Is the God described in the Bible an unchanging God?

[McCulloch]

I believe that the laws of nature are upheld by a supremely sovereign, unchanging God, and that is why they are uniform. That's why I have no problem with it.

Is the God described in the Bible an unchanging God?

For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

[OnceConvinced]

Well God has changed his methods in quite dramatic ways. From demanding blood sacrifices of animals to having one human sacrifice to cover them all. From demanding lots of silly little adherences to laws in the OT to wiping out a whole heap in the NT. From giving signs and wonders and talking face to face to people to... well nothing.

I heard one claim recently that because God is supposedly omniscient that all these changes were planned by him from the beginning of time, so therefore he has not actually changed his values or anything like that. He just enacted a plan that he had set from the beginning, knowing that at various points along the line he would need to change his methods. Not a bad argument, I felt, but then you first have to establish that God is indeed omniscient, which is impossible without showing him to be unloving, uncaring, unjust and cruel.

[McCulloch]

Not a bad argument, I felt, but then you first have to establish that God is indeed omniscient, which is impossible without showing him to be unloving, uncaring, unjust and cruel.

The God described in the Bible is omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. He is also loving and just. It matters not that this is an impossible combination, this is theology not reality.

[Goat]

Not a bad argument, I felt, but then you first have to establish that God is indeed omniscient, which is impossible without showing him to be unloving, uncaring, unjust and cruel.

The God described in the Bible is omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. He is also loving and just. It matters not that this is an impossible combination, this is theology not reality.

They way that most Jews explain it is 'It is not God who changes, but rather our understanding of God.'

[msmcneal]

If you look at both the OT and the NT, as OnceConvinced pointed out, there are actually huge differences and alot of changes. Now,

They way that most Jews explain it is 'It is not God who changes, but rather our understanding of God.'

and this works for Judaism, if we leave out the NT. Even in places in the Hebrew Bible where "God changed" such things as temple sacrifice, etc., it was due more to the circumstances. The Jews were captive in Babylon, away from the temple. So the change was more of necessity. The changes between the OT and NT were blatant. Of course, I believe that it was Paul who made those changes, and not Jesus. Paul seemed to be the instigator of all the problems found in Christianity. Jesus said that anyone who teaches another to not follow the Law, "it would be better for a millstone tied around his neck, and cast into the sea", and yet Paul says that the Law is done away with. Jesus kept to the Hebrew scriptures, to the best of his ability, and Paul trashed all of that. Paul made the changes.

[spiritletter]

We have no way of knowing this. Maybe it's not a useful question.