Does God change? If God called them to keep the laws, why would he want them to break it, even if showing love?

[GodHeals]

Hi,
Does God change, since the old law is fulfilled by the new law of Love (Jesus Christ)?

Ex. God says in Leviticus? (or was it one of the 613 or so traditions/laws?) not to touch the unclean. In the story with Jesus and the Lawyer (Luke), Jesus asked the Lawyer which did the good thing, and it was the Samaritan, which i heard the Lawyer couldn’t say (lack of humility?), but he said foreigner. The foreigner actually helped the guy as the others either had Priestly duties or were too busy to help, but might have been keeping the law. If God called them to keep the laws, why would he want them to break it, even if showing love? Why not start with the law of love? Or what it always a law of love , but just not evident, and therefore God never changes / or changes his mind?

I am just wondering what the Catholic Church teaching on the immutability of God. Sorry if confusing. Thank you for your help!
Brian

 

[COPLAND_3]

The Law was created by God to teach His people how to be devoted and to practice reverence in worshipping Him. But the Law of love was always there and was intended, but that was usually misinterpreted and practiced by the Jews, which Jesus came and even demonstrated how the Law was to be interpreted and practiced. Jesus showed how the Jews developed man made traditions on top of the Law that put human life and needs below the rigid rules of man that were not intended by the Law. The purpose of the Law and its ceremonies was, like I said above, to teach reverence, and to teach them and prepare them about Christ, in which those ceremonies foreshadowed.

 

[Cranch]

I am the Lord, and I change not (Malachi 3:6).

God alone is immutable; and whatever things He has made, being from nothing, are mutable. — St.Augustine

St. Thomas Aquinas employs these statements to begin his discussion on the immutability of God and the additional fact that God alone is immutable, both propositions he affirms as true. Warning if you click the link: be prepared to “get into the weeds.”

St. James in his Epistle teaches:
Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration. (1:17)

As to reconciling the Old Law with the New Law of the Gospel, the Catechism teaches “the Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law, releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their entire divine and human truth.” The Gospel “brings the Law to its fullness through imitation of the perfection of the heavenly Father, through forgiveness of enemies and prayer for persecutors, in emulation of the divine generosity.” CCC 1968]

About this topic the current Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger has written insightfully:

The faith of Israel was directed to universality. Since it is devoted to the one God of all men, it also bore within itself the promise to become the faith of all nations. But the law, in which it was expressed, was particular, quite concretely directed to Israel and its history; it could not be universalized in this form. In the intersection of these paradoxes stands Jesus of Nazareth, who himself as a Jew lived under the law of Israel but knew himself to be at the same time the mediator of the universality of God. This mediation could not take place through political calculation or philosophical interpretation. In both of these cases man would have put himself over God’s word and reformed it according to his own standards.

Jesus did not act as a liberal reformer recommending and himself presenting a more understanding interpretation of the law. In Jesus’ exchange with the Jewish authorities of his time, we are not dealing with a confrontation between a liberal reformer and an ossified traditionalist hierarchy. Such a view, though common, fundamentally misunderstands the conflict of the New Testament and does justice neither to Jesus nor to Israel. Rather Jesus opened up the law quite theologically conscious of, and claiming to be, acting as Son, with the authority of God himself, in innermost unity with God, the Father. Only God himself could fundamentally reinterpret the law and manifest that its broadening transformation and conservation is its actually intended meaning. Jesus’ interpretation of the law makes sense only if it is interpretation with divine authority, if God interprets himself. The quarrel between Jesus and the Jewish authorities of his time is finally not a matter of this or that particular infringement of the law but rather of Jesus’ claim to act “ex auctoritate divina,” indeed, to be this “auctoritas” himself. “I and the Father are one”

 

[fhansen]

Hi,
Does God change, since the old law is fulfilled by the new law of Love (Jesus Christ)?

Ex. God says in Leviticus? (or was it one of the 613 or so traditions/laws?) not to touch the unclean. In the story with Jesus and the Lawyer (Luke), Jesus asked the Lawyer which did the good thing, and it was the Samaritan, which i heard the Lawyer couldn’t say (lack of humility?), but he said foreigner. The foreigner actually helped the guy as the others either had Priestly duties or were too busy to help, but might have been keeping the law. If God called them to keep the laws, why would he want them to break it, even if showing love? Why not start with the law of love? Or what it always a law of love , but just not evident, and therefore God never changes / or changes his mind?

I am just wondering what the Catholic Church teaching on the immutability of God. Sorry if confusing. Thank you for your help!
Brian

Check out the Catechism beginning here:
scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c3a1.htm

The following excerpts offer some salient points:

**1955 The “divine and natural” law6 shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one’s equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called “natural,” not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature:

Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.7 The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation.8

1958 The natural law is immutable and permanent throughout the variations of history;10 it subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. Even when it is rejected in its very principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again in the life of individuals and societies:

Theft is surely punished by your law, O Lord, and by the law that is written in the human heart, the law that iniquity itself does not efface.11

1962 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments. The precepts of the Decalogue lay the foundations for the vocation of man fashioned in the image of God; they prohibit what is contrary to the love of God and neighbor and prescribe what is essential to it. The Decalogue is a light offered to the conscience of every man to make God’s call and ways known to him and to protect him against evil:

God wrote on the tables of the Law what men did not read in their hearts.13

1965 The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. It is also the work of the Holy Spirit and through him it becomes the interior law of charity: "I will establish a New Covenant with the house of Israel. . . . I will put my laws into their hands, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."19

**

 

[GodHeals]

Thank you for all of the replies.

So with prayer, does that mean God doesn’t change either? It seems that all prayer comes from Him and is for Him so to continue a cycle with the Holy Spirit inspiring ALL our prayers, believers in Christ for many years, or the first prayer, as a new believer in Christ who just received a revelation of Jesus.

SIDE QUESTION: There is no formulas or “sinners prayers” that we must pray, correct? It is good to pray and accept / receive Jesus and reject Satan verbally and in our hearts, and most people will do that at Mass, especially during Easter, but not necessary as per what even Paul says in the following. It has to do with the heart condition and being in the state of grace, but this seems only possible with intellectual capabilities in order to make a right judgement. So there is some judgement based on what we know?

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. - Romans 10:9-10

I know that:

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.-Hebrews 11:6

… as the scripture tells us and the Catechism says:

848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

So is more about being in the state of grace and seeking God (1st and 2nd greatest commandment), whether we know of the True God or not.

 

[jcrichton]

Hi,
Does God change, since the old law is fulfilled by the new law of Love (Jesus Christ)?

Ex. God says in Leviticus? (or was it one of the 613 or so traditions/laws?) not to touch the unclean. In the story with Jesus and the Lawyer (Luke), Jesus asked the Lawyer which did the good thing, and it was the Samaritan, which i heard the Lawyer couldn’t say (lack of humility?), but he said foreigner. The foreigner actually helped the guy as the others either had Priestly duties or were too busy to help, but might have been keeping the law. If God called them to keep the laws, why would he want them to break it, even if showing love? Why not start with the law of love? Or what it always a law of love , but just not evident, and therefore God never changes / or changes his mind?

I am just wondering what the Catholic Church teaching on the immutability of God. Sorry if confusing. Thank you for your help!
Brian

Hi, Brian… I think that you are taking the legalist road… it is not that Jesus Commands that we should break the Law to fulfill the Law of Love… Love is the Highest Law (Love Yahweh God above all and your neighbor as yourself)… the case of becoming unclean is valid… but have you thought that being uncleaned due to self-sacrifice while assisting somenone in need would be seen by God as the Greater Observance of the Law vs. obtanitely observing the letter of the Law… in which the consequence of braking such Law would only temporarily separate the person from participating in organized worship during a very specific and short period of time?

Here’s another one of those examples:

14 But the president of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and he addressed all those present saying, ‘There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath.’ 15 But the Lord answered him and said, ‘Hypocrites! Is there one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and take it out for watering? 16 And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years – was it not right to untie this bond on the Sabbath day?’ (St. Luke 13:14-16)

…Jesus makes the distinction that a priest and a Levite (both of whom were knowledgeable of God’s Love) reduced the Law to legalism and thus circumvented God’s Commandment to Love while the Samaritan, who is a stranger to the Mosaic Law, observed God’s Commandment to Love in a true impartial and self-giving manner!

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[jcrichton]

Thank you for all of the replies.

So with prayer, does that mean God doesn’t change either? It seems that all prayer comes from Him and is for Him so to continue a cycle with the Holy Spirit inspiring ALL our prayers, believers in Christ for many years, or the first prayer, as a new believer in Christ who just received a revelation of Jesus.

SIDE QUESTION: There is no formulas or “sinners prayers” that we must pray, correct? It is good to pray and accept / receive Jesus and reject Satan verbally and in our hearts, and most people will do that at Mass, especially during Easter, but not necessary as per what even Paul says in the following. It has to do with the heart condition and being in the state of grace, but this seems only possible with intellectual capabilities in order to make a right judgement. So there is some judgement based on what we know?

I know that:

… as the scripture tells us and the Catechism says:

So is more about being in the state of grace and seeking God (1st and 2nd greatest commandment), whether we know of the True God or not.

…I think that this is speaking on legalism… the reason why “Catholics” repeat/say the prayers and do not demonstrate that they are adhering to the spoken words/vows is decidedly legalism: adherence to the letter but not exercising it with their hearts and minds… “Catholicism” is not a magical umbrella under which all will gain Salvation; "Catholicism is the development of Christ’s Ministry from the nuclear Twelve to the ends of the world… but the demands of Christ’s Commandments have never changed so we must do way more than just pronounce a credo while visting the local parishes on Sundays… as St. James clearly stated:

But you must do what the Word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves. (St. James 1:22)

Maran atha!

Angel

 

[Brendan]

Hi,
Does God change, since the old law is fulfilled by the new law of Love (Jesus Christ)?

Ex. God says in Leviticus? (or was it one of the 613 or so traditions/laws?) not to touch the unclean. In the story with Jesus and the Lawyer (Luke), Jesus asked the Lawyer which did the good thing, and it was the Samaritan, which i heard the Lawyer couldn’t say (lack of humility?), but he said foreigner. The foreigner actually helped the guy as the others either had Priestly duties or were too busy to help, but might have been keeping the law. If God called them to keep the laws, why would he want them to break it, even if showing love? Why not start with the law of love? Or what it always a law of love , but just not evident, and therefore God never changes / or changes his mind?

I am just wondering what the Catholic Church teaching on the immutability of God. Sorry if confusing. Thank you for your help!
Brian

Godheals,

God is unchanging, what is offensive to Him is always offensive to Him, what pleases Him is always pleasing to Him.

If you read Genesis, you will see that God told Noah that he could eat of every animal. (Gen 9:2-4).

But in Levitcus, we see that God commanded the Jews to not eat ‘unclean’ animals. They were now prohibited from eating meat that was permissable to Noah and Abraham.

Why did this come about?

The first thing that you would need to recognize is the distinction between the Moral Law ( which is unchanging). It describes what is pleasing to God, and what is offensive to Him.

The other facet of the Law as the Ceremonial Law, what the Tent of the Ark was to be made of,what animals could and could not be eaten, etc…

It was never a sin, in and of itself, to touch anyone who was unclean, nor was it a sin for a woman to give birth, even as that brought about ‘uncleanliness’.

So do not confuse sin or morality, with the laws of what was clean or unclean. God never called anyone to NOT help the injured It was always pleasing to God to help such people.

What was called for after touching such a person was to simply wash themselves, which is not a bad practice at all, We teach the same thing nowadays in First Aid

And for women who were post-partum, the law of uncleanliness prevented them from going to the Temple, which again is a good thing. A person can be over zealous in their faith (or be married to someone who is). The was a wise move in that it allowed a woman to get some rest.

If you remember that being ‘unclean’ was not intented by God to be a sinful state, but it was only made so by those who misunderstood His teachings.