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The God Who Is Always God

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

In the last post, we considered the opening of the catechism’s answer: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Those words help us grasp what God is; the nature of His existence. But the catechism doesn’t stop there. It shows us who God is by describing how these divine perfections shine forth in every aspect of His character.

God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable not only in His essence, but also in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Let’s take each in turn.

God’s Being

God’s being is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is absolute existence, self-sufficient, self-existent, and utterly independent. He does not need creation to complete Him; rather, all creation depends upon Him. He has no potential, no growth, no decay. “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14) declares the fullness of His being. We change, we age, we fade, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Our assurance rests in that constancy: God will always be who He has always been.

God’s Wisdom

God’s wisdom is infinite, there is nothing He does not know, no mystery He cannot unravel. His wisdom is eternal, it has no beginning and no end, no development or decline. And His wisdom is unchangeable, His plans are never revised, His purposes never frustrated. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom. 11:33). When we cannot see what God is doing, we can still trust that He knows exactly what He’s doing. His wisdom is never wrong, never late, and never cruel.

God’s Power

God’s power is likewise infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Infinite: He can do all His holy will. Eternal: His strength never wanes with time. Unchangeable: He is never stronger or weaker than He has always been. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). The same power that spoke creation into being upholds it moment by moment. And that same power now works within believers, bringing to completion the good work He began (Phil. 1:6).

God’s Holiness

God’s holiness is His perfect moral purity, His complete separation from sin and devotion to all that is good. His holiness is infinite, for there is no degree or measure to His perfection. It is eternal, for He has always been holy and will forever be holy. It is unchangeable, for His moral nature is not subject to moods or circumstances. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3). Every time we glimpse the holiness of God, we are both humbled and comforted, humbled by our unworthiness, and comforted by His faithfulness to make us holy in Christ.

God’s Justice

God’s justice is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He never errs in judgment, never overlooks sin, never acts unfairly. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen. 18:25). His justice is not arbitrary or evolving; it is the steady expression of His holy nature. The wonder of the gospel is that this perfect justice has been satisfied at the cross, where Christ bore the penalty our sins deserved. Justice is not set aside, it is fulfilled. Grace reigns through righteousness (Rom. 5:21).

God’s Goodness

God’s goodness is infinite, there is no boundary to His benevolence. Eternal: He has always been good and will forever be good. Unchangeable:nothing can make Him less kind or generous than He is. “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Ps. 145:9).

But this truth runs deeper than our immediate experience. There are seasons when God’s goodness feels hidden, when life brings pain, loss, or injustice. Yet even what we perceive as evil cannot fall outside the scope of His good purposes. “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good,” Joseph said to his brothers (Gen. 50:20).

In the mystery of providence, God uses suffering to sanctify His people and to magnify the gospel. Through trials, He refines faith, deepens dependence, and displays His sustaining grace. In hardship, He brings forth holiness; in weakness, He reveals His strength. The cross itself stands as the supreme proof that God’s goodness is not negated by evil, but triumphs over it.

When we suffer, then, we can cling to the unchanging truth that the Lord is good, and that He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).

God’s Truth

Finally, God’s truth is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. He is truth itself; all reality corresponds to His will and word. He never deceives, never misleads, never revises His promises. “God is not man, that he should lie” (Num. 23:19). His truth is the sure foundation upon which our faith rests. When the world spins with confusion and deceit, we cling to the unchanging truth of God’s Word, which reflects His unchanging nature.

The Comfort of an Unchanging God

Every one of these perfections, His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, flows from the same source: the God who does not change. For the believer, this is our deepest comfort.

The world shifts. Our hearts waver. Our circumstances twist and turn. But God remains infinite in His greatness, eternal in His presence, and unchangeable in His love. The God who was faithful to Abraham, merciful to David, and gracious to Paul is the same God who holds you fast today.

To know Him as He is—to rest in His perfections—is the beginning of both wisdom and worship.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36)

SDG

Missing the Heart of the Matter

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I have purposely stayed out of the current political and cultural conversations that have carried the headlines since the latest school shootings.  I’ve been heartbroken at the pain that the families and survivors of this violence have felt, and heartbroken over the levels of vitriol and derision that have escalated in our “debates” about the solution to our cultural crisis. I sympathize with those who are frustrated by the empty promises of “thoughts and prayers” when thoughts and prayers don’t lead to compassionate and sensible responses.  And at the same time, I am dismayed when genuine “thoughts and prayers” are ridiculed and rejected.

I’ve stayed out of the conversation because I haven’t had much to add. Then today, in studying for a lesson from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, I read the following from John MacArthur*.  I think he summarizes what’s really wrong in our culture, and what we need most.

How much closer to peace is man than he was a century ago – or a millennium ago? How much closer are to we eliminating poverty, hunger, ignorance, crime, and immorality than men were in Paul’s day? Our advances in knowledge and technology and communication have not really advanced us. It is from among those who are intelligent and clever that the worst exploiters, deceivers, and oppressors comes. We are more educated than our forefathers but we are not more moral. We have more means of helping each other but we are not less selfish. We have more means of communication but we do not understand each other any better. We have more psychology and education, and more crime and more war. We have not changed, except in finding more ways to express and excuse our human nature. Throughout human history wisdom has never basically changed and has never solved the basic problems of man.

“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?”

Where have all the clever arguments and impressive rhetoric brought you? Are you better off because of them – or simply more self-satisfied and complacent?  Don’t you see that all the wisdom of your wise men, your scribes, and your debaters is folly? Nothing really changes. Life has the same problems; men have the same struggles.

Could the apostle have written anything more appropriate for our own day? Where have our great thinkers – our philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, economists, scientists, and statesmen – brought us? Never before has mankind been so fearful of self-destruction or been so self-consciously perplexed, confused, and corrupt.  Modern human wisdom has failed just as ancient human wisdom failed, except that its failures come faster and spread farther.  The outer life improves in a material way, while the inner life seems to have correspondingly less meaning. The real issues are not solved.

Human wisdom sometimes sees the immediate cause of a problem but it does not see the root, which is always sin. It may see that selfishness is a cause of injustice, but it has no way to remove selfishness.  It may see that hatred causes misery and pain and destruction, but it has no cure for hatred. It can see plainly that man does not get along with man, but does not se that the real cause is that man does not get along with God. Human wisdom cannot see because it will not see.  As long as it looks on God’s wisdom as foolishness, its own wisdom will be foolish. In other words, human wisdom itself is a basic part of the problem.

Peace, joy, hope, harmony, brotherhood, and every other aspiration of man is out of his reach as long as he follows his own way in trying to achieve them. He who sees the cross as folly is doomed to his own folly… The more man looks to himself and depends on himself, the worse his situation becomes. As his dependence on his wisdom increases, so do his problems.

This is God’s plan, as the words “in the wisdom of God” indicate. God wisely established it this way, that man could not know Him by the wisdom of the world. Man cannot solve his problems because he will not recognize their source, which is sin, or their solution, which is salvation.  Man’s own sinful nature is the cause of his problems, and he cannot change his nature. Even if human wisdom could recognize the problem it does not have the power to change it. But God has the power. God was well-please through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. He chose to use that which the world’s wisdom counts as moronic, as foolishness, to save those of the world who would simply believe. Believing implies complete assent to all the truth of the saving gospel. For those who will exchange their wisdom for His, God offers transformation, regeneration, new birth, and new life through the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, His Son. This “foolishness” is man’s only hope.

* MacArthur, John F. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians (Moody Press, Chicago. 1984) pg 42-44.