Bob Prichard

Topics(s) --> God's Sovereignty

The traits of God are usually referred to as His attributes. His attributes include omniscience (all knowing), omnipresence (all present), and omnipotence (all powerful). Moses stated, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). Man has most often reversed this idea, creating God in his own image, as did the ancient Greeks who created the gods of Olympus in their own sinful image.

God’s “immutability” is the technical term for the fact that God is unchangeable in His essence and in His attributes. Since God is absolutely perfect, He cannot change for the better or the worse. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). There is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning” with the God Who says of Himself, “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). Because God is eternal, infinite, and self-existent (He was not created), He is beyond the reach of alteration or mutation. He does not change.

Does His immutability suggest or deny emotions? We must not forget that mankind is a reflection of God, created in His image. Emotion is defined as “excitement, feeling, state of feeling.” While God is unchangeable, He is not unfeeling, as was shown in the life of Christ, Who said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). Standing outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). He knew already that He would be able to raise Lazarus from the dead, but He wept over the pain and suffering of His friends and servants. The tears of Christ were not only because He was human, but also because He was divine. Through the cross, the love of both the Father and Son were clearly demonstrated. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Love defines God, for “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

Another “emotion” connected with God is laughter. Concerning the rulers and kings of the earth, who take counsel together against the Lord, the psalmist writes: “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:4). David expressed the same type idea in Psalm 37, as he said of the wicked, “The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming” (13). The psalmists were showing the futility of man challenging God, and not necessarily showing that God literally “laughs” at men who challenge Him. When we think of emotions, we tend to think of acting from the heart, and not the mind, and we call it being “emotional.” God, does, at least in some senses, have emotion because He is not unfeeling. But because of His quality of immutability, or unchangeableness, He does not act “emotionally,” as His creation all too frequently does. “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:5). These great qualities never change!