Question: When and why did an unchanging God change his mind on punishments he handed out in the O T then decided after Jesus came, an unchanging God cannot change his mind or he cannot be God?

Answered by: Frank Shimkus III, who has been a volunteer with us since April 2005.

Answer:

Hello, and thank you for your question. I can understand your confusion when it comes to this question, as many, like you, have been befuddled by some of the language found in the Old Testament, especially Jonah where it says God changed His mind, when compared to the New Testament, specifically Hebrews which says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I will help you with your inquiry to hopefully get you better clarity on the issue.

There are two important nuances to understand when it comes to your question: 1. To correctly understand what ‘not changing’ means and 2. To correctly understand the difference between univocal, equivocal, and analogical predication in God talk. I will now break these two nuances down.

First, when the New Testament, and for that matter the Old Testament, speak of God not changing it deals solely with His character — His character does not change. God says of Himself in Malachi 3:6, ‘I the Lord do not change, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ Since God gave His Word to Israel and since His faithfulness is not changing (character), He makes the statement that He does not change. This corroborates perfectly with the examples you have given (i.e., God changing His mind on punishments He hands out in the Old Testament) for changing His mind isn’t changing His character. Since God is good, patient, and merciful, changing His mind would stay right in line with the consistency in His character.

Second, you may then say, ‘ah, but how can an omniscient God change His mind if He knows everything in advance anyway?’ Your question is valid, which now brings us to part two of ascertaining a proper understanding of this matter. When people speak of God they do so in one of three ways:

1. Univocal – the same words used for man mean the exact same when used of God (e.g., ‘changing of mind’)

2. Equivocal – the same words used for man mean nothing like what they mean when used of God

3. Analogical – the same words used for man have some similarities and some differences when used of God

When you issue your question about God changing His mind, you assumed univocal God talk, but that simply cannot work since God is outside of time, invisible, and infinite. You assumed that God ‘changed His mind’ the same way man does. For example, before man makes a decision he weighs the options and chooses the best of two; if he later realizes that was a bad decision he goes back and acknowledges that he made a mistake. But that’s not at all what happens with God.

When we speak of God the only way to speak of the invisible God is through analogical predication. When the Old Testament says God changed His mind, it is relaying something to us in terms we can understand to relay a truth about God; and in this case the truth the writers want us to know is that God is merciful…and has always been.

In conclusion, the Scripture emphasizes that God’s character never changes; and when we speak of God we must do so analogically or else God turns into a glorified man. The one true God of Israel knows all things — past, present, and future — His character never changes and He is merciful even until our very last breath.

I hope this helps,

Frank