Does God Repent or Change His Mind?

Scott WilliquettePrayer changes things!” “When I pray God listens and answers.” “God has a perfect plan for your life, but if you rebel against it, He permits you to go your own way.” Are these statements true? The first two may be, depending on your perspective. Indeed God uses our prayers. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (Jas 5:16). So yes, prayer changes things and God does listen and answer our prayers. But when some make these statements they actually mean: “Prayer informs God and thus changes His mind;” “When I pray God listens, learns, and answers accordingly.” These are heretical ideas. The third statement is not true because it implies that God has a plan and that man by his actions can thwart that plan. This too is heretical. Statements like these are common place in both fundamental Baptist circles and in evangelical Christianity in general. The underlying assumption of those who hold to these heretical views is that God sometimes changes His mind as He deals with His creation. They assume that God is influenced by prayer and that He is capable of repenting, and of changing His plan from one thing to another. This theological perspective is present in both church pews and the classrooms of evangelical colleges and seminaries. I personally have caught wind of it in more than one of our fundamental Baptist colleges. This article will list the biblical texts which teach with absolute clarity that God never changes His mind. Whether we are considering God’s relationship to prayer or His relationship to the daily decisions made by the peoples of the earth, God never changes His mind or His plan in any way.

The Bible clearly teaches that God never changes His mind. Individuals change their mind in instances when they acquire information that they previously did not possess or when they realize that their logic was in some way faulty. God never takes in new information, and God never possesses faulty logic. God’s knowledge is perfect and complete in every respect.

Because God’s knowledge is complete He never has reason to change His mind. God’s knowledge is without error (Job 37.16). The Hebrew adjective translated “perfect” (µT;) in Job 37.16 is from a word that means “completeness” or “integrity” (the noun µTo). It refers to the fact that God’s knowledge is sound and without error. God knows of errors, but He has no errors in His thinking. God’s knowledge is without oversight and without flaw. He understands everything with perfect clarity. God thinks with perfect logic.

God’s knowledge is complete and all-inclusive (1Jo 3.20; Heb 4.13; Mt 11.21,23). There is nothing that God does not know. God does not take in information, simply because from eternity past He knew all things from start to finish. Not only does God know everything that will happen, He also knows everything that could happen (Mt 11.21, 23 – God knew all the contingencies related to Chorazin and Bethsaida). God possesses knowledge of everything that will take place and everything that possibly could take place.

God’s knowledge is eternal (Ac 15.18). God always has, does now, and always will, know all things. According to Acts 15.18, God has known what He will do from ages past. God’s knowledge then is eternal. In the words of the NIV God has known what will transpire “for ages.” Notice the following examples of God’s perfect, complete, and eternal knowledge regarding His creation:

Psalm 147.4 states, “He (God) determines the number of stars and calls them each by name.”

Matthew 10.29–30 states, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Job 26.6 states, “Death [Sheol] is naked before God.” God knows everything that happens in the place of the dead.

Psalm 139.1–4 states, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You know my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.”

God’s knowledge has no limitations. God’s knowledge is such that He is incapable of learning anything. The fact that God’s knowledge is complete, means that God knows everything and is not lacking one bit of information. Since, in the words of John the Apostle, “God knows everything” (1Jn 3.20), He is incapable of learning. There is no information that He does not possess. Also the fact that God’s knowledge is eternal, means that His knowledge is intuitive. You and I come to know something as we take in information, but God knows everything as part of His infinite being. He knows everything intuitively. He has always known all things. There was never a time when God did not know all things. You and I are more knowledgeable today than we were last year because we take in information. God knows no more today than He knew a million years ago because a million years ago He knew everything. (God of course is not in time as we are.) It is impossible and completely unbiblical then to say that God learns. God is not like impotent human beings. He is not limited in knowledge and wisdom as we are.

Because God’s plan is perfect in every respect, He has no reason to change His mind. God never changes (Mal 3.6; Heb 13.8; Jas 1.17). The theological term for God’s unchangeableness is “immutability.” When we say that God is immutable or unchanging, we mean that He is changeless in His being and purposes and is incapable of growth or decay in any way. God has never grown or diminished. He has never learned or forgotten anything. He is not something today that He was not yesterday. He is neither more nor less holy, loving, or merciful than He ever was. Some evangelicals today claim that “instead of perceiving the entire course of human existence in one timeless moment, God comes to know events as they take place. He learns something from what transpires.” (Richard Rice, “Biblical Support for a New Perspective” in The Openness of God, InterVarsity Press, p. 16). Clearly when one learns he changes. Who do I believe, those who say that God learns and changes, or God Himself, who says of Himself that He does not? God’s Plan Never Changes (1Sa 15.29; Nu 23.19; Ps 33.11). In Psalm 33.11 the psalmist uses synonymous parallelism to make one clear point – that God’s plan never changes. The NIV translates this verse, “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” The Hebrew word translated “stand forever” (dm[;) means “to stand fast” or “to continue and abide.” The words “counsel” (hx[e) and “thoughts” (hb;v;j}m) both refer to God’s plan for the future. God’s plan is forever established and sure. It will never change. God’s plan is not subject to change. It is not evolving as time goes on.

The implications of the biblical material If God changes His mind, it implies that His knowledge may contain errors. Changing your mind implies you made a mistake in your original plan. If God changes His mind, it implies that His knowledge is not complete. Changing your mind implies that you did not originally have all the facts and now that you do, you will make a change. If God changes His mind, it implies that His knowledge is not eternal. If God changes His mind, it implies that He is in the process of learning. If God changes His mind, it implies that His original plan was flawed, erroneous and/or incomplete. This would imply two things about God. First, it would imply that God Himself is limited and flawed and that He is capable of making mistakes. Second, it would imply that God and His Word are not trustworthy. If God learns and changes His mind, you would have every reason to assume that God’s plan would consistently change as He found His own errors. Thus the plan He has outlined in the Bible would be utterly worthless, because that plan would probably have to be changed multiple times. Every promise and doctrine found in Scripture would be open to question.

What about those confusing passages? You may ask, “What about those passages that seem to teach that God repents or changes His mind?” (Ge 6.6–8; Ex 32.8–14; 1Sa 15.10–11; Ps 106.40–45; Je 26.13,19; Jnh 3.1–2,5,10, etc.) Is that what they are teaching? Is the Bible contradicting itself? As we have seen, the clear teaching of Scripture is that God’s knowledge is so perfect and complete and His person and plans so unchangeable that it would be impossible for God to change His mind or repent of an action. What about these verses? The answer lies in one of two places:

Some of these references are the expression of God’s emotions, not the changing of His mind. The Hebrew term µjn;, sometimes translated “repent,” can mean “to have sorrow, to suffer grief, to have compassion.” (For examples of this see the NIV of Genesis 6.6 and 1 Samuel 15.10–11.) This is probably how Exodus 32.14 should be taken. It could be translated, “Then the Lord was moved with compassion and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened.” The judgment of Israel apparently was not part of God’s eternal plan, but Moses’ prayer for Israel was. God planned and used Moses’ prayer, and God in His compassion did not judge Israel.

Some of these references refer to God being changeless when dealing with changing beings. The change in these contexts is not in God or His purposes but in His dealings and relationships with changing people. God remains changeless in His being, attitudes and purposes. However, when people change their relationship with God, He changes His relationship with them in order to remain changeless. One example of this is Jonah 3.9–10. Do these verses teach or imply that God changes His mind? No, they do not. Consider what is going on in the book of Jonah. In this book we find God giving the Ninevites an opportunity to avoid punishment. He sends a reluctant servant to tell them that they are going to be destroyed because of their wickedness. The question is, “What was God’s intent in sending Jonah to them?” Apparently it was God’s intent to spare the Ninevites. Did God change His mind? No! He intended all along to spare the Ninevites, that is why He sent Jonah to them in the first place. God planned all along to withhold judgment from them, and He used Jonah as a tool to help bring it to pass. Once the Ninevites changed their ways, as God had always planned for them to do, God changed how He treated them in conformity to His own standards. (Obedience brings blessing; disobedience brings punishment.) When the Ninevites changed their lives in conformity to Jonah’s preaching, God held off His judgment as He had always planned.

Conclusion Prayer does not change God’s mind. God does not plan one thing for my life and then adjust that plan based upon whether or not I follow it. The infinite, omniscient, omnisapient, and absolutely sovereign God has a perfect plan for every molecule of creation, and that plan is never thwarted or affected by anything outside of God Himself. Prayer is used by God as a tool for the accomplishment of His eternal plan. God plans and uses prayer in the same way He plans and uses every other type of ministry. As for God repenting and changing His mind, in reality it never happens. Everything that happens in creation, even God’s “adjustments” to mankind, are part of God’s eternal plan. What looks like the changing of God’s mind to us, is actually God moving mankind in conformity to His eternal plan.