Attributes of God – The Unchanging

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III in this lecture speaks about the attribute of God’s stability and His not being subject to change, affirming that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and does not undergo change as the writings say: “God has no change nor shadow of turning.” Man and creatures are the ones who change, and therefore God’s responses appear different according to the state of man, not because God changed.

Practical clarification from Scripture

The Pope cites examples from the Holy Scripture: God commanded the destruction of Nineveh then relented when its people repented — God did not change, rather Nineveh’s condition changed. Likewise, when man is in a sinful state God’s justice appears against him, and when he repents God’s mercy and forgiveness appear.

The mirror analogy

His Holiness uses an analogy: like someone looking in a mirror sees his hair or glasses depending on what he wears. So God in relation to us is like a mirror; what we see from God (punishment or pardon) is a reflection of our condition.

Spiritual and educational dimension

The spiritual message is that God’s immutability calls us to responsibility: we should not attribute differences in God’s stance to His fickleness, but to the changes of our hearts. This teaches the believer humility, self-examination, and the call to repentance because it is the changing of the person that alters the relationship with God.

Brief conclusion

The summary is that God is unchanging, and what is required of man is to examine himself and change toward repentance and holiness so that he may find God’s mercy and justice according to his spiritual state.

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