Zech. 8:14

`The Lord of Hosts, and I repented not'.

Nine only of these references speak of the repentance of man, the remainder

refer to God.

The God of theology does not altogether coincide with the God of

`We cannot but believe, that, both in His essence, in His knowledge,

and in His will and purposes, He must of necessity be unchangeable.  To

suppose Him otherwise, is to suppose Him an imperfect being ... the

sovereign perfection of the Deity, therefore, is an invincible bar

against all mutability' (Charnock).

We note the words `He must of necessity be unchangeable'.  Necessity is

greater and stronger evidently than God Himself! From all eternity His own

immutable decrees bind Him in fetters more fixed and relentless

than fate.  Is this the God of the Bible?  As we show in the article

Predestination3, many Calvinists were `Necessitarians'.  See for example

Toplady's discourse on Necessity in his book The Doctrine of Absolute

`Allied to the attitude of immutability, is the liberty of God, which

enables us to conceive of His unchangeableness in the noblest and most

worthy manner, as the result of His will and infinite moral excellence,

and not as the consequence of a blind and physical necessity.  He doeth

whatsoever pleaseth Him' (Watson).

When God made man He introduced the word `if' into the scheme of

things.  `If' man obeyed he would live, `if' he disobeyed he would die.  The

passages that speak of God `repenting' are explained by many as a figure of

speech called anthropopatheia, a figure that attributes human passions,

members and feelings, to God.  Yet to explain over thirty solemn utterances

of Scripture by simply saying `repentance is attributed to God', is to leave

the matter in doubt and confusion.  Even though God has not `eyes' shall we

deny that He `sees'? or shall we not rather believe that He sees more clearly

and deeply than any human vision can emulate.  Must it not be always `more'

with Him, than `less'?  When we read `It grieved Him at His heart that He had

made man' -- shall we say, that because God has no `heart' this revealing

passage can teach us nothing?

The words of 1 Samuel 15:11 and 29 are often quoted as proof texts that

God cannot repent, but a reading of the chapter will show that it points in

the opposite direction.  God had declared that He repented that He had set up

Saul to be king (1 Sam. 15:11), and immediately following this statement, we

find Saul himself coming to Samuel, palliating his disobedience.  Upon being

told that the Lord had rejected him from being king, he attempted to move

Samuel to reverse the Divine judgment, upon which Samuel said:

`The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day ... He is

not a man, that He should repent' (1 Sam. 15:28,29).

Samuel emphasized the fact that the Lord would not `repent of His

repentance', but that Saul's rejection was irrevocable.

Jonah's expostulation with the Lord, links the repentance of the Lord

with His mercy, saying: