What does it mean that God repented?
The Bible says in one place that God "regretted" making man, and in another that He is not a man that He should change His mind. Both are true, and holding them together tells us something about His heart and about His dealings with us. (Older translations use the word "repented" where the ESV has "regretted" or "changed his mind"; the commentators quoted below use that older wording.)
Two Senses of the Word
Scripture uses this language of God in a way that fits His government of the world without touching His knowledge of it.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe idea carried in this term is very important, because it applies not only to man but to God, showing how God, in His government of the earth, is pleased to express His own sense of events taking place upon it. This does not clash with His omniscience. There are two senses in which repentance on the part of God is spoken of.
The first sense concerns what He had made or appointed and which then failed Him:
Morrish Bible DictionaryAs to His own creation or appointment of objects that fail to answer to His glory. He repented that He had made man on the earth, and that He had set up Saul as king of Israel. Gen. 6:6-7; 1 Sam. 15:11, 35
Real Sorrow, Not Surprise
God was not caught off guard by the flood generation. The words describe what He felt, not what He failed to foresee.
Leslie M. GrantCertainly God knew from eternity past that man would so greatly corrupt himself, yet we are told in verse 6 that He repented that He had made man on the earth. This surely shows the depth of sorrow that God feels as He looks at the sin of mankind. On the one hand God's great wisdom and power is seen in His creation and also in His marvellous work of recovery after man's ruin; but on the other hand we see the reality of the feelings of His heart about His creatures willingly choosing to rebel against Him.
Language Fitted to Us
The wording is deliberately simple, and it answers those who imagine that God is beyond feeling.
The Bible TreasuryYet the language used is movingly suggestive of the grief it cost Him, whom the unbelieving mind of man likes to treat as unfeeling… No doubt, as is so typical of these early revelations, the expression is by grace adapted in childlike fashion to the heart and conscience of man. Jehovah felt deeply what man ought to have felt but did not. "Jehovah repented that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
What God Never Repents Of
His settled purposes are in a different category altogether. When God has bound Himself by His word, the word stands — for blessing and for judgment alike.
W. W. FeredayBalaam said, "God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent" (Num. 23:19). The blessing of Israel was therefore certain, whatever the enemy might do or say, and whatever unfaithfulness might show itself in the people themselves. Samuel said, "The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for He is not a man, that He should repent" (1 Sam. 15:29). God's rejection of Saul was therefore as final as the blessing of the nation; for once God has pledged His word, He never goes back on it. This blessed fact is the true resting place of faith in every age.
The two lines of truth do not collide; they run on different tracks.
F. B. HoleWhen it is a question of God's gifts and calling, which are according to His purpose, no change of mind is possible. When it is a question of His ways with sinful men, they vary in detail, though in the end they all achieve His purpose.
A Change of Action, Not of Mind
This is why warnings of judgment are sent at all. The change happens on our side; God's action follows it.
G C WillisIt does not mean a change of mind on God's part, but a change of action caused by a change of mind on man's part. God sends warnings to man, so that man may change his mind, may repent, and so that God may change His action from judgment to mercy. God has not changed His mind. God's mind has always been toward mercy: "Thou art a gracious God, and merciful"; but man's sin must bring down the righteous judgment of God, even though He is slow to anger.
Summary
- Two senses. The word covers God's response to a creation that failed Him, and His response to man's repentance or rebellion under His government — never a flaw in His knowledge.
- Grief. At the flood the word means sorrow: God, who knew it all beforehand, felt what man should have felt and did not.
- Adapted. The wording is stated in simple, human terms on purpose, so that our hearts and consciences can take it in.
- Unchanged. His gifts, calling and pledged word are never repented of; His ways with sinners vary, but every one of them reaches His purpose.
- Turning. So when He "repents" of threatened judgment, His mind has not moved toward mercy — it was always there; ours moved, and His action followed.