By Anthony F. Buzzard
The art of Bible study is not to find one verse and use it to silence all the others. People say, “Well, there’s my verse, and that’s the only one that counts.” That’s not the way to study the Bible. The task is to let all the relevant passages speak and then harmonize them. Scripture can express truths in different ways, depending on the context.
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie,” and, “Nor a son of man, that He should repent.”
Absolutely.
God never lies.
Does He speak and then fail to act?
No.
In the context, Balaam is saying that when God has determined to bless Israel, Balaam cannot reverse that blessing. The very next verse says that God has blessed and Balaam “cannot revoke it” (Num. 23:20). That’s absolutely clear. However, it’s not the whole truth on this subject, because other passages say that God regretted something or relented from what He had said He would do. So don’t start pitting one verse against another. Simply harmonize them.
There are situations in Scripture where Yahweh regretted that He had made man and was grieved in His heart. He determined to wipe mankind from the earth, while Noah and his family were preserved—eight people in all (Gen. 6:6–8; 7:13; 1 Pet. 3:20).
There are also verses where God relented in response to what human beings did. After Moses interceded for Israel, “Yahweh relented concerning the harm which He said He would do to His people” (Exod. 32:14).
Nineveh turned from its evil and God relented from the judgment He had announced (Jonah 3:10).
Jeremiah 18:7–10 actually gives this as a principle: if a nation turns from its evil, God may relent concerning the calamity He had planned.
Remarkably, you even get both ways of speaking in the same chapter. Yahweh says, “I regret that I have made Saul king” (1 Sam. 15:11), and yet later Samuel says that the Eternal One of Israel “will not lie or have regret; for He is not a man” (1 Sam. 15:29). So clearly we have to pay attention to context rather than making one verse cancel out another.
That’s the kind of biblical material open theism takes seriously. God does not make vague promises and then simply fail to keep them. That’s absolutely out of the question. He speaks the truth. But there are situations where He can respond differently when human beings respond differently. And so free will is everything here. None of us has free will to do absolutely anything. For example, I’m not free to be the President of the USA; I’m not even a citizen. There are certain things outside the realm of free will. I cannot decide to be God. That’s out of the question.
Calvin was horribly wrong, I suggest, in teaching a system in which all events are governed by God’s decree—in effect, set in concrete from the beginning. That’s a horrible doctrine. Calvin explicitly taught that all events occur by God’s ordination, so this is a fair summary of the position being criticized rather than a quotation from Calvin himself.
We must allow, then, for genuine choice, because Jesus says it, Paul says it, and the Old Testament says it. Jesus speaks of people being unwilling (Matt. 23:37). Paul speaks of people presenting themselves in obedience (Rom. 6:16). And Moses says plainly, “I have set before you life and death” and then, “choose life” (Deut. 30:19; cf. Josh. 24:15).
You make a choice. That’s free will. You choose, and God can then react to what you do, which may, in some cases, involve a change in His announced course. I don’t think that’s a difficulty.
A beautiful example of this is Isaiah 38. Hezekiah becomes seriously ill, and God sends Isaiah to tell him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live’” (Isa. 38:1).
Hezekiah then turns his face to the wall, weeps, and prays to Yahweh (Isa. 38:2–3). Before Isaiah has gone far, God sends another word to him. In effect, the announced outcome changes: “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears; behold, I will add fifteen years to your life” (Isa. 38:4–5).
That’s a marvelous example. Go back to the beginning of the passage. Yahweh had said, “You shall die and not live.” But after Hezekiah prayed, Yahweh added fifteen years to his life.
Did God lie?
Of course not. God cannot lie (Num. 23:19; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18). God responded to Hezekiah’s prayer and changed the announced outcome. That’s a beautiful story.
Relax, I say to people. Have a life. Enjoy the Bible. Let the whole Bible speak. Don’t make one verse fight another. Read the context, hold the passages together, and let Scripture harmonize with Scripture.
