These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
If we were to look for common themes in a number of explorations we have made – the unity of God’s Love and God’s Will, the Nature of God, the Nature of The Word, etc – we would find that the idea of the Perfection of God is central to all of them.
What is meant by God’s Perfection?
That which is perfect is faultless. It cannot be improved upon. Such is everything that emanates from the Creator.
To improve is to change. Therefore His Perfection does not admit of changes, since it cannot be improved.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass,
— Luke 16:17
than one tittle of the law to fail.
This means that He does not change His mind, because everything He already decided is perfect and omniscient, and a change would imply imperfection.
Therefore, if we come across stories or writings that imply that God changed his mind, we must either find a deeper meaning to the story or set it aside completely.
In most cases where human beings believe that the Creator changed his mind, what actually happens is that our human understanding of His Will has evolved.
The understanding of a child and that of an adult are different. Therefore their understandings of the same statement would be different, and there is nothing “wrong” in the child having a childish interpretation of the statement.
So as man develops further, his understanding of God’s Will also advances.
God and His Will never change; only man’s understanding of Them changes, as we discussed earlier.
That is why Christ had to explain that while His Word (the revelation of Truth, the explanation of God’s Will) is higher than the Mosaic Law (an earlier revelation of God’s Will), and in particular the Ten Commandments, the two are in alignment:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:
— Matt 5:17
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
It is left for man to understand this, and the key is the correct understanding of God’s Love, as already discussed extensively in earlier essays.
Therefore we should not make the mistake of anthropomorphism and liken the Creator to an earthly king who can “do and undo” as his mood changes.
God only “does”; he does not “undo”. It would be easier for heaven and earth to vanish than for there to be the slightest change in what He has willed.
As already explained (in this essay and this one, for example), all the possibilities of grace, mercy, and what we call miracles have already been provided through His Will (His Laws) in Creation.
The key to “unwrapping” these gifts (i.e. accessing God’s Power) is the living of The Word and the cultivation of love in our hearts.
Today’s Resolution
- We will give God the honour of perfection. We will not expect from Him things that are imperfect and not aligned with His Will and His Love.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 