Have you ever wondered if God changes? Have you ever wondered if He continues to learn new things and develop new skills? We could try to answer this question from a dogmatic point of view with, "I've always been taught God doesn't change." But that wouldn't really be an answer, would it? Or, we could look at the question from the standpoint of the Bible's comment that says flat out in Malachi 3:6a, “I the LORD do not change.” In this verse, God clearly declares that He does not change, and that might be at least a biblical answer, but it might not answer someone's real question about God's ability to change. Especially if they remember Biblical stories where God said He would do something and then changed His mind such as when He said He would bring destruction but relented of His anger.
Theologian Wayne Grudem brings helpful commentary to the issue when he says: “These instances should all be understood as true expressions of God’s present attitude or intention with respect to the situation as it exists in that moment. If the situation changes, then, of course, God’s attitude or expression of intention will also change. This is just saying that God responds differently to different situations.” Grudem cites the story of Jonah as an example where God pronounced judgment and changed his decision in the end. He continues: “The purpose for proclaiming a warning is to bring about repentance. Once the people repented, the situation was different, and God responded different to that changed situation. As in many other places in Scripture, God responded to the new situation differently but nevertheless remained unchanging in His being and purpose. (In fact, if God did not respond differently when people acted differently, then people’s actions would make no difference to God, and He would not be the just and merciful God portrayed in the Bible—unchanging in His attributes of justice and mercy.)”
So we see from Grudem's comment, there are two different kinds of changes in our discussion: one is a change of God’s mind, and the other is a change in God’s being. The unchangeableness we are curious about here is the philosophical idea related to God’s being, i.e., who He is, what He is, the concept of His perfection, and whether any of those elements can change.
Examining the question from a philosophical standpoint, we can ask, "If God could or would change, how might He change, and would it be for better or worse?"
Grudem again is helpful in answering this question when he says, “[I]f God changed for the better, then he was not the best possible being when we first trusted Him. And how could we be sure that He is the best possible being now? But if God could change for the worse (in His very being), then what kind of God might He become? Might He become, for instance, a little bit evil rather than wholly good? And if He could become a little bit evil, then how do we know He could not change to become largely evil—or wholly evil? It is hard to imagine any thought more terrifying. How could we ever trust such a God who would change? How could we ever commit our lives to him?”
Furthermore, the Bible says that God is all-powerful (Luke 1:37). While talking about the philosophy of Dualism, C. S. Lewis says that to be fully good (rather than evil) is to be most powerful. So in order to be all powerful, you must be fully good. Lewis explains, “Goodness is, so to speak, itself: badness is only spoiled goodness. And there must be something good first before it can be spoiled… To be bad, he must exist and have intelligence and will. But existence, intelligence and will are in themselves good. Therefore he must be getting them from the Good Power: even to be bad he must borrow or steal from his opponent. And do you now begin to see why Christianity has always said that the devil is a fallen angel? That is not a mere story for the children. It is a real recognition of the fact that evil is a parasite, not an original thing. The powers which enable evil to carry on are the powers given to it by goodness. All the things which enable a bad man to be effectively bad are in themselves good things—resolution, cleverness, good looks, existence itself. That is why Dualism, in a strict sense, will not work.” So since God is all powerful (Luke 1:37), He must be fully good as well—and the Bible says just that in Psalm 100:5.
It is impossible for God to change—both philosophically and theologically. Because God is all powerful (Luke 1:37), He must be fully good (Psalm 100:5) because the “power” of good is greater than the “power” of evil. Thus, God cannot change for the worse, otherwise He would cease to be all powerful, and therefore cease to be God (for by definition, God is an all-powerful, eternal Being). We can trust God because He is an all-powerful, wholly good, eternal and loving Being who is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
