil of racism, but there remains much to do. The evils of racism and misogyny and sexual abuse, evils which have often been downplayed even denied, must become objects of identification, rebuke, and repentance whenever they arise among us. King's letter from the Birmingham jail rightly calls predominantly white Christians to embrace their responsibility.

The Second Letter from Birmingham

Another letter from Birmingham was written this summer. However, rather than coming from a single man in the unjustly imposed confines of a jail cell, this letter came from a group of men and women who worked diligently in the self-imposed confines of Birmingham's conference center. The Resolutions Committee of the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, chaired by the highly capable Curtis Woods of Kentucky, crafted a resolution that deserves more attention than it has yet been given.

Resolution 7, entitled "On Biblical Justice," offers a timely reminder that pursuing justice remains an integral aspect of Christian responsibility in this world. Drawing upon Scripture and the Baptist Faith and Message, the resolution was adopted overwhelmingly and wholeheartedly by the messengers in 2019. While there have been advances since 1963, this letter indicates how much more work we have to do in advancing human flourishing among the precious beings who bear the divine image and live in our cities, states, nations, and world. Among the many truths brought forward in this resolution, the final whereas reminds us that biblical evangelism and biblical justice are integrally intertwined:

WHEREAS, Our witness to the truth of the gospel includes obedience to Christ demonstrated in giving our lives to evangelize the lost around the world and in becoming involved with the struggles of our neighbors as well as our believing brothers and sisters (Genesis 18:19; 1 Peter 2:11-12);

Notice another wise balance among the resolves, this time showing that the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the true pursuit of justice must be held together among Christians. In one resolve, inappropriate ideas are rejected; while in the very next resolve, Christians are reminded of our responsibility to pursue justice:

RESOLVED, That we reject solutions for social brokenness that depend upon ideas that are antithetical to the Christian faith, for they ignore the lasting transformation only found in the gospel; and be it further

RESOLVED, That in light of the urgent needs in our world, we commit to address injustices through gospel proclamation, by advocating for people who are oppressed and face wrongs against them, acting justly in our own dealings, and by insisting that spheres of society should operate according to “principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love” (The Baptist Faith and Message, Article XV);

Even as we focus on preaching the gospel and advancing truth, let us not forget that advancing biblical justice is a necessary part of our remit in this fallen world. Kudos to the men and women of the Resolutions Committee of the SBC for the fine work they have done in reminding us of so many critical truths in their fine batch of resolutions, including the continuing pursuit of biblical justice.

Thank you, Southern Baptists, for the way you addressed so many important issues this year. Among them, thank you for adopting this second Letter from Birmingham. Perhaps the great civil rights leader, himself a Baptist minister and very capable theologian, might approve of the progress we have made, but doubtless he would rightly remind us we have further to go.

Two Exchanges: The Swap and the Cross

The news is shocking. One Army sergeant apparently walks away from his post; 6 soldiers were apparently killed trying to find him; 5 hardened terrorist leaders were released for him; and one US President may have violated a law for him. Twelve lives affected--this is indeed a high price for one man's freedom. I pray this one man understands how grateful he should be for all those who have paid and may yet pay a price for his fleshly freedom.

More than that, I pray he perceives that the Creator of the universe paid an even higher price to offer him free redemption. When the Son of God, entirely divine, became a man, He emptied Himself. When the Son of God, supremely holy, took our sin upon Himself and received our death, He humbled Himself even further.

Is Bowe Bergdahl unworthy of the lives lost and the law broken and the future lives endangered to win his release? That is ultimately for others to decide. However, more poignantly personal, are each of us as sinful human beings unworthy of the sacrifice made by a sovereign, holy God on our behalf? Yes, we are more unworthy of that perfect sacrifice, which works our spiritual freedom, than Bergdahl is of these high human sacrifices, which have worked his fleshly freedom.

And this God, this man, this one we know as Jesus Christ, He made this perfect sacrifice for all of us unworthy human beings. Would that we were more indignant, not about the question of Bergdahl's freedom and worthiness, but about the eternal crisis regarding our freedom and unworthiness--for none of us are worthy of God's love and yet love us He did. This is the most pertinent question facing us today.

Even as we rejoice at one man's freedom yet mourn at the apparently terrible price, let us rejoice more about the freedom offered to all human beings at the greatest ontological cost of that perfect God-man's life. Let this be an opportunity for us to exalt the crucified God, who is also the risen Savior. This should cause us to tremble at how great a love God has for us--the Father sent His Son to become our brother that He might give His life for our lives.

From the perspective of what it cost God, the cross is the greatest injustice;
from the perspective of His character, this is the greatest justice;
from the perspective of our unworthiness, this is the greatest love;
from the perspective of our attitude, the cross ought to invoke wonder and worship for the God who embodies love and justice in perfection.