Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35

Does God “change His mind?” 

The Old Testament clearly speaks of God “relenting” or changing His mind in response to the actions of men (Exodus 32:14, Jeremiah 18:8, Amos 7:3, Jonah 3:10). Yet, other Scriptures teach that God is unchangeable. In theological terms, they teach God is immutable. He is the First and the Last, the Alpha and Omega, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

 As Charles Hodge points out in his Systematic Theology, the immutability of God is rooted in the fact that He is a completely perfect being. Hodge states, “As an infinite and absolute Being, self-existent and absolutely independent, God is…above the possibility of change…God is absolutely immutable in his essence and attributes. He can neither increase nor decrease. He is subject to no process of development…His knowledge and power can never be greater or less.

 Hodge states in Book I, Chapter V, section 8, D, “If God be ignorant of how free agents will act, his knowledge must be limited and it must be constantly increasing, which is altogether inconsistent with the true idea of his nature.”

 We must therefore, try to better understand the true nature of God in order to understand what the Bible is teaching when it speaks of God changing His mind.

 God does not change. He cannot change His mind or He would not be God. He does not increase in knowledge. He cannot or He would not be God.

 James 1:17 teaches that God is “…the Father of lights, with whom is no variation, or shadow of turning.” There is not the least hint of change in God. There is not even a “shadow” of turning in any of His attributes.

 Several Old Testament verses teach the same lesson. God does not change in response to outside stimuli.

 In Malachi 3:6, God states, “I am YHWH, I change not.”

 God does not change His plans for any purpose. Whatever God purposes to happen, will certainly happen. In Isaiah 14:24, the prophet teaches that “YHWH of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand.’” God’s purpose will always be accomplished. In Isaiah 46:9-10, YHWH states, “…I am God, and there is no other; and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’” Clearly, God is saying that He decides the end and the beginning of all things. He is saying that what He says will be done. He is saying that what He purposes will be done. He is saying that He is immutable.

 This immutability of God arises out of His perfect knowledge or omniscience. There are many verses that teach the absolute knowledge or omniscience of God. Hebrews 4:13 says, “…all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” This does not leave open the possibility of anything being hidden from God, including our thoughts. All things are open before God because of His perfect knowledge.

 He even has knowledge of everything we are going to speak. Psalm 139:4 says, “For there is not a word in my tongue, behold YHWH, You know it altogether (in totality).” In other words, God knows everything that we speak or might come to speak since He knows even our thoughts. In Psalm 139:2, the psalmist says of God, “…You know my thoughts from afar…” Even when it may seem that God is not near us, He knows our thoughts and what we will do. Psalm 139:3 teaches that (God knows) “…intimately all my ways…”

 Psalm 94:11 is very direct in teaching that “YHWH knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.”  God is never surprised by our decisions. He knows our thoughts and the entire process by which we come to a decision. He knew what that decision would be since before the world began.

 We may think that our decisions are our own, yet God in His omnipotence controls our decisions so that they work for His purpose. In Exodus 7:3, God says, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” Although Pharaoh and those around him thought the decision was his, God was using that decision so that He might increase His glory in performing the incredible miracles that resulted in Israel being released from bondage.

 Men often think their plans are effective depending upon their actions. Yet Scripture teaches “…many plans (are) in a man’s heart, never the less, the counsel of YHWH, that shall stand.” (Proverbs 19:21). We are not capable of making any plan that can be contrary to the plan or counsel of God. Though our hearts may want to do something contrary to His will, we are unable to do so. Proverbs 21:1 teaches us that (Like) “…the rivers of water is the kings heart in the hand of YHWH, He turns it wherever He will.

 While men may think their thoughts are hidden or unknown to God, the prophet Ezekiel says, “…the Spirit of YHWH fell upon me, and He said to me, ‘Speak, Thus says YHWH, “Just so, you have said, O house of Israel, the thoughts that come into your mind, I know.”’” In other words, God knows even our thoughts. If He knows even our thoughts, then how is it that we can surprise Him by our decisions? Since He already knows our thoughts, why would He have to relent in response to our decision?

 The psalmist agrees. In Psalm 147:5 he teaches, “Great is our Lord, and of great power; His understanding is (literally) innumerable (without number and therefor infinite).

 Again, Psalm 33:11 says, “The counsel of YHWH stands forever, the thoughts (plans) of His heart to all generations.” There is no possibility that our plans or decisions can change what God has purposed in His counsel. Our decisions may seem unique to us, but they are part of God's eternal plan. Ephesians 1:11 teaches very clearly that God “…works all things after the counsel of His will…”

 God does not need any input from man to affect His purposes. Theologians speak of the “aseity” of God. By this they mean that God needs nothing outside Himself. That is clearly taught in such verses as Acts 17:25-26, “…as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things…having determined (their) preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation…” Man is absolutely unable to “change” God’s mind or purposes. Job 23:13 says, “He is one (unique) and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does.”

 Man is unable to change or turn God because God has perfect knowledge of all things infinitely. Hodge states that (God) “…knows all things as they are, being as being, phenomena as phenomena, the possible as possible, the actual as actual, the necessary as necessary, the free as free, the past as past, the present as present, the future as future.” And He knows them all at once, eternal present!

 Hodge continues: “The infinite knowledge of God…is…obviously included in the idea of an absolutely perfect being. Such a being cannot be ignorant of anything; his knowledge can neither be increased nor diminished. The omniscience of God follows also from his omnipresence. As God fills heaven and earth, all things are transacted in his presence (emphasis added).” That means all things past, present and future are conducted in His presence since He is present everywhere in every time.

 Why then does the Bible speak of God as if He were a man (anthropomorphically)? It does so because there is no way we could know about God unless He revealed Himself to us. In order to teach us in small measure what He is like; He speaks to us in terms we can understand.

 Hodge points out that we must use “…the attributes of our own nature…” to refer to Him. “The only alternative is anthropomorphism…or atheism. An unknown God, a God of whose nature and of whose relation to us we know nothing, to us is nothing.”

 God reveals Himself to us by speaking to us as if He were a man. Yet God is not waiting on us or on any event to carry out His purposes. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states, “Although anthropomorphisms are used in regard to the manner in which God knows, He is never conceived as if He obtained His knowledge of the future as a mere onlooker gazing down the course of events in time.”

 What then are we to make of those passages in which God speaks of Himself as relenting or changing His mind? Hodge states, “Those passages of Scripture in which God is said to repent, are to be interpreted on the same principle as those in which He is said to ride upon the wings of the wind, or to walk through the earth.”

 In other words, they tell us something about God, but they are not contradicting other passages of Scripture. The Bible teaches that God does not have a body, yet it speaks of Him walking through the earth. God is present everywhere, yet He speaks of Himself as riding on the wings of the wind.

 We would not think of teaching that God has a body and literally walks on the earth. We would not think of teaching that God is limited to riding about in a chariot of clouds. We must not, therefore, teach that God is limited to waiting on our decisions before He acts out His eternal purposes. We must not teach that God changes His mind in response to the actions of men. To do so would result in our having a most fearful and capricious God.

 If God can change His mind, then none of His promises can be trusted. Even though He promises, “   he who hears My word, and believes in Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”, we can have no assurance that is true. Even though we live all our lives in accordance with His word and believe in Him, He could say at the last moment, “I changed My mind, go to hell.” That is certainly not the picture of God that is taught in the Bible.

 His word teaches us that God is faithful, trustworthy and without a shadow of turning. That is the real hope; the only hope that we have. Because we know God keeps His promises; because we know He raised Christ from the dead; we know for certain He will raise us from death to everlasting life with Him. He has promised to do so.