Jesus Christ Is the Same

Jesus Christ Is the Same.  Variety is the spice of life, we say. Changing up the routine is healthy, we believe. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, we recite. While those statements are superficially plausible, are they theologically true? To answer that question, we must first navigate one of the chief distortions (i.e., deceptions) in the world of ideas, that sameness is boring. Its corollary is that sin is thrilling. An illustration of this chief distortion is the false view of heaven where each saint sits half-asleep on a cloud, strumming a harp forever. However, in view of the theological concept of God’s sameness, perfection is not monotonous but infinitely creative, joyful, blessed, and free. God is most free because he is most holy! Because he doesn’t change in his essence, he can change his activity as he wills.

Without divine help, since we cannot imagine perfection, the best we can do is enlarge our view of self, projecting it upon God. Because we get easily bored within our limitations, and since sin gives us a temporary sensation of escape, we naturally imagine a god within those finitudes. We make that god in our image, so to speak. Yet with divine help, we learn from the Scriptures that perfection is endlessly magnificent. “I, the Lord, do not change” (Mal. 3:16a). Thus, the sameness of God becomes the foundation for our assurance that the promises of God will play out exactly as foretold. “Therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6b). God’s sameness is solid, unmoving, trustworthy, a sure foundation. “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste’” (Isa. 28:16).

Sameness is one of the ways that God is unlike humans. Humans change, but God does not. Only God can be rightfully described as immutable, or unchangeable. Thus, when we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8), we learn that Jesus is God. Even though he became a man, suffered, died, and was resurrected, his essence never changed. His activities changed, but his nature did not. Therefore, our confidence in his promises is sure.

So then, is sameness boring? No! Sameness, if it is an expression of perfection, is never boring because perfection doesn’t improve and cannot decrease, a divine characteristic. If sameness is an expression of imperfection, then it is limited, flawed, and stunted, a human characteristic.