If God’s omniscience and immutability rule out a change of mind, then why does the Scripture relate incidents in which he “repents”? I’ve suggested that the biblical authors are using literary devices to demonstrate important points about God—theological points. If you’ll run down the list of those incidents, you should be able to state the point that the author is making in each case—
What do we make of the fact that the Bible says both that God repents and that he doesn’t?
I think the key to what’s going on here comes from the passage about God’s rejection of King Saul. I don’t know whether you noticed this in the previous post, but this event appears in both the list of statements that God doesn’t repent and the list of examples of his repenting.
In other words, the passage says both that God doesn’t repent and that he does.
In a previous post I meditated a bit on the prophets’ repeated description of God as “one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4.2). And as I noted at the time, that assertion introduces what appears to be a significant theological problem.
The Scripture says repeatedly that God does not repent:
“Love shows its depth, not in loving those who deserve our love or in loving those who are easy to love, but in loving the unlovable, which is exactly who God loves. He loves the weak, the ungodly, sinners, and even his enemies (Rom. 5:6, 8, 10).” - Ref21
“When a believer in Christ suffers affliction, be it discouragement, hurt, confusion, or even possible imprisonment and death, it’s tempting to doubt God’s goodness.” - Reasons
“The intention of this issue of FrontLine magazine is to focus the minds and hearts of the readers on the beauty of God.” - P&D
“What is the cause of this? There’s probably not one single answer to that question. Some of it is… overreaction to the retrieval of classical theism and Thomas Aquinas in Reformed circles.” - Ref21
“If you mention Packer’s name … you may hear, ‘Yes, I read his classic Knowing God, and it transformed my understanding of who God is.’ That was precisely Packer’s goal” - TGC
Sometimes 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 is used to teach that the Holy Spirit will be removed from the world before the tribulation begins. But how can this be true in light of the doctrine of omnipresence?
Read Part 1.
Many Christians may not realize how closely intertwined omnipresence and communion are within the confessional Lutheran perspective. Martin Luther certainly taught “that the Lord’s bread in the Supper is His true natural body.”1 Mueller therefore admits: “The true doctrine of God’s omnipresence is of special importance for the right understanding of the Lord’s Supper (Real Presence).”2
