Q&A: My Christian friend told me that God in unchanging/unchangeable, what does it mean then in the Bible when it refers to God changing his mind or repenting?

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This seems to be a good answer: http://www.gotquestions.org/God-change-mind.html

If you could point me to the exact texts you are talking about when you I could interact in more detail.

Sometimes there is difficulty in language. For God to regret something, for instance, does not conceptually preclude the immutability of God.

In other instances, for God to “repent” of his anger (e.g. Nineveh in Jonah) what looks like change is actually an expression of his _unchanging_ mercy etc.

I think in the end the point of contact between the theological concept of the immutability of God and everyday life is the question: Can God be trusted? Does he have integrity?

This puts the issue in relational terms – where overly-rationalistic and overly-narrow semantics actually miss the point.

Think of a person who you would consider trustworthy and stable, a person of integrity. One thing you trust about them is that their response to other people will be consistent and not contradictory with their previous behaviour.

Place that person in a situation where they are interacting with people (particularly imperfect people) then we would expect the exercise of relationship – including initiation and RESPONSE from that person. We might say that the person has been MOVED by those around them. We may even describe that movement as “repentance” (simply meaning to change direction) or “change” – even change from voiced intention. But really that person probably has remained consistent with their character – they, themselves, as a person, is unchanged.

That’s the heart of immutability I think.

Originally: http://www.formspring.me/briggswill/q/720324852

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