Is it possible for God to change His mind? Some people read passages such as, “For I the LORD do not change…” (Mal. 3:6 ESV), or “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 ESV) and conclude that it is impossible for God to change His mind. They reason that if God is immutable, His decisions must also be unchangeable.
It is also reckoned that if God is omniscient and knows all things, including the future, then it would be impossible for God to change His mind. Since He already knows what He is going to do in the future, what sense would it make that He would ever change His mind?
For people who have drawn this conclusion the idea that God can or does change His mind would undermine His divine nature. Does the Bible support these conclusions? Can God still be God if He were to change His mind?
In this post, we’ll examine the question of God changing His mind in light of His immutability and the context of the scriptures in question. I’ll examine the question concerning God’s omniscience in a follow up article.
Does the Bible teach that God cannot change His mind?
These two passages certainly seem to say that God cannot change His mind:
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19 ESV)
Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind. (1 Sam. 15:29 NASB)
However, we also have passages such as these:
So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exod. 32:14 NASB)
the LORD will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you. (Jer. 26:13 NASB)
the LORD changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them (Jer. 26:19 NASB)
The LORD changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. (Amos 7:3 NASB)
The LORD changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD (Amos 7:6 NASB)
Either the Bible contradicts itself or there is something wrong with our understanding of some of these passages. How do we reconcile what at first appears to be contradictory statements?
Does God change His mind, or not?
The “LORD changed His mind” passages (Exod. 32:14; Jer. 26:13, 19; Amos 7:3, 6) all indicate that God did indeed change His mind about something. Additionally, Jeremiah 26:13 says that in some circumstances God will change His mind if certain conditions are met. So, we have documented events where the Bible specifically says either God changed His mind or was willing to change His mind.
Some scholars say that God didn’t really change His mind, but that the passages are describing God in accommodative language that humans can grasp:
“Scripture reveals God to us via accommodations, including the use of anthropomorphic and anthropopathic terminology.”1
In other words, God is so different from humans that we cannot possibly fathom His decisions in light of His omniscience and immutability. It is true that finite humans cannot fully comprehend an infinite God. However, there are two problems with this anthropomorphic argument. First, the Scriptures in question never hint that the biblical author used accommodative language. Second, Maier’s statement above presumes God cannot change His mind. Such an assumption forces one to conclude that any clear statements to the contrary must not be literal.
An examination of Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29 will show that there is no need to postulate that Exodus 32:14, Jeremiah 26:13, 19, and Amos 7:3, 6 use accommodative language.
Numbers 23:19 in context
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19 ESV)
Balaam spoke this truth. Balaam was a gentile diviner who was being enticed by the king of Moab to curse the Israelites on God’s behalf. God warned Balaam not to curse Israel and Numbers 23:19 is a part of Balaam’s explanation to Balak as to why he could not curse Israel. God had made a promise to Abraham, the progenitor of the Israelite people, that He would bless Abraham’s offspring and through them bless the entire world (Gen 12:1-3). When God makes a promise, He will keep it! This is what Balaam meant when he said God would not change His mind. God had promised to bless Israel and He would not break His promise.
Notice that this verse uses a common Hebrew literary style called parallelism. The words of two or more lines are directly related and, in this case, express the same thought in different words:
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num. 23:19 ESV)
The first line says that God is not like men: He will not lie. The second line restates the first: unlike men, He will not change His mind. The last two lines further illuminate the first two lines: when God commits Himself to a course of action, He will fulfill His word.
Taken all together, if God were to endorse Balaam in cursing Israel, He’d be breaking His promise to Abraham. This would amount to God being a liar. This verse isn’t teaching that God can’t change His mind, it is teaching that God won’t break a promise.
1 Samuel 15:29 in context
Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind. (1 Sam. 15:29 NASB)
This verse is teaching exactly the same thing that Numbers 23:19 teaches. Once God has committed to a certain course of action, He will not deviate from it. In this situation, God has rejected Saul from being king over Israel because Saul had rejected God’s instructions and rebelled against Him (1 Sam 15:23).
After Samuel had revealed God’s intention to take the kingdom away from Saul, he pleaded with Samuel to pardon his sin (1 Sam 15:25). Samuel refused because God’s rejection of Saul was final (1 Sam 15:26). Saul was beyond the point of no return. God had judged Him and there was nothing anyone could do to change it.
This is what Samuel explains to Saul in v. 29: God has committed to this course of action. No one can bribe, sweet talk, or fool God into changing His mind. The kingdom would be torn away from Saul (1 Sam 15:28).
“This observation marks the preceding statement (v. 28) as an unconditional, unalterable decree. When God makes such a decree he will not alter it or change his mind. This does not mean that God never deviates from his stated intentions or changes his mind. On the contrary, several passages describe him as changing his mind. In fact, his willingness to do so is one of his fundamental divine attributes (see Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2).”2
Changing His mind does not mean that God’s character changed
We should not equate God changing His mind with a change in God’s attributes. Notice that the passages never indicate God’s character changed. He merely changed His decision. To make a different decision is not the same as changing one’s nature or character. Consider how God deals with those He has pronounced judgment on:
14 And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right– 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil– that person will surely live; they will not die. 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live. (Ezek. 33:14-16 NIV)
God changes His mind about the eternal destiny of sinners every time they turn to God in faith!
Not all of God’s statements of intention are the same
It is an exegetical mistake to lump all of God’s statements into one category.
“[D]ivine statements of intention can be grouped into two categories: decrees and announcements. Decrees can be formal (marked as such) or informal (unmarked). Announcements can be explicitly or implicitly conditional. On the one hand those verses that declare that God does or will not change His mind pertain to decrees. In fact the declaration formally marks the divine statement of intention as a decree or oath. On the other hand those passages indicating that God does/will/might change His mind pertain to announcements.”3
As students of the Bible, we must discern whether a statement from God was an unalterable decree, or a conditional announcement. For us, it is easy to tell the difference because we know how the biblical events turned out. However, for those living out the events, it was not always clear as the events were unfolding.
Conditional or unconditional?
Consider Nathan’s words about the fate of the infant David fathered with Bathsheba.
Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” (2 Sam. 12:14 ESV)
At the time, it was unclear to David if Nathan’s message from God was conditional or unconditional. David prayed and fasted for a week in the hope that God would change His mind about the child (2 Sam 12:16-17). However, on the seventh day the child died revealing that Nathan’s message was an unalterable decree from God.
On the other hand, Jonah told the inhabitants of Nineveh, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4 ESV), yet they repented and God delayed judgment against them. In this case, God’s stated intention was conditional (Just as Jonah had feared: Jonah 3:4, 4:2).
Does God change His mind?
“It all depends. If He has decreed a certain course of action or outcome, then He will not retract a statement or relent from a declared course of action. Verses stating or illustrating this truth must not be overextended, however. Statements about God not changing His mind serve to mark specific declarations as decrees. They should not be used as proof texts of God’s immutability, nor should they be applied generally to every divine forward-looking statement.”4
The Bible doesn’t support the idea that God’s immutable nature changes when He changes His mind. God’s character and divine traits never change, but the Bible is clear that God can and does change His decisions.
References
- Maier, Walter A III. “Does God ‘repent’ or Change His Mind?” Concordia Theological Quarterly 68, no. 2 (April 2004): 143.
- W. Hall Harris, eds. The NET Bible Notes. 2nd ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2019), paragraph 20155.
- Chisholm, Robert B Jr. “Does God ‘Change His Mind.’” Bibliotheca sacra 152, no. 608 (October 1995): 391.
- Ibid., 399.