Does God Change His Mind?
How Our Response to God Changes—Not God Himself
A while back, my wife and I picked up a highly reviewed Bible study book that was trending on social media. It was well written, but as we worked through the book, some red flags quickly appeared.
The book pointed to the account of Zelophehad’s daughters, claiming that God changed His mind about a sexist law that was unjust. But the Bible never presents God as revising a flawed law in this narrative. Rather, it shows God giving Moses guidance on how to handle a civil matter he had little experience with.
After digging a bit deeper, it became clear that this study book was not rooted in sound theology, but instead geared toward promoting a progressive agenda influenced by process theology.
In short, process theology is the view that God changes with the times.1 It is a dangerous belief that runs contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture and thousands of years of supporting tradition.2 It is also how some justify calling biblically immoral behavior now good.
Unfortunately, process theology is easy to fall into if one is never taught about God’s unchanging nature. When we come across verses that appear to show God changing His mind, it can quickly push someone toward a process theology framework.
But consider the implication of a changing God. If God can change, then our salvation is no longer secure. God could evolve, decide He made a mistake in saving us, and instead send us to the justice we deserve.
That is a very unsettling thought.
God’s Immutability
Both Scripture and sound reasoning support what is known as God’s immutability. Immutability is the term used to describe God’s unchanging nature. It is clearly laid out in places like 1 Samuel 15:29, which states, “…for God is not a man, that He should change His mind.”
God’s immutability is also self-evident in light of His other perfect attributes. Since God is perfect and all-knowing, no new information could ever be presented to Him that would cause Him to change His mind.
That is why we must let Scripture interpret Scripture, reading more difficult passages in light of clearer ones. If Scripture plainly teaches that God does not change His mind, then when we encounter texts that seem to suggest otherwise, we should pause and examine them more carefully.
So with that, let’s unpack some of these common tension points.
Abraham’s Intercession
A friend on Substack recently pointed to Genesis 18 as a good example of God appearing to change His mind. In this narrative, Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom from judgment. God tells Abraham that if he can find just 50 righteous people in the city, He will spare it. What follows is a back-and-forth negotiation in which Abraham appears to convince God to spare the city if he can find just 10 righteous people.
But given what we know about God’s immutability, we should ask: why does this read as God changing His mind, if God’s mind cannot change?
If we continue into the next chapter, the answer becomes clearer. There are not even 10 righteous individuals in Sodom. Instead, we find an entire town intent on sexually violating the guests of Abraham’s cousin Lot.
Unfortunately for Sodom, Lot’s guests were actually God’s angels. Judgment soon follows, and God rains down burning sulfur, destroying Sodom.
God, in His perfect knowledge, already knew Sodom’s fate. He was not changing His mind from persuasion by Abraham. Rather, the dialogue serves as a means by which God reveals both His justice and His mercy. It draws Abraham into an intercessory relationship with Him.
God could have simply stopped the conversation and said, “I will spare the city if you find even one righteous person.” But instead, God chose to graciously engage Abraham in a way that unfolded on Abraham’s terms, revealing His character along the way.
God’s Regret
Another example that causes confusion is when Scripture describes God as expressing regret. In Genesis 6:6–7, God regrets making man on the earth before bringing judgment through the flood. God also expresses regret over making Saul king after Saul turns his back on Him in 1 Samuel 15:11.
It is important to recognize that regret (or sorrow) does not necessarily mean a change of mind. Regret can reflect grief over the outcome without implying that the original decision was wrong.
I used to compete at a higher level on American Ninja Warrior and I continue to hold the world record for most rope skips on a slackline as of this writing. But those achievements came at a cost. It took a lot of falls and injuries to get there.
While I certainly regret the lingering physical pain I now endure, I would not change the decisions that led to it. They were the necessary means to achieve the goal I had set.
God is governing a world filled with free agents who often reject Him. In His perfect knowledge, He is bringing about the best possible outcome despite our failings.
So nothing about God expressing regret or sorrow when we reject Him, indicates that He has changed His mind about us.
Repentance and Divine Relenting
In the book of Jonah, we see a declaration that God’s judgment is coming upon Nineveh. But when the Ninevites hear this, they repent and turn from their violent ways. God then relents from the disaster He had declared, and He spares them.
This may be the strongest example of what appears to be God changing His mind, but it misunderstands our relationship to Him.
God does not change His mind, but He does change His treatment of people as they change in relation to Him. When we move from rebellion to repentance, our position before God shifts from justice to grace.
The change is in us though, not in God.
Imagine a fixed pillar. If you walk from one side of the pillar to the other, the pillar has not moved. You have. Likewise, if it is raining outside and you step under cover, the rain did not stop or change. You simply placed yourself in a new position of protection.
In the same way, God remains constant in His decree while our standing in relation to Him changes due to our own choices.
The Ninevites, by repenting, moved themselves from a position of justice on one side of the pillar to a position of grace on the other.
God is perfectly just and must punish evil. But He is also perfectly merciful and saves us when our hearts truly turn toward Him. Thus, when we place our trust in Jesus’ sacrifice, we voluntarily move from being under God’s justice, which we deserve, to being under God’s grace, which we do not.
It is not that God’s mind has changed about our sin. It is that our hearts and minds have changed toward Him, allowing us to receive His grace.
“If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.” (Jeremiah 18:7-8)
The Challenge is Our Perspective
Our finite minds are limited. We have no way of fully comprehending the infinite glory of God. Because of that, when we speak about Him, we use comparative language we can understand.
When Proverbs 15:3 speaks of the eyes of the Lord, we know this does not mean God has physical eyes. It is language accommodated to our understanding.
Likewise, when Scripture describes what appears to be God changing His mind, we must remember that these narratives are written in ways we can grasp. Because of this, they need to be interpreted in light of the clearer passages that explicitly reveal God’s unchanging nature.
God knows the end from the beginning. He stands outside of time. What appears to us as change from our vantage point has been eternally known and decreed by Him from eternity.
God cannot change in His perfection, His nature, or His mind, for change would imply that He lacks something. But God lacks nothing.
And because of that, when God decrees a promise from eternity, such as our salvation in Christ, we can have confidence that it will stand forever despite our own brokenness.
He is our solid foundation. For that, I am deeply grateful.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:18)
“What Are Process Theology’s Core Principles?” Bible Hub, accessed March 1, 2026, https://biblehub.com/q/what_are_process_theology’s_core_principles.htm
Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2: God, Creation (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2003), Chapter 4.
This was super great to read! Has been a topic of my church family groups discussions, and your points were the ones I have held. It was really nice to see it all articulated out so beautifully. Lots to learn from the Ninja Warrior record holder!! Haha so cool btw :)
This is good Justine. The Jonah exposition is incredible.