Category: Christianity

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented (some translations read ‘repent’) of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”– Jonah 3:10

A Perspective from Biblical Theology

Too often the prophets are thought of mainly as predictors of the future. But the truth is that they were mainly forthtellers, for they spoke forth the word of God over against the rising tide of idolatry, apostasy, and sin of the nation.

Now, some care must be taken to distinguish between the prophetic words that were unconditional and unilateral versus those prophecies that were conditioned on the responses of the person(s) addressed.

The unconditional promises of God were the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants- wherein God alone obliged himself to fulfill what he had said.

But all other words of declared judgment had an expressed or unexpressed contingency clause in their words of certain doom.

So, while Jonah gave a confident message that in forty days judgment would come to Nineveh, he had an awful feeling that if they repented, God would relent, and the judgment would be held off for a period of time.

Ultimately we find out that a century later, the same nation, in another generation, felt that the prophet Jonah had cried wolf, and judgment finally came.

The principle for asserting this kind of interpretation can be found in Jeremiah 18:7-10.

“If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.”

The implications follow;

Kiser notes: “Whenever the Lord announces that a nation is to be destroyed, and that nation repents, then God will not bring the disaster he had threatened them with, despite the fact that there were no contingency clauses- no “if’s” or “unlesses” directly listed with the threat. However, just as true was the reverse situation: God may declare his blessing on a nation only to find that nation cares very little, if at all, for him. God will then rescind his word of promise to bless that people by bringing disaster on that nation he would have blessed had they responded differently.”

Perspective from Linguistic Data

The words used to translate the Hebrew verbs sub and niham have caused considerable debate about the immutability of God.

Here is the key: the verb sub (to turn) is used to describe the people of Nineveh’s repentance. It has the idea of “changing direction” and “repenting of evil ways.”

While the verb niham is used of God repenting (relenting) has the idea of being moved to pity- having compassion. He, in his longsuffering, takes it upon himself the evil which is the wages of man’s sin. According to Bladwin verses 8-10 give us a deep theological picture of God;

8. “Let each man turn”
9. “God may be moved to pity”
10. “God saw that they had turned, so God relented.”

Allen translates it as follows,

“When God saw their reaction, how they turned (sub) from their wicked ways, he relented (niham) and did not carry out the punishment with which he had threatened them.”

While the English term ‘repent’ conveys the idea of a change in behavior from worse to better, the Hebrew word niham refers rather to a decision to act otherwise. The English word ‘relent’ conveys the actual message clearer.

God relenting here reveals God’s earnest desire to be true to his own immutable character- as revealed in Jeremiah 18:7-10. God’s action in relenting does not challenge the doctrine of immutability, for immutability simply states that;

a. God is unchanging in His being and character.
b. God is unchanging in His purposes and will.

We need to distinguish between God’s eternally unchanging character and how we understand His actions towards us humans- who exist in time.

What we do see however is that God is free to decide how he will relate to humans. In being consistent with his attributes and purposes- God relents from His anger when a sinner repents. (2 Peter 3:9)

This is accomplished without ramifications to his Holy character because of Christ’s work on the cross. (Romans 3:25)

Note: I think John Piper sums it up well here;

“God’s repentance is not like man’s. I take that to mean that God is not taken off guard by unexpected turns of events like we are. He knows all the future. (“Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them,” Isaiah 42:9). Nor does God ever sin. So his repentance is not owing to lack of foresight nor to folly.

Rather, the repentance of God is his expression of a different attitude and action about something past or future—not because events have taken him off guard, but because events make the expression of a different attitude more fitting now than it would have been earlier. God’s mind “changes,” not because it responds to unforeseen circumstances, but because he has ordained that his mind accord with the way he himself orders the changing events of the world.”

Thank you to The Henry Center and Andy Naselli for live blogging at the “Pastor/Theologian Discussion” for those of us who could not be there.

These observations were made as John Piper and D.A. Carson talked about the subject “pastor as scholar / scholar as pastor. ”

1. Take steps to avoid becoming a mere quartermaster. Any army needs quartermasters. If you’re an academic, you need to get on the front lines. Take five years to serve in a church. Engage the world at a personal level. Do evangelism. The origin of Carson’s The Gagging of God was university evangelism.
2. Beware of the seduction of applause. This can come from at least two directions: (1) Academic seduction = it is more important to be learned than to be learned. Carson learned from his doctoral mentor that scholars may not have it all figured out after all; Carson learned that he would rather have what he had than what his doctoral mentor had. (2) The conservative-constituency-of-your-friends seduction = scholarship is for sale, and you constantly bolster your own group to show that you’re right. The approval of Jesus is what matters.
3. Fight with every fiber of your being the common dichotomy between objective study of Scripture and devotional reading of Scripture. Be worshipful and devout in the most critical exegesis, and when you’re having your devotions, don’t stop thinking. Perhaps you could even have your devotions in Greek and Hebrew.
4. Never forget that there are people out there—people for whom Christ died. It’s motivating to teachers for them to keep in mind the future ministry of their students.
5. Happily recognize that God distributes different gifts among scholar-pastors as he distributes different gifts among various groups. Rejoice in scholars who are more productive than you are. (Footnote: Learn from those who have gone ahead of you to be at least reasonably strategic.)
6. Recognize that students don’t learn everything you teach them. If the gospel becomes assumes but not what you are excited about, then you will teach your students that the gospel is not very important. If the first generation assumes the gospel, the second will marginalize it, and the third will deny it.
7. Make the main thing the main thing, not only by not merely assuming the gospel, but in every domain of life. Don’t teach people merely to master the NT but to be mastered by the NT. Don’t teach people merely what passages say but how to find out what passages say. Don’t do systematic theology by focusing so much on prolegomena that you never get around to doing positive theology.
8. Pray and work. Don’t let the agenda of publishers control your life. Don’t say Yes to every offer from publishers to write something. Don’t get owned.
9. Love the church. TEDS is not going to exist in eternity; the church is.
10. Avoid lone-ranger scholarship. Reading makes a full man, speaking a quick man, and writing an exact man (Francis Bacon). Collaborate with others when you write. Before you publish something, give it to others for review first (both friends and enemies).
11. Be at least as interested in the work of others as you are in your own. Encourage others.
12. Take the work seriously but not yourself. Get your spouse and children to laugh at you.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”– Jesus

Andy Naselli points to D.A. Carson’s commentary on this passage with a powerful warning against “showy humility” displayed as poverty of spirit. Read the whole thing here.

The most powerful quote deals with an issue that many ‘thinking Christians’ (which we all are in some form or another) need to be on guard against;

“I suspect that there is no pride more deadly than that which finds its roots in great learning, great external piety, or a showy defense of orthodoxy. My suspicion does not call into question the value of learning, piety, or orthodoxy; rather, it exposes professing believers to the full glare of this beatitude. Pride based on genuine virtues has the greatest potential for self-deception; but our Lord will allow none of it. Poverty of spirit he insists on—a full, honest, factual, conscious, and conscientious recognition before God of personal moral unworth. It is, as I have said, the deepest form of repentance.”

True poverty of spirit is an honest evaluation and recognition of spiritual bankruptcy, with confession and repentance before God. Yet true poverty of spirit leads to great security for those who follow Christ. In the gospel we know that what God has accomplished through Christ is our only hope, and while the Spirit convicts us of sin He also gives us confidence in God’s loving grace.

Pride is so ugly, and most ugly in Christians. May we always guard against thinking that we have somehow “arrived” in our own understanding. It would seem to me that the more we grow in our understanding of the gospel the more conscientious we become of our dependence on Him who saves us.

Naselli also points to Doug Moo on theological humility.