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1. Introduction
In Fellowship with the Mystery of His Will, we discovered that the Father’s desire, stemming from His loving nature, was to have sons and daughters. His plan was always to achieve this through Jesus Christ. In this lesson we will learn that because God is relational there is a progression:
Relationship → covenant → Abraham → intercession/negotiation → Moses → God relents → Abimelech → Nineveh.
A. Old Testament Name of God.
The Old Testament Revelation of God as Yahweh and Elohim doesn’t imply He interacts with us in that same way now. Jesus’ major revelation was that God is Father to His children. The question then arises: has God’s nature changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament? A valid question must begin with the Old Testament Revelation of God.
B. New Testament Name of God.
Neither the New Testament nor the early church fathers support the belief that some people need to call God Yahweh or YHWH. Clement of Rome, traditionally regarded as one of the earliest bishops of Rome, offers a fascinating insight into God’s name.
“Repent, O house of Israel, from your iniquity. Say to the sons of my people, If your sins reach from the earth to Heaven, and if they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sackcloth, and ye turn to me with all your hearts and say ‘Father,’ I will listen to you as a holy people.”
First epistle of Clement 8
The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthian church is one of the earliest surviving Christian writings outside the New Testament. Early Christian tradition identified Clement of Rome with the Clement mentioned by Paul in Philippians:
And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
Philippians 4:3
Significantly, Clement’s quotation portrays the house of Israel turning to God and addressing Him as ‘Father.’ This is consistent with the New Testament emphasis upon the revelation of God as Father.
In Luke’s account, Jesus’ final words from the cross explicitly address God as Father:
‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit’
Luke 23:46
2. Elohim – the God Revealed at Creation
A. Elohim – The First Name of God Mentioned in the Bible.
The Hebrew word Elohim is morphologically plural. However, in Genesis 1:1 it takes the singular verb bara (‘he created’). Grammatically, therefore, Elohim functions here as the singular God rather than as ‘gods.’
In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 alone therefore does not establish the Trinity. However, when the creation account is read in light of the fuller New Testament revelation, Father, Son and Spirit are all revealed as involved in creation.
B. The Spirit of God is Found Hovering Over the Waters.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2
C. The Word of God.
Before He was called Jesus, He was the Word,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
He was in the beginning with God
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:2
The spoken Word was involved in creation:
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Genesis 1:3
D. Elohim is Also Yahweh
..in the day that the LORD God [YHWH Elohim] made the earth and the heavens
Genesis 2:4
Job teaches that when God created the heavens and the earth, His name was also Yahweh.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
Job 38:1-4
“Who is this who darkens counsel
By words without knowledge?
Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Genesis therefore explicitly identifies Yahweh Elohim as the One who made the earth and heavens. Job later confirms the same identification when Yahweh asks Job, ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?’
3. Elohim/Yahweh is Relational
The Old Testament revelation of God is that He is relational.
The Father desires sons and daughters → this relational nature did not suddenly appear in the New Testament → the Old Testament already reveals Elohim/Yahweh as relational.
A. Adam and Eve.
Genesis portrays Yahweh Elohim personally present in the garden with Adam and Eve. They heard Him walking in the garden, and He spoke directly with them.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8
If they heard God walking in the forest and were ashamed, this was not the first time they had heard God walking in the garden. We also see that He talked with them. Their reaction suggests that they recognized His presence.
B. Enoch.
Enoch walked with God, and then God took him!
And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Genesis 5:24
Some have commented that God enjoyed Enoch so much that Enoch walked straight into heaven one day, as there is no record of him dying.
C. Abraham.
God considered Abraham His friend! It does not say that Abraham called God His friend. Here is God saying Abraham is My friend!:
“But you, Israel, are My servant,
Isaiah 41:8
Jacob whom I have chosen,
The descendants of Abraham My friend.
4. Elohim is Eternal and Present Within Time and Creation
The biblical revelation of Elohim presents God as both eternal and present and active within time and creation. These two truths are not contradictory. God’s eternal nature means He has no beginning or end. Scripture also portrays God acting within real temporal sequence—a before and an after.
Eternal and timeless are not identical concepts. Eternal means having no beginning or end; timeless means existing without temporal sequence. We will examine this distinction more closely later.
This does not imply that God is bound by time or space, nor does the present argument attempt to define His relationship to the physical universe beyond what Scripture reveals. Rather, Scripture portrays Him as genuinely present and active within creation and temporal sequence.
This distinction is important because Christian theology has often taught that God is timeless—that He exists completely outside time.
The question isn’t whether God is eternal; scripture clearly teaches that He is. The question is: Does being eternal necessarily mean being timeless?
A. Eternal.
Scripture teaches unequivocally that God is eternal. He has always existed and will continue to exist eternally.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8
Notice the language:
- “who is” — present
- “who was” — past
- “who is to come” — future
God’s eternal existence is therefore described using language that we naturally understand in relation to time. This leads to an important distinction:
Eternal means having no beginning or end.
Timeless means existing without temporal sequence—without before and after.
These are not the same idea.
Scripture undeniably teaches Elohim’s eternal nature. However, whether it also teaches His timelessness requires demonstration rather than assumption.
B. God Acts with Temporal Sequence
Scripture also presents God as genuinely present and active within time and creation.
To say that Scripture portrays God acting temporally does not mean that He is controlled by clocks, days or years. It means that He participates in real sequence: one event occurs before another, and God acts within that sequence.
This can already be seen at the beginning of Genesis.
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2
The Spirit of Elohim is already present and active within creation. Then something else happens:
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light
Genesis 1:3
There is a clear sequence:
The heavens and earth exist → the earth is without form and void → the Spirit of Elohim hovers over the waters → Elohim speaks → light appears.
This pattern is evident throughout Scripture. God is not merely present somewhere within creation. Scripture says that He fills it:
He isn’t just inside creation; He fills creation:
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:24
This gives us an important biblical balance:
God is greater than creation, yet He fills creation.
He is eternal, yet acts within sequence.
God existed before the world, yet He is present and active within the world.
Therefore, describing Elohim as temporal doesn’t imply imprisonment within time. It simply means Scripture portrays Him as genuinely operating within temporal sequence and within His creation.
C. Immanuel
Of course, Jesus came into space and time during His first advent.
D. The Spirit of God is Inside of Time and Space Through the Believers.
The Trinity now lives inside believers of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you because of the New Covenant:
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
2 Corinthians 6:16
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
E. King Jesus is Inside of Time and Space Through the Believers.
Because Jesus is inside of His believers, who are inside time and creation, He is also inside time and space.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
F. Father God is Inside of Time and Space Through the Believers.
God Himself lives inside believers in Jesus.
one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Ephesians 4:6
These passages establish God’s genuine presence within His creation. By themselves they do not establish the nature of God’s relationship to time. The question of temporal sequence therefore requires separate biblical evidence.
God’s sovereignty means that He is not imprisoned within creation or time. However, Scripture consistently reveals Him as genuinely present and active within both creation and temporal sequence.
G. There Is Sequence and Duration in Heaven in the Old Testament
The Bible also describes events in heaven using the language of time and sequence.
This is crucial. If heaven were simply a timeless realm, we might expect heavenly events to be described without order. However, Scripture presents them sequentially. This is evident early on in biblical history, particularly in the book of Job.
Now there was (in the heat of) a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Job 1:6
The Hebrew begins:
- וַיְהִי הַיּוֹם — wayhî hayyôm “Now there was a day.”
The key point isn’t that this must have been a twenty-four-hour Earth day; scripture doesn’t specify that. Rather, the important aspect is that the heavenly event is presented as part of a sequence.
The sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD. Satan came among them. The LORD then spoke to Satan. Satan answered. God then responded.
There is a clear progression:
They came → the LORD spoke → Satan answered → the LORD responded → Satan departed.
These events don’t happen simultaneously; one follows the other. Consequently, there is a before and an after in the heavenly scene, establishing temporal sequence in heaven.
The narrative therefore presents the heavenly encounter as a genuine sequence of actions. A timeless interpretation must consequently explain why this sequence should not be understood as corresponding to a real order of events.
H. There Is Sequence and Duration in Heaven in the New Testament
At the other end of the biblical record, Revelation gives an even more striking example.
John describes a period of silence in heaven:
When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Revelation 8:1
Here Scripture does not merely describe sequence. It describes duration. The silence in heaven lasted: “about half an hour.”
We should not assume that heavenly time functions exactly like earthly time. Nevertheless, JJohn describes an event in heaven itself—the silence—as having specified duration
The seventh seal was opened → silence began → the silence continued for a period → subsequent events followed.
Taken together, Job and Revelation describe both sequence and duration in heaven. In the ordinary meaning of temporal language, this is time.
This doesn’t demonstrate that God is bound by time nor does it suggest that heavenly time functions exactly like our earthly time governed by the same physical processes.
However, it demonstrates that Scripture doesn’t simply portray heaven as a realm devoid of order.
This distinction is important:
Physical time can be measured by the movements and processes of the created universe.
Temporal sequence means that one event genuinely occurs before or after another.
Scripture clearly describes temporal sequence in heaven.
This brings us to an important question. Many Christians have been taught that time itself began when God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis begins:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
This verse clearly says that the heavens and the earth had a beginning.
But notice what it does not say. It does not say:
“In the beginning God created time.”
Neither does it say:
“Before this beginning there was no time.”
Genesis tells us about the beginning of the heavens and the earth. It does not explicitly state that time itself began at that moment.
A beginning is the beginning of something. Genesis identifies that something as the creation of “the heavens and the earth.”
Concluding from Genesis 1:1 alone that this was also the absolute beginning of time requires an additional theological or philosophical inference.
I. Elohim Existed Before the Foundation of the World
Scripture repeatedly speaks about what existed or occurred in God’s purpose before the creation of the world. This language becomes important when considering whether Scripture portrays genuine sequence before creation.
i) Chosen Before the Foundation of the World
Paul writes:
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Ephesians 1:4
Paul places God’s choosing of us in Christ ‘before the foundation of the world.’ Its historical fulfilment therefore occurs after a purpose which Scripture describes as existing beforehand.
ii) The Son Had Glory Before the World Existed
Jesus also speaks about His existence with the Father before creation:
The Glory which I had with you before the world was
John 17:5
This statement is significant. Jesus doesn’t simply claim pre-world existence; He speaks of the glory He shared with the Father before creation. Consequently, scripture describes a reality involving the Father and Son existing prior to the world’s creation.
iii) The Father Loved the Son Before Creation
Jesus also says to His Father:
for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24
Love describes a relationship between the Father and the Son.
According to Jesus, this relationship did not begin with creation. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world.
iv) Christ Was Foreknown Before the Foundation of the World
Peter takes the argument further:
He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
1 Peter 1:20
The NKJV translates the Greek proegnōsmenou as ‘foreordained’; more literally, the word means ‘foreknown.’ Peter therefore places God’s foreknowledge of Christ as the sacrificial Lamb before the foundation of the world.
Notice the contrast:
- “foreknown before the foundation of the world”
and
- “manifest in these last times.”
Something concerning Christ was true before creation, while its manifestation occurred later within creation.
The verse therefore contains a clear relationship between what was before and what came afterward.
v) Lamb Slain Before the Foundation of the World
The death of Christ was not an afterthought. God’s purpose in the Lamb existed before the world was created. Revelation describes Jesus as:
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8
This verse presents a crucial translation question. The Greek text could be interpreted as linking “from the foundation of the world” to either the Lamb’s crucifixion or the names inscribed in the book of life. Consequently, Revelation 13:8 shouldn’t be considered conclusive evidence that the Lamb was already slain before creation.
However, the wider New Testament makes the underlying point clear. Peter explicitly says that Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world.
The Lamb was physically crucified at a particular point in human history. Jesus was not physically crucified before the earth existed. Rather, His sacrifice already belonged to Elohim’s redemptive purpose before the creation of the world.
vi) Grace Given Before Time Began
Paul makes an equally important statement:
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
2 Timothy 1:9
The Greek expression is pro chronōn aiōniōn, translated variously as ‘before time began’ or ‘before the ages began.’ We should therefore be cautious about using this expression by itself to define the nature or origin of time. What is clear is that Paul places God’s purpose and grace prior to their historical manifestation.
Whatever conclusion is finally reached concerning the nature of time before creation, Paul’s language again distinguishes between Elohim’s prior purpose and its later historical fulfilment.
J. Purpose Before Creation, Fulfilment Within Creation
aken together, these passages identify several realities Scripture places before creation:
- Elohim existed
- the Father loved the Son
- the Son shared glory with the Father
- Christ was foreknown as the sacrificial Lamb
- Elohim chose us in Christ
- His redemptive purpose and grace were established.
These realities are described before creation → the world was created → the Son entered the world → Christ was crucified → God’s prior redemptive purpose was fulfilled in history.
This distinction between purpose and fulfilment is important.
The purpose comes first.
The fulfilment comes afterward.
Scripture therefore describes an understandable order between what was true before creation and what happened within creation.
The question is therefore not whether clocks, days or years existed before creation.
The deeper question is:
Was there real sequence before creation, or was Elohim completely timeless?
The biblical language of “before the foundation of the world” requires us at least to ask this question rather than simply assume the answer.
K. The Development of the Timeless Interpretation
i) Plato and the Beginning of Time
The idea that time itself began with the cosmos is clearly expressed in ancient Greek philosophy.
One clear and influential example occurs in the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato, several centuries before Christ. In his work Timaeus, Plato describes time as an image of eternity:
He planned to make a movable image of Eternity … even that which we have named Time.
Plato, Timaeus 37d
Plato then makes a remarkable statement:
Time came into existence along with the Heaven
Plato, Timaeus 38B
Plato’s position is clear:
The heavens began → time began with them.
This is important because Plato explicitly says something that Genesis does not explicitly say.
Compare the two statements that are not identical:
Plato: “Time came into existence along with the Heaven.”
Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Did the belief that time began with creation come directly from Scripture, or did Greek philosophical ideas influence the way later Christians understood Genesis?
ii) Augustine and the Timeless God
Several centuries after Christ, Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) became one of the most influential theologians in Western Christianity.
Augustine’s Christian theology developed in an intellectual environment strongly influenced by Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy.
In Confessions Book XI, Augustine considers what God was doing before He created heaven and earth. His answer is:
There was no such thing as ‘then’ when there was no time.
Augustine, Confessions XI.13
Augustine’s reasoning is straightforward. God created time. Therefore, time could not exist before God created it. He explains:
For that very time didst Thou make, nor could times pass by, before Thou madest those times.
Augustine, Confessions XI.13
Augustine therefore understands God’s eternity as not involving the temporal succession characteristic of created time.
In The City of God, Augustine makes the relationship between creation and time even clearer. He argues that the world was not created *within* an already existing time. Instead, the world and time began together. He describes the world as being made:
not in time, but simultaneously with time.
Augustine, The City of God XI.6
We can now see an important comparison:
Plato: Time came into existence with the heavens.
Augustine: The world and time came into existence together.
Genesis: In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.
The similarity does not by itself prove that Augustine simply adopted Plato’s doctrine. Augustine’s understanding is developed within his Christian doctrine of creation. Nevertheless, the comparison demonstrates that the proposition that time began with the cosmos was already explicitly present in Greek philosophical thought before Christianity.
Is the belief that time began with creation actually stated in Scripture, or is it a philosophical explanation that was later used to interpret Scripture?
Augustine’s understanding of divine eternity became extremely influential in Western Christianity. Later theologians such as Anselm developed the idea further.
iii) Anselm and God “Outside All Time”
Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109 CE) expressed the timeless understanding of God very clearly:
Thou wast not, then, yesterday, nor wilt thou be tomorrow … but simply, thou art, outside all time.
Anselm, Proslogion XIX
The distinction is now very clear. God is no longer simply described as existing forever. He is described as existing “outside all time.”
This understanding of divine eternity became deeply established in classical Western Christian theology and influenced the theological tradition later inherited by the Reformers.
It would be historically inaccurate to say that Augustine, Anselm, Luther or Calvin merely copied Plato. Christian theology developed over many centuries through sustained engagement with Scripture as well as inherited philosophical categories.
Nevertheless, the statement ‘God exists outside time’ should not automatically be treated as though it were a direct statement from Scripture. It is a theological and philosophical conclusion. It must therefore be tested against the biblical text.
L. Eternal Does Not Necessarily Mean Timeless
One source of confusion is the frequent conflation of “eternal” and “timeless”. Theseconcepts are distinct.
An eternal God has no beginning and no end.
A timeless God has no temporal succession—no before and after.
God could therefore be eternal without being timeless. This distinction is particularly important when studying the Greek language of the New Testament. Two related Greek words are:
- αἰών (aiōn) — an age or period.
- αἰώνιος (aiōnios) — an adjective commonly translated “eternal” or “everlasting,” whose precise meaning depends upon its context.
For example, Paul writes:
who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age (aiōnios) according to the will of our God and Father,
Galatians 1:4
The Greek word translated age here is aiōn. Paul speaks of: “this present evil age.” Paul refers to the age he was living in, before his death, somewhere between 61 and 64 CE.
The related adjective aiōnios belongs to the same word family, but its meaning must be determined by context.
The important point is not that aiōnios can never describe endless existence; in many contexts it clearly carries the sense of everlasting or eternal. Rather, the biblical vocabulary of eternity should not automatically be assigned the additional philosophical meaning ‘without temporal succession.’ Whether God is timeless must be established from the biblical teaching about God, not merely from the English word eternal.
M. Conclusion: What Does Scripture Actually Say
Scripture clearly teaches that Elohim is eternal. That is not in dispute. The question is what His eternal existence means. Does it mean:
Elohim has always existed and will always exist, while acting and relating within genuine sequence?
Or does it mean:
Elohim exists completely outside time, without any before or after?
These are two different understandings of eternity. Scripture repeatedly uses temporal and sequential language concerning Elohim:
“who is and who was and who is to come”
Revelation 1:8
God chose us:
“before the foundation of the world”
Ephesians 1:4
Jesus speaks of His glory:
“before the world was”
John 17:5
Jesus says to the Father:
“You loved Me before the foundation of the world”
John 17:24
Scripture also describes heavenly events occurring in sequence. Job describes:
“a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD.”
Job 1:6
John describes:
“silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
Revelation 8:1
And from the opening verses of Genesis, the Spirit of Elohim is present and active within creation.
Taken together, the biblical picture is of an Elohim who is eternal, who existed before creation, who acts within real sequence, and who is genuinely present within His creation. None of this requires us to say that Elohim is limited by time. Neither does it require us to say that God is confined to the physical universe. But it does require us to distinguish carefully between two statements:
We must distinguish between two propositions:
- Elohim is eternal.
- Elohim is timeless.
The first is clearly taught throughout Scripture. The second is a philosophical and theological conclusion that must be demonstrated from Scripture.
Plato explicitly taught that time came into existence with the heavens.
Augustine explicitly taught that there was no time before creation.
Anselm explicitly described God as existing “outside all time.”
Genesis simply says:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Therefore, before accepting the traditional statement that **God exists outside time**, we must ask:
Does Scripture actually teach that Elohim is timeless, and to what extent did Greek philosophical ideas about eternity and time influence the way later Christian theologians understood the biblical God?
That question must ultimately be answered from Scripture.
5. Yahweh Elohim’s First Interaction with Man.
The opening chapters of Genesis reveal God interacting with humanity as both Elohim and Yahweh Elohim. These names reveal genuine aspects of who God is, although the New Testament gives us the fuller revelation of God as Father through Jesus Christ.
A. When God Created man in His image, it was as Elohim.
Man was created in the image of Elohim.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27
B. When Yahweh Elohim Created Man and Blew Life into Him
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7
There is significance in this. The name Yahweh is closely associated in Exodus 3 with God’s declaration, “I AM WHO I AM.” The creation account also presents the tree of life in Eden.
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden
Genesis 2:9
After the Fall, Yahweh Elohim prevents fallen humanity from taking from it and living forever.
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden …
Genesis 3:22-23
The narrative therefore associates humanity’s original created condition with access to life that was subsequently lost through sin.
C. When Yahweh Elohim Spoke with Adam, it was as Yahweh
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
Genesis 2:16-17
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
D. Elohim and Yahweh Refer to the Same God
Having considered what Scripture reveals concerning Elohim’s existence and His relationship to creation, we can now consider how Elohim reveals Himself in relationship with humanity.
6. Yahweh Reveals His Name and Character
A. The First Time that Yahweh Defines Himself.
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Exodus 3:13-14
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
B. What Does God Mean by “I AM WHO I AM”?
One implication of God’s answer is that He Himself determines how He is to be known. Throughout Scripture, God progressively reveals His nature and character, ultimately revealing Himself most fully through Jesus Christ.
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…
Hebrews 1:3
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:9
We will look at this more when we look at the first two attributes of Yahweh.
7. Old Testament Revelation of Yahweh as Showing Emotions
Classical theology has traditionally taught divine impassibility: that God is not subject to involuntary passions or emotional change caused by forces outside Himself. However, Scripture repeatedly describes Yahweh as expressing anger, grief, compassion, delight and other genuine responses. The question is whether these descriptions should be understood merely as anthropomorphic language or as genuine revelation of God’s relational nature.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to something that is not human. Scripture unquestionably uses anthropomorphic language about God. However, we should not simply label every difficult description of God’s emotions or responses as anthropomorphic and thereby remove its revelatory significance. The question is what Scripture intends these descriptions to teach us about God’s character and His relationship with humanity.
Israel sins → God’s anger is aroused → the relationship is damaged → God proposes withdrawing His presence → Moses intercedes on the basis of relationship → God responds to Moses → His presence remains with them.
A. Yahweh’s Anger and Grief Within Relationship
God had a remarkably close relationship with Moses. Scripture says that Yahweh spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). Yet when Moses resisted God’s calling, Yahweh’s anger was kindled against him.
So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
Exodus 4:14
Then after the golden calf episode God said concerning the Israelites:
“I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them…”
Exodus 32:9-10
This then turns to grief within the relationship:
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
Psalm 78:40
And grieved Him in the desert!
God’s grief stemmed from relationship. These were the people He had freed from Egypt and with whom He had made a covenant. Their repeated rebellion wasn’t simply the breaking of a rule; Scripture states that it grieved Him as we see in Isaiah’s account:
But they rebelled and grieved the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 63:10
In the New Testament we see the same, showing God’s relational character has not changed:
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God
Ephesians 4:30
B. Yahweh Proposes to Withdraw His Presence
The promised land without Yahweh’s presence was not enough for Moses. Covenant relationship was about more than receiving what God had promised; it involved the presence of God Himself.
“I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Exodus 33:3
Here we see that this is not just about God’s anger and His punishment. Rather there has been serious damage to the relationship between Yahweh and His covenant people.
C. Moses Argues With God and Wins!
Moses then argues that Yahweh’s presence with Israel is what distinguishes them from every other people on earth.
Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”
Exodus 33:15-16
And immediately God responds to Moses’ relational request and agrees to what Moses has asked:
So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Exodus 33:17
This episode reveals that Yahweh’s relationship with His people is genuine. He becomes angry and grieved by their rebellion; Moses appeals to Him on the basis of relationship; Yahweh listens and responds. God’s nature has not changed, but His response within the relationship does.
9. Yahweh is a Covenant-Keeping God
Old Testament revelation of Yahweh is as a covenant-keeping God.
A. He Wants to Enter into a Covenant with Humankind.
We have seen that God enjoys His relationship with humankind but does not just want to be friends with a man. He also wants to enter into a covenant with man. For example, when a man and woman are great friends and romantically attracted, they may enter into a marriage covenant.
B. God’s Covenant with Abraham.
God explicitly establishes His covenant with Noah as Elohim (Genesis 9:8–17). When Scripture later describes the covenant with Abraham, Yahweh is explicitly named.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
Genesis 15:1-6
But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”
Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
C. Covenant Establishes a Genuine Two-Way Relationship.
When God enters into covenant with humanity, He establishes a genuine two-way relationship. It is not that God enters into a covenant with you and you do what God says without questioning. A biblical covenant is not presented as an impersonal decree. It establishes a genuine relationship in which God speaks, man responds, man may appeal to God, and God listens and responds. We see this particularly clearly in God’s covenant relationship with Abraham.
And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Genesis 18:23-25
Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?
Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”
Genesis 18:32-33
And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.”
So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
D. Two-Way Covenant is How Your Sins are Forgiven
It’s based on the New Covenant being a two-way process: a seeker’s sins are forgiven and they are born again.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Hebrews 8:12
If the covenant was one-way, then those desiring to become sons or daughters of God could never give Jesus their sins. If they could not give their sins, then they could not receive God’s righteousness. Furthermore, if they could not receive God’s righteousness, then they could not be born again. Understanding this “Great Exchange” is explained in Covenantal Atonement.
E. God Can Change His Mind Because He is Relational.
We see a similar thing with Moses when God is about to destroy the nation of Israel after entering into covenant with them at Mount Sinai. Moses intercedes concerning God’s announced judgment, and Yahweh relents!
So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Exodus 32:9-14
We saw previously that God responds to our relational intercession, here we see that Yahweh relents from an announced course of action!
F. God Acts Decisively.
After God entered into a covenant with Abraham, Abraham acted foolishly by not saying Sarah was his wife. She was beautiful, and Abimelech, a king from another country, decided to take Sarah as his wife. God needed to act decisively because God had made a covenant with Abraham. God had made a covenant promise that a son would come to him through his wife. He, therefore, came to Abimelech in a dream, letting him know that Sarah was Abraham’s wife and that if he slept with her, death would come to Abimelech and all who are his! God takes His covenant responsibilities very seriously, even when we make unwise decisions.
What is important here is that Abraham’s failure does not cause Yahweh to abandon His covenant promise. God acts to protect the fulfilment of what He has promised.
Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.
Genesis 20:2-7
“And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
G. God Relents Because of Benevolence.
There is another example where God relents with Gentiles who are not His covenant people.
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah 3:10
Jonah teaches us that it is because of His character:
So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah 4:2
God’s character → mercy → relational response → relenting.
The New Testament ultimately describes this loving character in the remarkable statement: ‘God is love.’
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16
H. Answering the “God Does Not Change His Mind” Scriptures
There are three Scriptures commonly quoted to support the argument that God does not change His mind. We need to examine each passage in its context.
i) The Numbers Argument
God’s rejection happened because the Israelites refused to believe in His goodness to give them the promised land.
“God is not a man, that He should lie,
Numbers 23:19
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
The context concerns God’s truthfulness and reliability. Unlike man, God does not lie, make a promise and then fail to fulfil it. The emphasis is therefore upon God’s faithfulness to what He has spoken.
ii) The 1 Samuel Argument
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
1 Samuel 15:29
In the verse above we see that Saul is speaking from his knowledge base of God. But we need to see what happens before and after. First Yahweh says He regrets making Saul king:
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”
1 Samuel 15:10-11
After Saul has tried arguing in v 29, God reiterates:
and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
1 Samuel 15:35
Therefore, 1 Samuel 15 cannot mean that Yahweh never regrets or relents in any sense, because the same inspired account explicitly says that He regretted making Saul king both before and after verse 29. Verse 29 must therefore be understood in its particular context.
Yahweh regretted making Saul king because Saul changed → Yahweh responded to Saul’s rebellion → but Yahweh would not now reverse His judgment simply because Saul wanted the consequences removed.
iii) The Malachi Argument
In Malachi we see a similar argument to the previous two:
For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Malachi 3:6
Malachi itself demonstrates what God’s unchanging nature means in a relational context. Yahweh does not change in His covenant character and faithfulness. Yet in the very next verse He says,
Return to Me, and I will return to you,
Malachi 3:7
The relationship can change because the people change, while Yahweh remains faithful to His unchanging character.
God does not change His mind because of unreliability or deceit. Scripture does not portray God as changing His mind because He has discovered that He was wrong, because He has received new information, or because He is fickle and unreliable like man. His nature and character remain unchanged.
Yet Scripture does portray Yahweh as genuinely responding to human actions, repentance and intercession, and therefore relenting from an announced course of action. The change is not in who God is; the change is in how the unchanging God responds within a changing relationship.
9. Summary:
The Old Testament Revelation of God so far:
- The Triune God existed before creation.
- Our heavenly Father’s original plan was to have sons and daughters.
- God is eternal, having neither beginning nor end.
- Scripture reveals God as genuinely present and active within His creation.
- Scripture reveals God acting within genuine temporal sequence.
- Yahweh/Elohim is relational with humanity, just as the Father is relational with His children.
- Because God is relational, He establishes and faithfully keeps covenant.
- Because God is relational, He genuinely responds to human actions, repentance and intercession. His response may change while His nature and covenant faithfulness remain unchanged.
God’s nature has not changed; a relational God can genuinely respond differently as the relationship changes without becoming a different God.
I began this lesson by referencing the Fellowship of the Mystery of his Will. Within that topic, we explored the various levels of maturity we develop. Both the Fellowship of the Gospel and the Fellowship with the Holy Spirit represent our childhood in our relationship with the Trinity. As we mature through the Fellowship of His Son, learning kingdom principles and authority, we transition into adulthood within the kingdom. Continuing this journey through the Fellowship of His Sufferings and the Mystery of his Will for our lives and the kingdom, we ultimately become mature parents in the kingdom, becoming more fruitful. Similarly, as we mature, the way God relates to us develops, while His nature and faithfulness toward us remain unchanged.
Has God’s nature changed? → No. The OT already reveals Elohim/Yahweh as eternal, relational and covenantal → His unchanging character does not mean an unchanging relationship → Yahweh genuinely responds to people → therefore a change in God’s relational response does not constitute a change in God’s nature.
In the following study, we will look at the first two attributes of Yahweh – Jireh and Rapha.
© Use by Permission Awakening Impact Ministries/ Dr Neville Westerbeek van Eerten D. Miss 2027
