The Immutability of Scripture

Posted by Worldview Warriors On Friday, June 18, 2021 0 comments


by Charlie Wolcott

If you have studied the attributes of God, you will have heard about the immutability of God. The term “immutable” means “does not change.” God never changes. His character never changes. His will never changes. His plan never changes. We also believe that the Bible, the 66 books of “Holy writ,” are God-breathed and inspired by God. These are the only books that carry God’s Spirit within the message they contain. So an outflow of this train of thought is the inerrancy of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture, the superiority of Scripture, the perspicuity of Scripture, and so on. Today, I want to talk about the immutability of Scripture. This means that what God said 2000+ years ago is the same message He is saying today.

I deal with all sorts of attacks on the Bible as I go about my day, primarily on social media. God hasn’t opened the door for a lot of face-to-face interactions at this point (but there have been a few). Many are from unbelievers, and while they can be annoying to me, I often pity them because they truly don’t know any better. But the ones that actually make me angry are those who claim to be Christian, claim to believe the Bible, and yet regularly and intentionally change what the Bible says to fit their intended agenda. While I know this is precisely what the devil does and he is the one puppeteering them, it still doesn’t change the fact that what these people are doing is attacking the Bible and its Author, while claiming to be Christians.

Now these Christians will not declare they are changing Scripture. They instead insist they are just questioning “our interpretation” of it. But what happens when the “interpretation” they are questioning is actually what it says? I find it interesting how the people who make the argument of “that’s your interpretation” never seem to consider the plain language being a valid option, nor do they consider their own opinions to be “possibly wrong” just as they ask of us.

But behind the scenes, there is this central idea: “Man’s modern culture and modern understanding of reality should dictate how we understand Scripture.” I see this in nearly every false teaching movement active today from Old Earth Creation to “Homosexual Christianity” to Prosperity Gospel to Progressive Christianity etc. Instead of merely saying, “I don’t believe what it says,” they instead purpose to seek a “deeper meaning” that is in fact an entirely different meaning. I’ll give just one example. The entire premise of Rob Bell’s infamous book Velvet Elvis is “repainting” Christianity. The whole book is about changing what the Bible says to make it compatible and “understandable” to our modern culture.

This is nothing new. It’s the same lie from the Garden: “Has God indeed said?” And every one of these false teachers are doing what Eve did when challenged on this: They are changing what God said. Eve added “do not touch” to the command. At that moment, Eve lost the battle and Satan had her. The moment you change what God said, you are doomed.

News flash: God does not change. Neither does the Bible change. What God said way back then is the same thing He’s saying now. It doesn’t matter what changes in culture or language or climate. The Bible is our anchor and our solid ground that we stand on if we want a chance at surviving in these dark days. Jesus gave a parable of wise and foolish builders. The wise man built upon the rock. Rocks don’t change, they don’t adapt, they don’t alter. He built on the rock as it is, but as a result, his house survived the storms. The foolish man built on sand. He changed what the rock looks likes. To do that, he had to break down the rock into small moldable pieces that he can move and manipulate as he pleases. He can build any house he wants on that foundation, but when the storm comes, the foundation will wash away, and his house will crash.

I’ve noticed another attack on the immutability of Scripture. It’s particularly done by Old Earth Creationists. They justify their changing of what the Bible says by declaring that “God does not change. He created this universe. Therefore, the natural laws we have observed through science do not change. Therefore, the universe must be billions of years old.” I have had serious problems with this. Hugh Ross is infamous for putting this argument into the statement, “Nature is the 67th book of the Bible.” The whole idea they are trying to say is that the Bible and what we understand about nature must be in agreement. This is a true statement, but not how they mean it nor practice it. They are talking about their “interpretation” of science (which of course to them cannot be questioned, just the interpretation of Scripture can) being on equal terms to the inspired, breathed Word of God. In practice, their “science” is the top priority, and Scripture must always be examined first to be “re-evaluated.” This is taking the principles of uniformitarianism, the false philosophy that what we observe in nature today occurs at the same rates as forever in the past, and putting that on the forefront.

Scripture specifically refutes this in 2 Peter 3, describing this argument and then emphasizing on how they intentionally and willingly deny the Flood. But catch this. What they have done is stolen attributes that are NOT communicable (that is, these are attributes of God that are exclusive to Him and that He does not share with His creation in any way, shape, or form), and given them not to themselves but to nature. That looks to me like “nature worship.” There is a term for this: pantheism, the idea that nature is God. There are a number of Old Earth Creationists (not all) where it is hard to distinguish “God” from “nature” from their arguments. This is not something OEC’s would claim, but they would have to drastically change their models to prevent this connection from being made.

God is not a man that He should lie. God calls out Israel for thinking, “You thought I was like you.” He doesn’t change, and neither does His word. Culture will change all the time. Our modern understanding of science will change. A legitimate question to ask Old Earth Creationists is, “What will you do when enough science shows up and completely changes the current Deep Time models? How will your theology change?” I never have to worry about that question, because science is always subservient to Scripture. Scripture never changes, so its teachings never change. Six days is still six days. The Flood was still global. Moral laws are still around. God’s Word doesn’t change, and it doesn’t go away either. I stand upon that fact and as a result, I cannot and will not be moved, despite all the attempts from non-believers and believers to get me off it, because what I tell them convicts them.

The Bible doesn’t change, and that’s the best news we could ever hear. If the Bible could change what it says about Genesis, it could change what it says about our salvation. But the Bible doesn’t change, so that means the promises about salvation and our hope do not change. Don’t try to change the Bible for your own ideas. It’s not a good idea.

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