God's Repentance Series

One of the attributes of God is His immutability. This

means that He is unchangeable. God cannot change because

He is perfect, and any change would be for better or worse.

If it was for better, it would mean He was not perfect before

the change. If it was for worse, He would not be perfect

after the change. God is constantly and consistently the

same. Mal. 3:6 says, "For I the Lord do not change." In

James 1:17 God is described as one "who does not change

like shifting shallows."

This attribute of God is great assurance for us who live in

the turmoil of constant change. Arthur H. Clough speaks

for us when he says,

It justifies my soul to know, that,

though I perish, truth is so;

That howsoe'er I stray and range,

whate'er I do, Thoudost not change.

I steadier step when I recall

that, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.

John Campbell Shairp expresses well the contrast

between our mutability and God's immutability.

'Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt

Our feelings come and go;

Our best estate is tossed about

In ceaseless ebb and flow.

No mood of feeling, form of thought,

Is constant for a day;

But Thou, O Lord, Thou changest not;

But same Thou art alway.

The doctrine of God's immutability is obvious and

unquestioned in Scripture and theology. The book of

Jonah, however, brings us to a passage that appears to

contradict this doctrine, for it states clearly that God

repented and did not do what He said He would do. He

changed His mind, and did not fulfill the prophecy that in 40

days Nineveh would be destroyed. Is it really possible for

God to change His mind and repent, or did Jonah make a

mistake? He certainly knew the fact that God was

immutable, so how could he write about God changing, and

how could God inspire him to write what appears

contradictory? God certainly cannot be unchangeable and

at the same time change His mind-or can He?

If God cannot change then the contradiction becomes

even worse in the book of I Samuel where in chapter 15

verse 29 we read that God "is not a man that He should

repent." Then only 6 verses later in verse 35 we read, "And

the Lord repented that He had made Saul King over Israel."

Certainly no author, let alone an inspired one, could fail to

see the contradiction, unless there is, in fact, no

contradiction. Our goal is to show that there is no

contradiction in the changes that take place in the

unchangeable God. In so doing we will gain a greater

biblical concept of God, and fulfill Paul's prayer for

believers that they increase in the knowledge of God. Let's

look at some solutions to this apparent contradiction.

I. Some theologians feel the solution is to explain the

contradiction away by denying one side of the issue. They

say that God does not really repent as the text states. This

language is used to make it understandable to our finite

minds. In other words, God accommodates Himself to our

capacities to understand. He doesn't really change, but only

says so for our understanding. Calvin, for example, says,

"There is a twofold view of God-as He sets Himself forth in

His Word, and as He is in His hidden counsel. With regard

to His secret counsel, God is always like Himself, and is

subject to none of our feelings; but with regard to the

teaching of His Word, He is accommodated to our

capacities."

It is hard for me to accept this, for if it is true, it means

that our revelation of God is not what He really is. If God is

unchanging in His real self, but changeable in His revealed

self, then what He has revealed is not really revelation at all,

but only an artificial God whom men can understand. It

seems to me to be dangerous to talk about God as He is in

His secret counsel in contrast to His revealed self, for if it is

secret there is nothing we can know about it, and for all we

know it is identical with His revelation. It is a sure sign of

man made theology when we are afraid to think of God as

He revealed Himself, and have to go beyond revelation to

find some way to explain away what we do not like. This

sounds to much like saying I am going to explain how to play

monopoly to a child, but I will really explain tiddly winks

instead because it is so much easier to understand. If God is

not what He reveals Himself to be, then we do not really

have a revelation of God.