The Widening of God’s Mercy– Part Two

Last updated on: October 14, 2024 at 1:50 am by Ben Witherington

The Widening of God’s Mercy– Part Two 2024-10-10T16:53:10-04:00 Ben Witherington

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PART TWO: God’s Unchanging Nature

At the very outset of the book Chris presents us with an example from 1 Sam. 15.11-35, Exhibit A that God does indeed change his mind, and that Samuel is telling a lie when in 1 Sam. 15.29 the prophet says the following, “The Glory of Israel does not recant or change his mind! He is not mortal that he should change his mind!” Now this theme is not an isolated statement found only in 1 Sam. 15.29.

For instance, Num. 23.19 clearly says, “God is not a human being that he should lie nor the offspring of humans that he should change his mind”. And there would be no need for God to do so since God is all knowing. God knows all actualities and all possibilities. Indeed, the Scriptures are clear that He knows things in advance of their happening (see Romans 8), which means he knows how things will turn out in the human future. Mal. 3.6 says, “I the Lord do not change, therefore you oh children of Jacob are not consumed.”

In other words, though human beings may change their mind and commit various acts that are sinful, God does not do that. Further, God does not go back on promises He has made to His people about not destroying them when they rebel or reject God’s Word. Hos. 11.1-9 should be considered since it involves the clear statement at vs. 9 that says even though God is very angry with His people, He is not like human beings who are quixotic and go back on their word or change their minds. This last text is about God’s compassion on sinful Israel, and clearly about how God does not change His mind.

The argument that because God is compassionate and merciful, then He can change His mind about whether something is sinful or not is a non-starter. The concept of God NOT changing is clearly linked to God being the creator of all things. Psalm 102.25-27 reads, “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish but you remain, they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them, and they will be discarded but you remain the same, and your years will never end.” God is different from his creation and his creatures, especially in the fact that God does not change or change His mind.

The NT is equally clear on this matter. James 1.17 says God is the father of lights, and in him is no variation, no shadow of turning, indeed no darkness at all. Furthermore, one cannot appeal to Christ himself as a changeable part of the Godhead. Heb. 13.8 clearly says Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The eternality of Christ is the basis for saying he has an unchangeable priesthood.

But aren’t the differences in the various covenants indications that God has changed his mind about some things over time? Absolutely not. Jesus explains in Matthew 19 that many of the laws God gave Israel before the time of Jesus were given, not because God kept changing the rules but because of the ‘hardness of the hearts of God’s people’. For example, this is why God allowed divorce under the Mosaic law. It was God’s fallen people, not God, that needed to change to receive the original plan God had in mind for marriage ‘from the beginning of creation’.

Yes, there is such a thing as progressive revelation in the Bible. For instance, in the understanding of secondary causes. It was Satan, not God, that led David to take the census as a comparison of Samuel and the later Chronicles literature makes clear (cf. 2 Samuel 24 to 1 Chronicles 21). Another example, is an understanding of a positive afterlife in terms of resurrection, and a kingdom of God coming on earth, not merely in heaven (cf. Dan. 7.13-14, Dan. 12.1-3).

The reasons these things were not revealed to God’s people during the time of the patriarchs but rather much later is not because God changed his mind but because God’s people were not ready in the Mosaic era for such revelations. Over time they became more receptive to a broader understanding of the mysteries of life and the afterlife. And, of course, the ultimate illustration is that in the NT Christ is the fullest revelation of God’s unchanging character, and the sending of the Spirit makes possible believer’s understanding of such mysteries of the faith. God didn’t change his mind through these various covenants, rather he progressively revealed more and more of the truth about many things. It is human beings who by God’s grace changed their minds about who God is and what His saving will involves, not just for Israel, but for the world.

It will be useful at this point to note that the Hebrew word nacham about which Chris says has as one of its major meanings ‘change of mind’, does not in fact mean that. Here is the full list of what the Hebrew lexicon says is the spectrum of meaning of this verb in its various forms.

Nacham: to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted

Niphal:

To be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion

To be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent

To comfort oneself, be comforted

To comfort oneself, ease oneself

Piel: to comfort, console
Pual: to be comforted, be consoled
Hithpael:

To be sorry, have compassion

To rue, repent of

To comfort oneself, be comforted

Though older translations of the Hebrew sometimes translated the word nacham to mean ‘repent’ even when applied to God, this is problematic. Repent refers to a response to a sin, indeed a sin against God, but the Bible is emphatic that God can’t be tempted, tempts no one, and is holy and righteous and never sins. God doesn’t violate God’s own will! Unlike sinful human beings, God has no need to repent. What one can say is that this verb, when used of God, is an example of anthropomorphic language and one must careful about how one assesses its meaning.

I have no problem at all with the idea that God has compassion, sometimes regrets some things, can be moved to pity, can comfort and console His people, and that God, who loves his people, sometimes suffers because of and with his people. The Bible is not an advocate of the Greek philosophical idea of a God who is impassable and has no feelings. None of that, however, means that God changes his mind, and especially not about fundamental matters of theology or ethics. If 2 Tim. 3.16 is true, and all Scriptures are God-breathed and profitable for training in righteous conduct, then we should not expect that God changes his mind about such things. And while we are at it, since it is the Holy Spirit that is doing that inspiring, we should hardly think that when Jesus says the Spirit will lead his disciples into all truth, a further and deeper understanding of Biblical truth, that he will be leading them to endorse ideas that contradict what the Bible actually says repeatedly when it comes to ethical behavior. Certainly not.

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The Widening of God's Mercy--Part One

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