Page 23 - Christology - Student Textbook

(Isa 9:6-7). Since God was going to destroy the Assyrians, Syria, and Israel, Ahaz needed to trust in
that child not only for his rescue from earthly chaos but also from God’s coming wrath.

Other passages suggest that the child who was to be born in Bethlehem was an eternal being (Mic.
5:2). Jesus Christ descended from heaven implying that He was there before (John 3:13) becoming
incarnate. Paul argues that if Jesus Christ created all things, He logically must predate them (Col
1:16-17). Jesus Christ is the “beginning and end;” He “was,” and “is,” and “is to come” (Rev. 1:8).
Notice also that the writer of Hebrews asserts Christ’s deity as Christ has neither the father nor
mother (Heb. 7:3).

We, therefore, can conclude that Jesus Christ is not merely the incarnated One, but God the Son
who is the “I am” of the Old Testament. Knowing that Jesus Christ is God, we can worship Him with
our hearts and possessions. Knowing that Jesus is God, we need to “be ready to make your defense
to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with
gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15-16 [NRSV]).

Immutability
Scripture states that both God the Father and Jesus Christ are unchangeable. The prophet Malachi
stated that the LORD does not change. He stated that God did not destroy His people even after
turning away from His decrees (Mal. 3:6). The LORD sticks to His covenant (Mal. 3:6). In the same
way, Jesus Christ Himself is described as unchanging (Heb. 13:8).

Further, in Hebrews 1, Jesus is declared superior to the angels. God the Father stated that the
foundations of the earth and the heavens were laid by the Lord Jesus Christ, but they will perish, but
Jesus will remain the same and His years will never end (Heb. 1:10-12). That passage was a
quotation from Psalms 102:25-27.

What does it mean when we say that God does not change? Lewis Sperry Chafer argues that
immutability is “the state of quality of being that which is not capable or susceptible of change,
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either by increase or by decrease, by development or by self-evolution.” In a nutshell, since God
does not need to increase or develop, there is no need for Him to change. John Feinberg notes that
“God must be [unchangeable] in His person, purposes, will (decree), and ethical rules.” In a similar
fashion, J. I. Packer argues that “God is immutable. This means that he is totally consistent. . . In all
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this, he expresses his perfect character with perfect consistency.”

Charles Ryrie defines immutability in this way: “that God is unchanging and unchangeable. God
never differs from Himself, and thus in our concept of God, there can be no idea of a growing of
developing being. He is the one in whom is no variableness.”

Conversely, Millard J. Erickson, after involving several aspects, asserts that “There is not quantitative
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change.” Quantity delineates the total amount or number. So, since God does not need to
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increase, thus, there is no need for change. Further, there is also “no qualitative change.”

57 Chafer, Systematic Theology, 217.
58 J. I. Packer, Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House,
1993).
59 Erickson, Christian Theology, 304.

60 Robert B. Costello, Webster’s College Dictionary (New York: Random House, 1991), 1103.
61 Erickson, Christian Theology, 304.

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