Jeremiah 18:8 (ESV) – and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
1 Samuel 15:29 (ESV) – “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
I recently received a question asking how we reconcile the statements in the two verses above. Is there a contradiction in the Bible in the discussion of whether or not God changes his mind? How do we deal with this?
While these verses may appear contradictory at first glance, it requires a fairly aggressively negative reading not to be able to harmonize them. What we want to do is to interpret the statements of the text as they were intended. Differences between author and imagery account for what appear contradictory.
What are the two authors of the two verses intending to communicate? Jeremiah is helping those who hear him to understand that God will have mercy on certain people in a specific situation who are otherwise destined for disaster. God intends and has determined that disaster will befall a particular nation or group that continues to fail to hear his warnings. However, Jeremiah also communicates to us that God will not destroy the people if they will repent.
The Samuel passage is different. The prophet Samuel has just pronounced a certain judgment of God on King Saul. Saul will lose the kingdom to someone else for his refusal to obey the command of God. There is no going back on this. No matter what Saul does, another family will carry the kingly line of Israel. God is not fickle. He will not change his mind here.
Now, are those who thoughts contradictory? I would argue that they are not, as the authors are discussing different issues, even if similar words are used. One author is using the picture of changing God’s mind as a way to call people to repentance. God is all-knowing, and he most certainly knows what he will do. However, the threat of destruction for an unrepentant nation is real. Similarly, the promise of reprieve for a nation that repents is equally real.
This is not at all similar to the kind of mind-changing depicted in 1 Samuel 15. In the Samuel passage, King Saul will not be allowed a reprieve, even with repentance. God does not promise one thing one day and then go back on it. In this sense, he does not change his mind.
Reading the text fairly, we can see that two separate authors, in two very different situations, writing hundreds of years apart, writing from dramatically different social and political situations, use a similar type of phrasing to declare true things about God. In the situation with Jeremiah, the people can find mercy if they repent—thus God will change his mind from the destruction headed their way. In Samuel, Saul can do nothing to regain the blessing of God—thus the statement that God does not change his mind.
So, does God change his mind or not? It depends what you mean by the question. Is God dishonest? No. Does God know exactly what he will do in all things? Yes. Yet, we need language that will help us understand a situation like the one in Jeremiah. God honestly promises destruction for a people given their current direction and intent. However, God will also have mercy on them when they repent. Changing his mind is a humanly understandable and acceptable way to describe that mercy. Now, God also knows, before the situation ever comes about, whether or not the people will repent and thus whether or not he will have mercy. But he is not going to tell them the future. He is only going to give them the promise that they are destined for destruction unless they turn from their sin. Thus, from our point of view, it will look like he changed his mind.
Honestly, this comparison of the two verses helps to understand some wonderfully true things about what God tells us in the gospel. We are all dead in sin and destined for destruction. So long as we live, however, we have the opportunity to see that situation change. We can come to Jesus, seek his forgiveness, and give our lives to his lordship. If we do, we will no longer be dead in sins, but will have been made alive by God and forgiven. We will go from being objects of God’s wrath to being his children.
How should God speak to a person who currently opposes him but who will one day be his child? He should tell that person, “You are destined for destruction.” But, he can also honestly tell the person, “You can be forgiven in Christ.” When that person comes to Christ, God can say to that person, “You have always been destined for my mercy.” And in none of this is there a genuine contradiction. All the statements are true.
However, if a person dies without ever turning from their sins and trusting in Jesus, God can say to that person that he never changes his mind. Once they have died, there is a judgment that the person will face that is never going to change. God is not fickle. He does not change his standard. He saves those who repent and come to faith in Jesus. He commands all people to turn from sin and trust in Jesus for salvation. He does not change that standard, so it can certainly be said that he does not change his mind.
The logical fallacy of equivocation is to unfairly apply the same meaning to a term when that term is being used in different ways. For example, one might say that the game of baseball has evolved. To argue that the evolution of baseball proves that Darwinistic evolution is true is improper reasoning. In the two cases, the word “evolve” is being used to mean different things.
To argue that the verses above contradict is to commit the fallacy of equivocation. The situations are different. The intents are different. The authors and contexts are different. Yes, the same phrasing is used, but not to say the same things. The verses do not contradict in any fair, logical discussion.
Pastor Travis Peterson 