Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Immutability

God does not change in his being, character, purposes, or promises — 'I the LORD do not change'.

Latin immutabilis, 'unchangeable'.

Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Psalm 102:25–27; Hebrews 1:10–12; 6:17–18; 13:8; James 1:17.

The historic consensus of East and West. The biblical language of God 'relenting' or being 'grieved' is read as anthropopathism — God's unchanging character meeting a changed human situation — a reading found already in Novatian and Augustine. Modern theology has widely challenged it in favour of a God who genuinely changes in relation to the world.

Immutability is a corollary of aseity and simplicity, and the ground of assurance: because God does not change, his promises hold (Mal 3:6 draws exactly this conclusion).

Whether it means God's essence and character only, or also excludes any change in God's knowledge, experience, or relations; 'relational' and process theologies affirm real change in God.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.