and impending condemnation to one of peace and acceptance. This is a change in God not of
his essential attributes and character, but of his disposition, relation, and attitude.
Eighth, relational mutability requires that we understand God as having some kinds of
toward sin really does arise as the sin is committed, and his acceptance really is extended to
those who repent. We should not understand all of Gods qualities as absolute, but understand
his relationship with the world he has made to involve, by his relational mutability, some
contingent qualities.
Among these contingent qualities, I would also urge a distinction between categories of
God, as triune and eternal, has infinite essential qualities of holiness, love, power, knowledge,
and many more. But, shall we say of all of Gods qualities that they are equally eternal and
essential? Again, it seems that creation, and particularly the entrance of sin in the creation, calls
forth qualities of God which are at one and the same time, expressions of eternal and essential
qualities, but are themselves also contingent and conditional qualities occasioned by the world to
which God is now related. For example, shall we think of God as eternally merciful? In the
trinity, apart from creation, to whom is God merciful? If mercy is favor shown to one who is
destitute, needy, helpless, and hopeless, how can mercy be shown within the trinity. The same
can be said of grace and wrath. It seems that these are qualities which express Gods essential
attributes of love and holiness, respectively, but they are conditioned by Gods relationship with
a sinful world, and hence come to be in time and are therefore, contingent.
Ninth, relationship with God, because it is with God, departs in some respects from the
with that he or she is always right, and this affects how I relate to others. But, with God, I dare
not assume anything else than that he is always right! Wont this require that my relationship
with God will be different than it is with anyone else? If, as Isaiah 40 tells us, no one can
counsel the Lord, then I ought not relate to God by trying to correct him or straighten him out.
Rather, I seek to know what his will is and do it. Or take another example, I do not assume with
any other person that I must do absolutely everything that he or she tells me to do. But, with
God, must we not relate to him by acknowledging before him that we should do only and always
what is his will for us to do? The point here is that we can try to determine what a "real"
relationship with God is by insisting that the only kinds of real relations are the ones we have
with other human beings. But, since God is not like us in so many ways, it stands to reason that
our relationship with him will likewise be different in many ways, and yet it is no less a real
relationship.
As an example of this, consider Jesus repeated statements that he spoke only as the
pleased the Father (e.g., John 8:26-32). Now, someone might conclude from these types of
expressions that there was no real relationship between Jesus and the Father; Jesus was a robot! a
puppet! He didnt have a mind of his own! But, what stands behind this reaction is simply a
failure to realize that Jesus was relating here with God. And, relationship with God will be