For I am the LORD, I do not change.
Malachi 3:6
…and the LORD changed His mind.
Jeremiah 26:19 NASB
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
So the LORD relented concerning this.
Amos 7:3
You and I change our minds all the time. But how is it that the Bible can say God changes His mind? Doesn’t that, like, challenge everything we know about God? If God changes at all, does that mean He’s not the solid foundation we really think He is?
Before we unpack the heart of the question, let’s first examine why this is a question in the first place. In Malachi 3:6, we read, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.” In the context of this verse, God is telling of the day of His coming. In the verses prior, we read about those who will face God’s judgment, after which He affirms to His chosen people:
For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Malachi 3:6
therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
And so here, we see the unwavering justice of God, wrapped up His nature—“I am the LORD, I do not change.”
In many Old Testament passages, such as 1 Samuel 15:29 and Psalm 102:27, we read of further testimony to God’s unchanging nature. This is a consistent theme throughout the Bible, not just the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we read:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17
And the Hebrews author reminds us:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8
Suffice to say, this theme of unchangingness persists throughout the pages of Scripture. And so—because of these claims—we must test their validity.
Dan Barker, in his debate with Kyle Butt in 20091, listed multiple alleged contradictions in Scripture. He lists the Malachi verse above, and then proceeds to say, “And yet all throughout the Bible we see God changing His mind.” He then goes on to mention Ezekiel 32:14, which says:
So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.
Barker claims that this is a prime example of how God is like a married bachelor or a square circle—He is a contradiction and cannot exist. Admittedly, if this accusation is true, then God cannot exist, especially the God of the Bible. So, this is the question we are supposedly faced with: Does God change His mind? The answer is…yes!
If that surprises you, it’s probably because we’re actually asking the wrong question. If you read closely, perhaps you saw the inherent flaw with Mr. Barker’s question. You see, he went from reading a verse that stated “I am the LORD, I do not change” to questioning why God would change His mind. Nowhere in Malachi does it say that God does not change His mind. What it does say is that God Himself never changes.
We have three main points:
- Changing of the mind does not equal changing of the will.
- Changing of the mind does not equal changing of the nature.
- Changing of the mind does not equal changing of the covenant.
1. Changing of the mind does not equal changing of the will
This is important because the will of God is a quintessential part of His nature. It’s God’s ultimate overarching will that all people come to know Him, and by extension, have eternal life.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires [wills] all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:3–4
No matter how He chooses to act within that will, that will (or desire) never changes. When Moses pleads with God not to destroy Israel in Exodus 32, God relents from that path while adhering to His will. People still died as a result of sin, and atonement was still made. However, because of the righteous pleading of Moses, God chose a path within this will that aligned with these requests. Did God change His mind? Yes. Did He change His will? No.
2. Changing of the mind does not equal changing of the nature
The nature of a being could also be described as the essence or characteristics of a being. And so, when we argue this, we are saying that, although God may alter the course of action, it always will be altered within the characteristics (or nature) of His being.
For example, when Abraham pleads for Sodom in Genesis 18, God allows His own decision to be stalled in the midst of these pleadings. In the end, Sodom was still destroyed and the evil eradicated (which is in line with his nature of justice), but the timing of it all was delayed in order to illustrate a message to Abraham. That message had many applications, but one big one for us to remember is how much God values life and righteousness. We see in this instance that if those two things existed together within the city, God would’ve spared it. But no, it was found that there were no righteous people within the city. Abraham had a brief moment of questioning, “God, I don’t think this is in line with your characteristics. Surely you’d do it this way instead, right?” To this, God allowed what Abraham asked and searched for each sequential number Abraham requested. But then when it was found that that number of righteous people did not exist, Abraham finally learned that this course of action was indeed in line with God’s characteristics. (Read Genesis 18 if you need to brush up on this account.)
Another place where we see this same thing is in Jonah 4:2:
You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
God’s will is to save, not to harm. And so, if there’s a course of action where He can save, He has historically chosen that path. People can repent and turn from their sin, and God will relent from the judgment that was coming their way. Which relates to the last point of this study—what applies most directly to you and me today.
3. Changing of the mind does not equal the changing of the covenant
I’ve known many people in my life who function under a very sad and very concerning idea of God’s covenant. They look throughout the Bible and see God in His justice and decide to live as though their sins define them, as if a single mistake equals a fall from grace, that God is waiting up in the sky with a gavel ready to charge and convict. This could not be further from the truth. God may change His mind, but never His covenant. Within this New Covenant which we may choose to live under, we are promised freedom in Christ and an eternity in Heaven as long as we walk with God in our lives.
When you think about it that way, who’s changing? It’s really our opportunity to change. We can be born again into His New Covenant and witness our own outcome change. Praise God for that opportunity!
God may have changed His mind here and there in the pages of the Bible, and perhaps He still does today as He interacts with our prayers and requests. But you can always rest assured that the following is true: His will never changes; His nature never changes; His covenant never changes. The Lord changes not.