Category Archives: Faith and Practice

Infinite, Eternal, and Unchangeable

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“What is God?”

God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 4

Last night in youth group, we began exploring one of the most profound and beautiful questions ever asked: What is God? It’s not a question of curiosity alone, but of worship. To ask what God is, is to seek to know the One for whom and by whom all things exist. And even though the answer stretches beyond the capacity of our minds, God has graciously revealed enough of Himself that we might glorify and enjoy Him.

God Is a Spirit

The catechism begins by reminding us that God is a Spirit. That means God is not made up of matter, does not have a body, and is not limited by space or form. He is invisible, immaterial, and incorporeal. As Jesus said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

This doesn’t make God less real, but more real. Everything physical and visible depends upon Him for existence, but He depends upon nothing. We live and move and have our being in Him. God is not a part of creation; He is its source, its author, and its sustainer. The reality we experience is derivative; His being is absolute. In that sense, God is not just real, He is Reality itself.

When we think of God as Spirit, we’re not imagining some ghostly vapor or invisible force. We are acknowledging the One whose existence defines all others. Our bodies may fail, our world may fade, but the Spirit of the Lord endures forever. That truth steadies our faith and sharpens our worship.

God Is Infinite

To say that God is infinite is to say there are no limits to His being, knowledge, power, or presence. He is boundless. We live within borders, of time, of strength, of understanding, but God does not. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Ps. 145:3).

There is nothing beyond God’s reach, ability, or comprehension. Every mystery is open before Him; every moment is in His hand. And for finite creatures like us, that’s both humbling and comforting. We cannot outthink, outlast, or outmaneuver Him. But we can rest in the truth that His infinite wisdom is for our good.

God Is Eternal

God is also eternal. He has no beginning and no end. Time is His creation; He is not bound by it. “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Ps. 90:2).

This means there was never a time when God was not. He didn’t come into being. No one made Him, for then that maker would be God. He simply is; the great I AM. Every creature, every galaxy, every second owes its existence to Him. He stands before and beyond all of it, yet He is intimately present in every moment.

Because God is eternal, His purposes never fail, and His promises never expire. The same God who called Abraham, who delivered Israel, who raised Christ from the dead, is our God today, and will be our God forever.

God Is Unchangeable

Finally, God is unchangeable. He does not grow, diminish, or shift. His being, will, and purposes are constant. “I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).

This is not to say that God is static or indifferent. He acts, responds, and reveals, but always in perfect consistency with His nature. His character doesn’t fluctuate with our moods or mistakes. Nothing outside of Him can alter who He is.

There is immense comfort in this truth. The same love that chose us before the foundation of the world sustains us today. The same grace that forgave us yesterday will carry us home tomorrow. In a world where everything changes, God does not.

The Call to Know Him

To confess that God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable is not merely an intellectual exercise, it is a call to worship and wonder. The more we know of God, the more we are drawn to love Him. The more we behold His greatness, the more we rest in His goodness.

Our understanding will always be limited, but our calling is clear: “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord” (Jer. 9:24).

We may not fully comprehend the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God, but we can truly know Him, for He has made Himself known in Jesus Christ. And to know Him is life itself.

SDG

The Fault in the Covenant?

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“For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” (Hebrews 8:7)

At first glance, this verse sounds as though God’s first covenant, His covenant with Israel established at Sinai, was somehow defective. “If that first covenant had been faultless…” implies, doesn’t it, that something about it failed? But that conclusion would be both theologically troubling and biblically unfounded. After all, the law of God is “holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12). The problem, as always, lies not with God, but with us.

When the writer of Hebrews contrasts the “first covenant” with the “better covenant” established through Christ (Heb. 8:6), he is not suggesting that God made a mistake and had to start over. Rather, he exposes the fatal flaw of the old covenant system: not in its divine origin, but in its human participants. The law was perfect in revealing God’s will, but powerless to change the human heart. The fault lay not in the covenant itself, but in the covenant-breakers.

As Hebrews 8:8 goes on to say, “For he finds fault with them when he says…” and then quotes Jeremiah 31’s promise of a new covenant. The author is careful: God doesn’t find fault with it, He finds fault with them. Israel’s unfaithfulness made clear what the law could only expose, not cure: the incurable disease of sin. The old covenant was designed, in part, to reveal this very weakness of man that no amount of sacrifice or law-keeping could reconcile us to God.

In this light, the new covenant in Christ is not a divine correction, but a divine completion. It accomplishes what the old covenant only anticipated. Where the law was written on tablets of stone, Christ writes His law on hearts of flesh (Heb. 8:10). Where the old covenant demanded obedience from hard hearts, the new covenant grants obedience through renewed hearts. What the old covenant shadowed in sacrifices and ceremonies, the new covenant fulfills in the once-for-all sacrifice of the Son of God.

We might say that the “fault” of the first covenant was its necessary inadequacy, it was never intended to perfect sinners, but to prepare them for the One who could. The law was a mirror to show our sin, not the soap to cleanse it. It condemned the guilty, but it could not justify. Only Christ, the Mediator of the better covenant, can do that.

A Word About Redemption Under the First Covenant

Though the first covenant could not perfect the conscience, it was never devoid of grace. Its sacrifices and ceremonies pointed forward to Christ, and by faith in those promises the saints of old were truly redeemed. The Westminster Confession of Faith beautifully captures this truth:

“Under the law, [the covenant of grace] was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances… all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation.” (WCF 7.5)

From Abel’s altar to Abraham’s tent, from Moses’ tabernacle to David’s throne, the people of God were saved by the same grace, through the same faith, in the same Christ. The difference between the old and new covenants lies not in the substance of salvation, but in the manner of its administration. The saints of the Old Testament looked forward in faith to what was promised; we look backward in faith to what has been accomplished. But both rest upon the same foundation, the redeeming work of the Son.

And so the beauty of Hebrews 8:7 is not in exposing divine imperfection, but divine mercy. God knew the frailty of His people, yet He did not leave them under the law’s curse. He promised a covenant of grace in which the very thing man could never accomplish, obedience from the heart, would be written into his being by the Spirit of God.

The first covenant shows us our fault; the second covenant shows us our faultless Savior.

SDG