In a recent volume on the emotions of God, Jesse Morrell cogently noted the following:
Someone might ask, “How can God have emotional reactions, which are changes if the Bible teaches the changelessness of God? Isn’t God immutable?” Regarding the doctrine of immutability, the answer is yes and no. The Bible does not say “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6) and also “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8). Yes, the character of God never changes. However, the Bible gives an abundance of passages that speak of God “repenting” or changing His minds in light of new developments. It portrays God as repenting so often, so frequently, or so much, that God even said “I am weary with repenting” (Jer. 15:6).
In two particular passages, Isaiah 63:10 and Hosea 11:8, the word “הפך” is used about God and it means “to change.” And also, when “the Word became flesh” (Jn. 1:14), so that “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), this was evidently a change in the nature and experience of God. The Word became in constitution something that He was not previously. The same applies to when “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove” (Lk.3:22). There are changes God experiences.
When the Bible speaks of God’s changelessness or immutability, this is evidently in reference to His changeless character and not His changeable plans or altering forms of appearance and constitution. It is not true therefore that all change is either for the better or the worse. Some change, like that of the changes God has made as outlined in the Scriptures, were in keeping with His perfect character that He already had and did not make His character better or worse. Change, in these instances, was not an improvement upon God and therefore God’s changeableness is not a reflection of imperfection. (Jesse Morrell, The Emotions of God: How Man Can Bless or Hurt God [2016], 7-8)
Elsewhere, Morrell provides a brief exegesis of some passages often used to teach the doctrine of impassibility:
“But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Ps. 102:27)
This verse is saying that God experiences endless duration, sequence, or succession and that His character remains the same throughout all of His experience of time. It does not state that He experiences no emotions or is apathetic. The character of God is the same throughout His eternal timeline that has no beginning and no end. To interpret this passage to mean that God experiences no emotions would make the Bible contradict itself. The rule of non-contradiction is a sound law of logic and hermeneutics and must be applied in our interpretation of the scriptures.
In fact, using this verse would contradict the argument at hand. If it is going to be argued that God cannot experience emotions given the philosophical proposition of “timelessness,” which is the basis for absolute immutability, this verse which teaches the eternal duration of time as an aspect of God’s existence certainly cannot be used as scriptural proof for such a philosophical proposition! This verse affirms that God experiences years and is not yearlessness! He experiences time, not timelessness!
“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6)
Does this passage assert the doctrine of impassibility? Does it explicitly or emphatically state that God is an emotionless being? Certainly not! For the Lord to say “I change not” does not mean that He is void of feeling, but that He always feels. His character and consequent compassion is consistent. Jeremiah said “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23). This is the reason that “ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Not because God is barren of feeling and passion but because He is, always has been, and always will be a compassionate being. The word for “compassion” in this passage is “רחם” and is the same word used to say of Joseph that “his bowels did yearn upon his brother” (Gen. 43:[3]0) and to say of the mother that “her bowels yearned upon her son” (1 Kings 3:26). This is not an action that is void of empathy and emotion but is a very deep “tender love.” How strange it is for a verse that supports the emotions of God to be used as an argument against them.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17)
The context of this verse is not the emotional states of God, nor His nature or constitution, but rather His moral character. James said “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (Jas. 1:13). Rather than tempting men to sin, James said “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” And so, when James says that in the Father there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” this is not saying that God never changes in any regard whatsoever but that His character never changes but is always the same. He is the author o what is good, not the author of what is evil. He is always a good God and never changes to be evil. His character is immutable or unchanging. (Ibid., 22-24)
For another book-length discussion of the emotions and contingent foreknowledge of God, see Robert Sungenis, The Immutable God Who Can Change His Mind, The Impassable God Who Can Show Emotion (State Line, Pa.: Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc., 2016). I have discussed this topic a bit on my blog, including the section entitled “The Bible is both God-centered and Man-centered” in my article:
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