In the aftermath of Jonah’s preaching and Nineveh’s repentance, which we considered last time, we read of God’s ‘repentance’: “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jon. 3:10).
Repentance, as we understand it of men, refers to a radical change of mind and heart that leads to a transformation of life. It refers to a turning from sin. How could such a word be used of God, that God “repented”? How could there be a change in God?
God’s ‘Repentance’?
The force of this question comes, not because we have a pre-conceived notion of who God is, but because of God’s own express testimony in Scripture. One of God’s attributes is His immutability, the perfection that God never changes. This attribute is reflected in various passages of Scripture, of which we mention only a couple.
Malachi 3:6: “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” God does not “repent”; the same word that is used in Jonah 3:10, indicating that God “repented”.
Adding to the force of the question is this reality, that this passage in Jonah 3:10 speaking of God’s ‘repentance’ is not an isolated passage. There are multiple Scripture passages that do so (cf. Judg. 2:18; 2 Sam. 24:16; 1 Chron. 21:15; Ps. 90:13, 106:45, 135:14; Jer. 18:8,10, 26:3,13, 42:10; Joel 2:13; Amos 7:3,6). Once again, we mention just a couple.
Genesis 6:6: “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
1 Samuel 15:11: “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.”
1 Samuel 15 is an especially striking passage, because it is said that God repents (vv. 11, 35), and yet, we read this in v. 29: “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”
‘God’s Repentance’ as an Anthropopathism
How do we account for these passages of Scripture that, on one hand, proclaim that God is immutable, including that He does not “repent”, and on the other hand, proclaim that God repents? Our starting premise is that there is no contradiction in God, nor in His Word. God is the God of Truth, and it is impossible that God both repents and does not repent, change and does not change, in the same sense of the word. Any explanation that attempts to teach a contradiction in God, or in His Word, must be rejected.
When the Scriptures speak of God’s ‘repentance’, it is using an anthropopathism. It is using the emotions (Greek: ‘pathos’) of humans (Greek: ‘anthropos’ for man) to describe something in God. Human repentance, especially the notion of sorrow or grief, is used to teach us something about God.
We can think of anthropopathism as God lisping to us, not unlike the way that an adult speaks to a little child, using simplified words and examples that the child can grasp. The infinite and incomprehensible God condescends to speak to us finite humans in a way that we are able to grasp, with our finite minds. Hence, He tells us that He ‘repents’.
But what does it mean that God ‘repents’?
Negatively, it does not mean that God has changed, in Himself. God is immutable. God is not a man, that He should repent. According to His eternal, immutable counsel, God had always decreed that He would not destroy Nineveh, 40 days after Jonah’s preaching, and He never changed from that. There was no change in God, nor His decree. That God ‘repented’, as an anthropopathism, does not in any way negate the truth of God’s immutability, that He does not change in Himself.
Rather, from our perspective, it seems as if God has changed. There had been impending judgement. Nineveh was about to be destroyed in 40 days. Then, judgement was averted. Nineveh was not destroyed. “God repented of the evil, that He said that He would do unto them” (Jon. 3:10b). From man’s point of view, there seemed to be a change in God. And the phrase “God repented”, as an anthropopathism, reflects that reality: the seeming change in God from our perspective, and yet, God’s immutability in Himself and in His decree.
But there is more that we can learn from the anthropopathism “God repented”.
God’s ‘Repentance’ Revealing God’s Mercy
The specific term ‘repentance’ used in those passages indicates a deep sorrow and grief. God “repented” of creating man (Gen. 6:6) and of making Saul king (1 Sam. 15:11, 35). The actions of wicked men before the flood and of wicked Saul grieved God greatly. Sin grieves God greatly. This is what the Holy Spirit seeks to convey by speaking of God’s ‘repentance’ in those passages.
In Jonah 3:10 and other passages which speak that God “repented” from His judgement, the Holy Spirit is teaching us about God’s mercy, and the infinite depth of it. Such is God’s mercy for His people, for the Ninevites, even for wretched sinners such as you and me, that He is greatly moved and takes great pity on us and our affliction. Although we deserve God’s eternal wrath and destruction for our sins, He takes pity upon us. In the multitude of His mercy, He does not destroy us as we deserve, but He turns His wrath away from us. He ‘repents’.
This ‘repentance’ of God, revealing His infinite mercy, is rooted in the cross of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. For it is only in the cross that all of our sins are fully satisfied by Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice for sin, such that God averts His judgement upon us and gives us instead the blessedness of salvation. It is in the cross of Christ that God ‘repents’.
Praise be to God that He ‘repents’, that He takes great pity and compassion upon us in Christ, bringing us to repentance for our sin, and in that way, forgiving us and averting the destruction that we deserve.
Our calling, then, is to turn from our sin daily, our sin which makes us worthy of God’s just judgement in hell. In the words of Isaiah 55:6-7a: “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD”.
Why? Because God is a God who ‘repents’; who averts the condemnation that we deserve, but shows to us abundant mercy, in Jesus Christ. Because “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jon. 2:9b).
Written by: Pastor Wee
Salt Shakers 