Divine Immutability

What does it mean that God is immutable? By itself, the concept of immutability can either be good or bad. But if you're God, immutability is a very good thing.

The fourth installment in our explainer video series examines God's incommunicable attribute of "Divine Immutability."

Our full explainer video series on the incommunicable attributes of God can be viewed on our Clearly Reformed YouTube channel. Click To Watch Now

Transcript

Immutability, as a divine attribute, means that God does not change.

By itself, the concept of immutability can be good or bad. If you are implacably wicked, or in unimaginable pain, or waiting in line at the DMV, then immutability is not a good thing. If you’re God, it’s a very good thing.

The immutability of God is a perfection of the divine nature, and not just a single perfection but rather a glory belonging to all the attributes of God. God is whatever he has (that’s simplicity), and all that he is and all that he has can never change (that’s immutability).

Immutability is what it means for God to be God. God cannot increase or grow, neither can he decrease or diminish, for any change in God presupposes room for improvement. As Francis Turretin puts it, “[God] can neither be changed for the better (because he is the best) nor for the worse (because he would cease to be the most perfect).”

Remember what God says to Moses: “I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14). As a matter of ontology, there is no *was* or *will be* in God, only *I Am*. The very name of God—Yahweh, from the Hebrew verb *to be*—speaks to his unchangeableness. The difference between being and becoming is the difference between the Creator and the creature.

The heavens and the earth may pass away, but God will not change (Ps. 102:25–28). God is not the sort of being that can ever be other than what he now is (Num. 23:19). God always does what he says. He always fulfills what he speaks.

Only God declares and decrees the end from the beginning. Only God’s plans are immovable (Isa. 46:8–11). Only his purposes are absolutely guaranteed (Heb. 6:17).

Malachi 3:6 is a key verse for the doctrine of immutability: “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Judah, are not consumed.” This is more than just a way of saying God is ethically constant. If God’s character is unchanging, his nature must be unchanging. We should not reduce Malachi 3:6 to merely a statement about ethics. The verse is also about metaphysics. The people of God can count on God’s mercy because there is no possibility that God will ever be other than he now is. That’s what Malachi is saying.

There is a reason God is often called a rock. He is not like shifting sand. He is solid and immovable. We can count on God’s good and perfect gifts because it is impossible for God to be something more or less than God. Not only is God incapable of change; there can be no shadow or hint of change (James 1:17).

God admits no variation, no alteration, no equivocation. He is all Being and no becoming. There are no latent possibilities in God. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from God. He learns nothing and needs nothing. He does not grow. He does not improve. God does not change.

Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.