Page 24 - Christology - Student Textbook

Qualitative is an adjective drawn from a noun, quality. Quality can connote “character with respect
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to grade of excellence.” So, God’s nature does not go through modification. Thus, God’s mind,
plans, and actions remain unchanged because His nature “remains unchanged no matter what
occurs.”
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To summarize, God’s being does not change (Ps 102:26-27; Mal 3:6; Heb. 1:10-12); His purpose
does not change (Num. 23:19; Ps 33:11; Prov. 19:21; Isa. 14:24; 46:9-10); His will does not change
(Matt. 5:17-18; Acts 2:22-24; 17:31; Eph. 1:4-14); and His ethical norms do not change (Jonah 3).
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We, however, have to consider those biblical passages that seem to suggest that God does indeed
change? Those passages are Genesis 6:6; Exodus 32:9-14; 1 Samuel 15:10; Isaiah 38:1-6; Jonah 3:4,
10. Let’s look at some of them and draw out some principles why they do not challenge God’s
immutability.

As a result of man’s sin, we read that God “regretted” (Gen 6:6; cf. 1 Sam 15:10 [NET]) that he had
made man. The word for “regretted” can also mean to be “grieved” or “sorry.” According to Hebrew,
it can carry one of four semantic meanings, depending on the context: (1) “to experience emotional
pain or weakness,” “to feel regret,” often concerning a past action, (2) “to be comforted” or “to
comfort oneself” (sometimes by taking vengeance [This second category represents a polarization of
category one]), (3) “to relent from” or “to repudiate” a course of action which is already underway is
also possible, and finally, (4) “to retract” (a statement) or “to relent or change one’s mind
concerning,” “to deviate from” (a stated course of action) is possible. The first category applies here
because the context speaks of God’s grief and emotional pain as a result of a past action (his making
humankind). Regretting what God did does not mean God’s character changed.
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From Isaiah 38:1-6, we find a narrative concerning the terminal illness of King Hezekiah. God through
the prophet (Isaiah) told him that he is not going to survive; he was going to die. After many prayers,
God told him that He will add fifteen more years to his life. So, did God change his mind? No!
Millard J. Erickson notes those situations should be understood as “anthropomorphisms and
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anthropopathism.” The former plan, as Wayne Grudem notes, connotes “language that speaks of
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God in human terms.” The later connotes the state of ascribing “human passions or feelings to a
thing or a being not human.” Did God change His mind? Absolutely not! It just shows that “God
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responds differently to different situations.” It is probable that if Hezekiah did not pray, maybe
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God could not have healed him. In light of whether God changes His mind or not, Erickson advises
that we should look at them as “descriptions of God’s actions and feelings in human terms, and from
a human perspective.”
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62 Costello, Webster’s College Dictionary, 1103.
63 Erickson, Christian Theology, 304.

64 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan, 1994), 163.

65 H. Van Dyke Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Biblica 56 (1975): 512–32.

66 Erickson, Christian Theology, 304.
67 Grudem, Systematic Theology, 159.

68 Costello, Webster’s College Dictionary, 59.
69 Grudem, Systematic Theology, 165.

70 Erickson, Christian Theology, 304.

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