Recently, I wrote a post about knowing God. In that post I mentioned a bit about the changeability of God. I stated my thought that God does indeed experience change in many ways. I made a brief case against those who say that God is above any human understanding. God does not have emotion. God is so transcendent that it would cause God to become somehow contaminated if God engaged with people on a human level. This thinking came to fruition during what is called the Scholastic period of Church history. Thomas Aquinas was the primary mover in this. The primary error of Aquinas and Anselm, (and, later in the Reformation, Calvin), is that they began with a Hellenistic (Aristotelian) philosophy to define God by reason rather than by revelation in Christ. By regarding human reason above Divine Revelation, these thinkers got off on the wrong foot. And, the Church has suffered for it ever since. This so-called Classic Theology of God simply creates God in the image of humanity. This has left us with the obvious corollary that reveals the gross error of reason before revelation, “God hates the same things that I hate.” Aquinas et al. may not have used those words, but the end result is the same. God is reduced to human reason. Therefore, it is insufficient in helping us understand God.
The most important change I said was how I believe God’s experience of the human condition in and through Jesus was new. God could not completely understand humanity. Just as we, not being God, cannot understand the Divine Reality of God. God, however, was able to come to a solution by “pitching God’s tent among humankind.” In this way, God was able to experience all that we humans experience. From being an infant with dirty diapers to a teenager with raging hormones, Jesus was truly human. He had friends that he played with as a youth. Jesus may have even had a crush on that cute girl who lived up the street. You know, the baker’s daughter. Every thing that we experience as people, Jesus experienced. This must include experiencing Sin as we experience it. In this way, and only in this way, was God able to finally and effectively destroy Sin and Death.
There are other instances in the Scripture about how God interacted with people and, in many cases, changed His mind. In these instances language like, “and, God repented of (you fill in the blank)” describe God changing direction and not allowing something to happen. There have been many arguments made that allow God to somehow remain impassible in the face of these texts. I don’t buy them. I think that God did indeed change God’s mind in response to humans changing their actions at the time.
There is one aspect of God, though, that I do think could be considered immutable. There is, in fact, something about God that God has chosen NOT to change. It’s the one constant that runs through the Biblical text like a red thread.
God’s Character.
I think that God’s character remains the same from age to age. It is the one guarantee that God is Who God says that God is.
That, of course begs the question, “What does God’s character look like?” Fortunately, we have a living example of God’s character. The One who came from God and returned to God. Jesus of Nazareth is that One. In that previous post I mentioned the words from the Gospel According to John where the writer said that God came and pitched God’s tent among humanity. Actually, the text says, “The Word pitched his tent.” The Word in John’s story is Jesus. He is the Word who lived with God and was, himself, God. So, God did come and join with us on this pale, blue dot. God did that through Jesus.
In this way we may see glimpses of God’s character. Like a person adrift in the ocean who sees something out of the corner of their eye. Realizing that it is land, hope blooms and the person finds themself casting a longing eye at the promise of salvation. So, too, we may glimpse God’s character in Jesus and place hope in the unchangeableness of that character. In Jesus we see that God’s character is made of Love. Love is the center of who God is. It is the force that inspired God to engage with the world and with humanity in the beginning. It is what sustained God’s people as they tried to follow God’s commands. God’s tender touch lifted Israel and guided them in the wilderness. And, it was God’s love that caused God to go to the cross so that we might finally be free from the power of Sin and Death.
God’s love is immutable. It can never change or weaken. It is what allows us to know God as God’s children. It is that glimpse of God’s character that causes our hope to bloom and blossom into the reflection of God’s own Glory.
So, while I still contend that God engages intimately with us and is capable of emotion and change, I stand firm in the belief that God’s loving character will always be the bedrock of hope for all people.
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