chapter 32 33

Geisler, NormanSystematic Theology I

Chapter 32

““God’s Immutability God’s Immutability and Eternality”and Eternality”

Immutability:

God does not change, furthermore, it is impossible for Him to change, which is to say that God cannot act contrary to His immutable nature.

Num. 23:191 Sam. 15:29Ps. 102:26-27, cf. Heb. 1:10-12Mal. 3:6Rom. 1:23Heb. 6:18; 13:8Titus 1:2 James 1:17

Geisler says, pp. 93-94“For traditional theism, eternality does not mean time without beginning and endless time. An infinite number of moments is impossible: If an infinite number of moments occurred before today, then today would never have come, since it is impossible to traverse an infinite number of moments (yet the time up to today has been traversed). There is no end of an infinite, but today is the end of all previous moments. Today has arrived; hence, an infinite number of moments could not have occurred before today. Eternality means nontemporality or timelessness.”

Other than the fallacious procedure of taking anthropomorphism literally, there have been no convincing arguments that nullify the Scriptural or the theological arguments for the immutability and the eternality of God.

““God’s Impassibility God’s Impassibility and Infinity”and Infinity”

Impassibility:

God cannot undergo passion or suffering; nothing in the created universe can make God feel pain or inflict misery on Him. This does not mean that God has no feelings, but simply that His feeling are not the result of actions imposed on Him by others. His feeling flow from His eternal and unchangeable nature.

Deut. 10:141 Chron. 29:14 Job 22:2-3; 35:6-7Ps. 24:1; 50:10-12 Isa. 40:13-14, 28Rom. 11:35-36

Infinity

Though negative in form, the word infinite (not-finite) is a positive attribute of God. It literally means that God is limitless in His Being; He is without boundaries, a Being beyond the limits of the created universe.

Gen. 1:11 Kings 8:27Ps. 147:5 Job 11:7-9 Isa. 6:1; 40:12; 55:8-9; 57:15; 66:1-2Rom. 11:33Col. 1:17

Geisler says (p. 134) that to deny the impassibility or the infinity of God is unorthodox. God is not pernicious and God is not finite. If God were pernicious, He would change from day to day depending upon how He felt, or the mood He was in, or whether or not someone “made” Him mad. This cannot be because God is impassible