In An
Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed
Theology I discuss Mal 3:6, a common “proof-text” used against Open Theism
and/or in support of Calvinism:
Many critics of such
a perspective will appeal to texts such as Mal 3:6 to the effect that God does
not change his mind, and, furthermore, such texts that speak of God changing
His mind (e.g., Gen 6:6) are to be relegated as mere “anthropomorphisms.” Notwithstanding,
such an approach is based on eisegesis. The context of Mal 3:6 specifies that
God’s unchangeability refers only to His unchanging character to forgive if the
sinner repents, not that God cannot change His mind about previous decisions or
about contingencies that arise in accordance with man’s free-will decisions
(cf. Jer 18:7-10).
Other passages which
indicate that God “does not change” (e.g., Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29; Psa 110:4;
Jas 1:17) refer only to God’s inability to lie, take back an oath He made,
tempt one to sin, or reverse decisions based on a capricious whim, since these
would be adverse to His divine character (see passages where God promises to
change His mind if the future free-will actions of man resulting in their
repentance--Mal 3:7; 1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9, etc).
John Watts offered the following
commentary on Mal 3:6 and related issues:
Change or No Change in YHWH?
A significant summer
of the Book of The Twelve is Mal 2:17-3:18. The key statement is 3:6: “Indeed,
I, YHWH, have not changed, so you, sons of Jacob, you have not been destroyed.”
That is what the Book of the Twelve is about; the verse serves as a summary
interpretation of the relation of YHWH and his people over the eighth to fifth
centuries. Outwardly everything has changed. The political and social
structures in the Near East have changed radically. Israel and Judah are no
longer kingdoms or autonomous peoples. Most of Judah is in Babylonian exile or
scattered around the Near East. A very small remnant remains in Jerusalem and
its environs. They have no king. Twelve tribes no longer exist.
Hosea 1-3 and Mal 1
insist that the love and compassion of God for the people have not changed. But
troubled times lead the people to say that it is no longer possible to
distinguish between the fate of those who keep the ways of God and those who do
not. They imply that God, in allowing this to come to pass, has lost moral
integrity (Mal 2:17b and 3:14).
The Twelve struggles
with whether God has changed. Joel 2:12-14 and Joan 4:2 cite Exod 34:6 (see
also Deut 7:9). This is the basic dogma being tested.
YHWH, YHWH, a God of
compassion and grace (רחום וחנון) slow to anger,
abounding in love and faithfulness (חסד ואמת) and maintaining love (חסד) to thousands, forgiving guilt [or transgression], rebellion, and sin
yet he certainly does not acquit (נקה), placing punishment for the guilt of the fathers on
the children and the children’s children, up to the third and fourth [generation].
(Exod 34:6-7; see Nah 1:2-3)
Joel 2:12-14 quotes
the passage in appealing for the people to repent and turn to God, with the
hope that God will turn toward them. And Joel adds, “and he repents of the evil
(ונחם על הרעה). Who knows? Will he
turn and repent?
When Jonah (4:2)
cites this verse, he also includes this last line. Where did this line come
from? Exodus 32:12 and 14 provide parallels. God has seen the people’s apostasy,
and true to God’s proclaimed nature tells. Moses that he intends to show his
anger by destroying them (32:10). Moses pleads for him to “turn (שׁוב) from his anger, and
change his mind (הנחם) concerning the bad
thing (הרעה) for his people”
(32:14). “So YHWH changed his mind [repented] concerning the bad thing that he had
thought to do to his people.”
Both Joel and Jonah have
read Exod 34:6 in light of 32:12-14, Joel sees the reprieve as a possibility
depending on repentance. Jonah sees it as a fact for Nineveh based on its
repentance. But the Twelve is aware that the judgment meant for Palestine, Israel,
and Jerusalem had not been turned aside. Yet Hosea and Malachi proclaim the
continued love of God and thus his continued claim on his people. God has in
fact not changed. The old rules still apply.
Malachi 3:6, while
insisting on the unchangeable nature f God echoes Joel in accusing and
exhorting the people, “You have turned (סרתם) away from my decrees and have not kept them. Turn (שׁובו) to me and I will
turn (אשובה) to you.” Both Joel
and Malachi echo Jer 3:12, 14, 22, and other verses.
The God who chooses
Israel, loves her, and does everything to try to rehabilitate her is still the
God of justice and righteousness. Judeans have still not given up their evil
ways.
So I will come near
you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, and
perjurers, and those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the
widows and the orphans, and deprive aliens of justice, who do not fear me, I,
YHWH, do not change. (Mal 3:5-6)
The prophetic
proclamations of Amos and Micah are confirmed. But the other side of that
divine nature accounts for Israel’s survival. “So you, children of Jacob, have
not been destroyed” (Mal 3:6b). “Ever since the times of your forefathers you
have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them” (Mal 3:7a). Hosea 2,
Hos 4-14, and Zech 9-14 have dealt with these apostasies. Now Mal 3:7b renews
the appeal of Joel 2:12: “Return to me and I will return to you.” (John D.W.
Watts, “A Frame for the Book of the Twelve: Hosea 1-3 and Malachi,” in James D.
Nogalski and Marvin A. Sweeney, eds., Reading And Hearing the Book of the
Twelve [SBL Symposium Series 15; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature,
2000], 209-17, here, pp. 214-15)
