Changeable Faithfulness of God
God Who Relates
Berkhof focuses his discussion of God's (im)mutability around the theme of relationship. In the past, specifically in Greek philosophy, images of God have centered on philosophical abstractions and constructions of what God should be like in order to fulfill the human ideas about God. Instead of ascribing to this view, Berkhof focuses on the Biblical witness about God, while still preserving many of the concerns, if not the conclusions, of traditional thinkers. Paragraph 21 speaks of "holy love," and highlights the personal nature of God. For Berkhof, this way of speaking about God is "analogically adequate," meaning that it gives direction to our speech about God. Speaking of the analogical adequacy of speaking about God as person, Berkhof writes,
This implies that God is infinetly more than what we know of human personality, but also that we may
correctly ascribe to him whatever in the world of persons is more than the world of things: self-
consciousness, freedom, the ability to enter into fellowship with others; in brief: being a subject.
Berkhof paints a very relational picture of God. God is free to choose. This does not imply God is capricious, as will be discussed below concerning faithfulness, but it implies that God encounters decisions and makes them freely, as opposed to moving forward in a static and determined manner. Also important to Berkhof's understanding is the idea of fellowship. Fellowship requires give and take, communication and response. In short, God must be able to respond and interact with creatures in fellowship, and this raises doubts as to the adequacy of speaking of God as immutable. Instead of a static God, Berkhof is led to assert "Changeableness is a part of God's association with his world." This changeableness is demonstrated in creation, for in bringing about something outside of Himself, "God was changed. �He obtained a recipient for his revelation and a partner for dialogue."
Berkhof also finds evidence for speaking of the changeable nature of God in Scripture. The Old Testament speaks of God "doing a new thing" (Is. 43:18), and repeatedly speaks of the repentance of God. Again, this change is anchored in faithfulness, but change is still attested to in the Bible, and thus warrants consideration. For Berkhof, this consideration yields not simply the conclusion that God has changing encounters but an unchanging being. Instead Berkhof makes the assertion that God truly changes, but in changing remains Himself, which leads us to a discussion of God's faithfulness amidst change.
God's Unwavering Faithfulness
In understanding Berkhof's point, it is essential that the changeableness of God is not overemphasized, at the cost of faithfulness. "God is not unreliable or capricious" and is unchangeable in His faithfulness. God's changeableness is carefully qualified, yet at the same time genuine.
God has chosen to be changed, demonstrating this in creating a world genuinely "other" than Himself, in the Word becoming flesh, and in relating to His rebellious and sinful people, us. It is in this type of world, described by constant change, that God interacts with creation. Thus, for Berkhof, God's unwavering and unassailable faithfulness is expressed in various and changing ways in that changing interaction. God changes with us, not as humans change, yet still with us. For in God's changing, he remains always faithful. As Berkhof asserts in our passage, "Precisely because of the constant change God remains himself, and always the same with respect to us." God's changes are always in service to His faithfulness.
Faithfulness always describes God's change for Berkhof. In the Old Testament, God's repentance "has so little to do with caprice that it creates much rather the impression that it could serve in Israel's creed as denoting the faithfulness of God (Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2)." Israel has recognized that God is a God who pronounces judgment, but also will repent of judgment in the service of mercy. This is not the expression of a static yet schizophrenic being, but instead of a personal God, always faithful to the divine will, and interacting with people in love. God's change is precisely in service to this love, and is precisely "an expression of faithfulness."
Berkhof's recognition of both the changeableness and unchangeableness of God lead him to recognize that both "are to be regarded as equally belonging to him" in light of the unity of God's being and revelation. We must not simply assert that God's being is unchanging, and yet his revelation changes, but instead must hold the two together. For, as Berkhof asserts, "There is no other God behind the God who participates with us in a history. It would be blasphemous to say that this history would leave him unmoved. But it would also be blasphemous to say that, together with us, he would be controlled by this history." God is held in a unity of faithfulness and changeableness.
It is important to Berkhof to assert that God is not controlled by creation, nor is God at creations mercy. Yet, God is involved with creation, and allows Himself to be moved by it. "In his sovereign love God has made himself changeable. He has decided to be together with us involved in a process, a process which includes Gethsemane's anguish and Calvary's God-forsakenness." God has chosen relationship, chosen involvement, chosen love. For Berkhof, this means God possesses changeable faithfulness.
My Own Position
I find that my own position very closely echos that of Berkhof's. For I cling both to the unchanging faithfulness of God, and yet believe in the deep relationality of God. I once heard a quote, attributed to Kierkegaard, that talked of God as being unchanging yet moved. I believe this to be a very elegant and proper way to speak of God. We do not echo Aristotle in positing an unmoved mover, yet we do not fall into the trap of a capricious and unreliable God.
The Bible very firmly testifies to God's dependability and love. These will never change. And the Bible repeatedly proclaims that God will not change, such as in 1 Samuel 15:29, which proclaims that God will not lie or change His mind. Thus, we must not simply say that God changes without careful qualification and understanding. Yet, the Bible also proclaims that God is personal and living, and details numerous "changes" such as repentance, which is even included in Israel's statement of faith in Jonah 4:2. This statement also proclaims that God is slow to anger. God is moved to anger, though slowly, and God is moved to relent from sending calamity, in the face of repentance. We do not wish to assert anger or wrath to be eternal attributes of God, or we seem to end up in a position of dualism between anger and love. Instead, anger is expression of God's changing interaction with creation, a passion to which God is moved by His sinful creation, yet one always in service to love. Thus, just from these few examples, we see that the Biblical witness is to both God's unchangeableness and God's relationship to creation.
With Berkhof, I would assert that God's revelation truly reveals God. God truly is as the Bible claims. It does use metaphoric and anthropomorphic language to talk of God to weak-minded creatures such as us, yet, these images truly convey adequate images of God, and cannot be dismissed because they don't fit with our philosophical understandings.
I believe God chose to kenotically limit Himself in relationship to creation, by creating something that was genuinely "other" than God, and endowing it with true freedom. God chose to allow humans to exist, and thus to choose. In so doing, God chose to become entangled with, though not controlled by, history. God chose to enter into covenant, binding Himself to His people, Israel. God chose to become flesh, the Word incarnate, and give Himself obediently unto to death for us. In so doing, God takes on suffering. Divine laments, likened to a scorned lover, or reflected in Jesus' cries from the cross, show the deep anguish humans bring to God. These are the actions of a loving God, moved to anguish and anger, as well as compassion and love. This is the God who calls us to relationship, to prayer, and to faith. God promises to never leave us or forsake us, and in the end, promises to change us. God is one who is unchanging in His faithfulness, and on Him we can depend, yet God is intimately aware of us, and is moved in relation to us. God's love for us is always changing yet never ceasing! Amen. Come Lord Jesus.
