GOD’S TRUTH DOES NOT CHANGE
Whatever God says flows from His unchanging nature. Unlike human beings who are always unstable, we say things that we do not really mean, and we take our words back as well. But God is stable, He won’t take back whatever He says.
- His words stand forever – “They stand forever, as abidingly valid expressions of his mind and thought. No circumstances prompt him to recall them; no changes in his own thinking require him to amend them.”
- –“All flesh is grass. . . The grass withers. . . But the word of our God will stand for ever” (Is 40:6-8 RSV). “Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. . . All your commands are true. . . You established them to last forever” (Ps 119:89,151-52).
J.I. Packer writes, “…we need to remember that God still stands behind all the promises, and demands, and statements of purpose, and words of warning, that are there addressed to New Testament believers. These are not relics of a bygone age, but an eternally valid revelation of the mind of God toward his people in all generations…”
A passage that clearly demonstrates God’s immutability in relation to truth is John 10:33-36
The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
(John 10:33-36 ESV)
The context shows us that Jesus argues against the Jews from lesser to greater. OT judges were called gods (Ps 82:3-4). If that is the case which the Jews did not deny why can’t Jesus, the Son of God Himself whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world be called God? According to Andreas Kostenberger [ESV Study Bible Commentary on John 10:34-35], “Jesus’ point in quoting Psalm 82:6 is that if human judges can in some sense be called gods (in light of their role as representatives of God), this designation is even more appropriate for the One who truly is the Son of God (33-36)... When He says that “Scripture cannot be broken,” he implies that every single word in Scriptures is completely true and reliable.”
“Nothing can annul God’s eternal truth.”
GOD’S WAYS DO NOT CHANGE
God’s action remains the same: “He continues to act toward sinful men and women in the way that he does in the Bible story.” The way He relates to sinners of old and now remains the same.
Same discrimination between sinners
- Opening and shutting ears (Acts 28:26-28)
- Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
- Granting repentance and passing others by (Acts 11:18, Rom 9:22-24)
- When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
- What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
- God is “teaching his saints that he owes mercy to none and that it is entirely of his grace, not at all through their own effort, that they themselves have found life.”
God still shows the same freedom, lordship, and sovereignty in saving sinners.
J.I. Packer
Same relationship with His people
- Grants blessings for His glory (Mt. 6:33) – But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
- Hates the sins of His people (Rev 3:19) – Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
- Sends sorrows and joys to draw them away from this world to Himself (Rom. 8:18) – For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
- Seeks fellowship of His people (Rev 3:20) – Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
- Teaches and compels believers to pray earnestly (1 Th 5:17) – Pray without ceasing.
“His aims and principles of action remain consistent; he does not at any time act out of character. Our ways, we know, are patheticaly inconstant—but not God’s.”
God’s way of saving people remains the same, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and until now, there is only One Way of salvation. It is only through Him, who is the Truth, the Way, and the Life, His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Questions for meditation:
- What confidence can we draw from the fact that God’s truth and ways do not change?
- What do you think are the implications if God’s truth and ways can change?
Note: This is from our Youth Bible Study. Most of the notes are from Packer, J. I. (1993). Knowing God. Intervarsity Press.
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