In Defense of the Faith

How Can God Repent?

Question: In Genesis:6:6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
See All... we are told that “it repented the Lord that he had made man.” Jonah:3:10And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
See All... says that “God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them.” A number of other times throughout the Old Testament the same Hebrew word expresses a similar repentance on God’s part. How can God, who is supposedly perfect, repent? And why would He need to if He knows in advance all that is going to happen and allows it?

Response: It is true, as you say, that if God is perfect and knows in advance all that will happen, then He could not possibly “repent” in the sense of having been wrong. In fact, there are so many verses in the Bible declaring that God cannot repent in this sense that we may be assured He never has and never will. For example: “God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers:23:19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
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Then what are we to understand when it says that God has repented or will repent? A number of verses provide the necessary insight. For example: “Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil [judgment] that he hath pronounced against you” (Jeremiah:26:13Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
See All...). When God offers to “repent” of the judgment He has pronounced upon the wicked if they turn from their wickedness, it is quite clear that His “repentance” is simply His gracious response to man’s repentance. That fact is made clear by many Scriptures such as the following:

If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. (Ezekiel:18:21But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
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At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. (Jeremiah:18:7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
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A Change of Action, Not of Mind

Obviously if after the conditions He has set forth are fulfilled God then “repents,” He has not changed His attitude or actions because He was wrong or because He didn’t foresee the future. He has simply changed His action toward those who repented, exactly as He promised. There is neither remorse nor regret; nor is either of these possible for God. Such was the nature of His “repentance” in not destroying Nineveh, as Jonah had declared He would.

In each case where “repentance” is attributed to God, His action is quite consistent with the principle He has repeatedly laid down in His Word. Where there is repentance and turning from wickedness on the part of a person or nation, He will forgive and not execute the judgment that He has previously pronounced.

What then about God’s “repentance” in Genesis 6? It is evidently the converse of the above. Instead of the wicked turning to good, and as a result God “repenting” of the judgment He had pronounced upon them, those whom God had created and pronounced good had instead turned to wickedness. Consequently, God “repented” of the blessing He had promised them. In fact, so great was their wickedness that the whole of mankind that He had made deserved to be destroyed.

Fortunately, one man, Noah, “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis:6:8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
See All...). This fact tells us that although grace is free, as it must be, there are conditions for receiving it. God said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis:6:3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
See All...). The time for judgment had come, but one man, in distinction to all the rest, was willing to repent and to obey God and thus could be a recipient of God’s grace.

Parents need to pattern their discipline after God’s example. There is a point of diminishing return, and finally of no return, in extending forgiveness to an erring child who always begs piteously for mercy. If there is never a punishment, then grace is meaningless and the required lesson is never learned. The grace that God extended to Noah had meaning only in relation to the judgment meted out upon all others. And so it is with the salvation God provides in Christ: it is meaningful and desirable only in light of the eternal judgment that we would otherwise have to endure for our sins.

—An excerpt from In Defense of the Faith (pp. 121-23) by Dave Hunt