There are a few Bible passages which, on the surface, seem to say that God doesn’t change His mind. There are other passages which clearly say that God not only can change His mind, but that He has changed it on several occasions. In the previous article we noted that the passages which appear to say that God does not change His mind are in fact referring to occasions when God committed to a certain course of action that He would not deviate from.
God’s immutable nature doesn’t prevent Him from changing His decisions. He is sovereign and is free to change His decisions anytime it pleases Him. Reversing a decision is not equal to Him changing His nature. What about God’s foreknowledge? Does God’s knowledge of the future mean that things can only turn out one way?
Is the future fixed due to God’s foreknowledge?
God’s foreknowledge does not make the future unalterable. This is a truth taught in the Scriptures and is easily seen in 1 Samuel 23. In this chapter, David is on the run from king Saul. David inquired of God whether the people of the town of Keilah would hand him over to king Saul (1 Sam 23:12). God told David the people of Keilah would indeed turn him over to Saul so David left the town before Saul arrived. The passage goes on to say that David continued to evade capture (1 Sam 23:13-14).
God saw a possible future that did not not come to pass. David chose to leave the town rather than allow this possible future to become reality. What this means is that God is able to see all possible futures – even the ones that never become reality. Divine foreknowledge is not necessarily indicative of actual future events.
“This passage clearly establishes that divine foreknowledge does not necessitate divine predestination. God foreknew what Saul would do and what the people of Keilah would do given a set of circumstances. In other words, God foreknew a possibility— but this foreknowledge did not mandate that the possibility was actually predestined to happen. The events never happened, so by definition they could not have been predestined.”1
“The theological point can be put this way: That which never happens can be foreknown by God, but it is not predestined, since it never happened.2
God can see all possible futures
Every time we make a decision it alters the future. Just like God could tell what would come to pass if David had stayed in Keilah, He knows all the possible futures that can occur given an infinite set of circumstances. Scholars call God’s ability to know all possible futures “middle knowledge.”
Natural knowledge
Middle knowledge lies between God’s natural knowledge and free knowledge. Let’s unpack these ideas and see what they mean.
“God knows everything that could happen. Such infinite possibilities are beyond us but not God. This first moment is called his natural knowledge…”3
Scholars call this natural knowledge because it is what God knows due to His infinite nature. This natural knowledge includes not only all things that could happen in the future, but also everything which has ever happened in the past. Not only this, but also everything happening in the present, and everything that could have happened in the past had circumstances been different.
Middle knowledge
“[F]rom the set of infinite possibilities, God also knows which scenarios would result in persons freely responding in the way he desires. This crucial moment of knowledge is between the first and third moment, hence the term middle knowledge. From the repertoire of available options provided by his middle knowledge, God freely and sovereignly chooses which one he will bring to pass.”4
Simply put, God knows everything that can possibly happen in the future given any of an infinite set of circumstances.
Free knowledge
Of all the possible futures, God intervenes to eliminate any futures which do not lead to His desired outcome. This implies the last kind of knowledge:
“God’s third moment of knowledge, which is his foreknowledge of what certainly will occur. The third moment is called God’s free knowledge because it is determined by his free and sovereign choice.”5
Putting it all together
God has decided what the end result is going to be. He knows the final outcome (free knowledge). He also knows all that has transpired in the past and is happening now (natural knowledge). Using the present as the starting point, there are an infinite number of futures which all lead somewhere. These possible futures (middle knowledge), are all known to God. Some of these futures lead to outcomes which God has ordained and some of them do not.
God is not a spectator in world events. He is an active participant. He intervenes in the affairs of men to eliminate any possible futures that do not lead to the ultimate future which God has decreed. For example, God intervened to ensure that Pharaoh released Israel from slavery in Egypt. God involved Himself in the appointment of spiritual and political leaders in the nation of Israel. He used other nations to punish His people when Israel was unrepentant. Daniel 4:17 summarizes God’s involvement very nicely:
…the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’ (Dan. 4:17 ESV)
Middle knowledge allows for both human free will and God’s divine sovereignty. God sets the destination, but human choices alter the route taken to arrive there.
God can change His mind because the future is not fixed
God knows all possible futures, even those which do not come to pass. Therefore, Divine foreknowledge does not necessarily determine which of these futures become reality.
God’s middle knowledge allows us to explain certain passages which seem to indicate that God didn’t know how certain events would unfold. For example, When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, the angel of the LORD stopped him. This was no ordinary angel, He was none other than God Himself.
God said a curious thing when He saw that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son. He said, “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me” (Gen 22:12). If God knew that Abraham was going to go through with the sacrifice, why would He say such a thing?
This, along with several other passages, suggest that while God’s middle knowledge is inclusive of all possible future events, God may not always choose to know which decisions individuals will make. God can know anything He wants to know, however, the Scriptures hint that He may not always choose to reveal to Himself the outcome of every future choice that people might make. Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible does not teach that God knows everything, but it does tell us He has the ability to know everything.
God can and does change His mind
If we cannot persuade God to change His mind then prayer is pointless. If our requests cannot move Him to change our circumstances, what good could it do to pray asking for anything since He has made up His mind? On one occasion Moses persuaded God to change His decision about destroying Israel when they turned to idolatry (Exod 32:9-17).
On that note, if God does not change His mind, was He just making an empty threat to destroy Israel? God told Moses He was going to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation from Moses’s offspring. Was this just “talk?” Was God making an idle threat? Was He just toying with Moses?
Of course not. God meant what He said, but clearly His decision was not final. Sometimes God fully commits to a course of action and when He does no one can persuade Him otherwise. However, there are also times when the infinite Yahweh allows weak and imperfect humans to persuade Him to change His mind. This is possible because He loves us, cares for us, and has compassion on those who love Him. This is tremendous if you think about it. Beings such as ourselves can persuade the God who created the universe to change course.
Nothing constrains God
The Bible is abundantly clear that God has changed His mind in the past (Exod. 32:14; Jer. 26:13, 19; Amos 7:3, 6). This does not mean God’s divine characteristics changed, only that He chose to make different decisions. He is God after all and He can do as He wishes. Neither the future nor the theological conclusions of God’s followers compel Him to an unalterable course of action which He cannot change.