DOES GOD CHANGE HIS MIND?
June 25, 2019
READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
“Dave, does God change His mind (Exodus 32:12-14)?”
Many of God’s promises and judgments have either an expressed or implied condition. Take a look at the following passages.
Genesis 18:16-33 — because of Abraham, God would have changed his mind if he could have found ten righteous people in the city. It seems clear that God’s judgment was conditional.
Jeremiah 18:7-10 — God changes his response to people and nations conditioned upon their response to him. His response to sin is consistent with his immutability and righteous nature. Note the conditional word if: “If that nation I warned repents (like Assyria in Jonah 3) . . . then I will relent.” Conversely, God may tell a nation they will be blessed, but “if it does evil in my sight (like Israel in Micah 1) . . . then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do.”
We must make a distinction between conditional declarations of God and unconditional determinations of God. In other words, when God said, “I will destroy Nineveh in forty days,” He was speaking conditionally upon the Assyrians’ response. We know this because the Assyrians repented and God did not mete out the judgment. God did not change His mind; rather, His message to Nineveh was a warning meant to provoke repentance, and His warning was successful.
The bottom line is that God is entirely consistent. In His holiness, God was going to judge Nineveh. However, Nineveh repented and changed its ways. As a result, God, in His holiness, had mercy on Nineveh and spared them. This “change of mind” is entirely consistent with His character. His holiness did not waiver one iota.
God changing his position isn’t a sign of indecisiveness, as it is with us. Rather God often changes how he responds to us based on our response to him.
God’s response may change based on how individuals respond while at the same time he will always remain true to his holiness, justice, and mercy.
Sources Used
“Does God Change His Mind”? <https://www.gotquestions.org/God-change-mind.html>.
McDowell, Josh; McDowell, Sean. The Bible Handbook of Difficult Verses (The McDowell Apologetics Library). Harvest House Publishers.