Of God And His Omniscience
Recently a friend of mine recounted a question he was asked during a conversation with an “agnostic atheist”, the topic brought up was how in Genesis 18:20-21 “where God seems to not know about the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and has to go down and see it for Himself to know.”
Here is the passage in question
Genesis 18:20-21 - LSB
20 So Yahweh said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
“I will go down”
Rather than directly addressing the “and if not, I will know” that people often latch onto and make conclusions based off of, I will instead touch on the words, “I will go down.” We see frequent similar passages of divine investigation prior to judgment depicted in Genesis (3:11-13; 4:9, 10; 11:5). Rather than conflict with the doctrine of divine omniscience, this anthropomorphic description of God’s activity serves to emphasize that divine judgment is always according to truth. For example, in the case of Genesis 11:5 Mesopotamian ziggurat towers were built as descending stairways for the gods to travel. But God comes down in judgment on this tower of human pride.
In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah we see the mercy and love of God displayed. Even in His omniscience knowing without doubt that the people were wicked and unwilling to repent, He honors Abraham’s intercession and acts in a way that spares the righteous in keeping with His character (Gen. 18:23–33; 19). Had He ignored either the people’s evil or the patriarch’s plea, His holiness and justice would be impugned—contrary to His Word. Therefore the statement, “I will go down … and if not, I will know” (Gen. 18:21), is not an admission of ignorance but a judicial manifestation of the God who consistently reveals Himself as merciful, just, and holy.
Genesis 6:6-7
Genesis 6:6-7 - LSB
6 And Yahweh regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 And Yahweh said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I regret that I have made them.”
How then shall we interpret Genesis 6? The text contrasts God’s “heart” to man’s “heart” after the fall of Adam (Genesis 3). Man’s heart, once good, has changed into a mass of corruption that continually produces evil (6:5). God’s repentance communicates that his heart is highly displeased with human sin, as the word grieved indicates (v. 6),1 for its “evil” violates the goodness of his creation and his image in man (1:26–28, 31). Consequently, the Creator of the pristine world is the Destroyer of the sinful world. In this sense, we may say that God “repented” or turned from universal blessing to cursing in order to express his hatred of sin.
However, we should not interpret the text to mean that God’s plan changed because of unforeseen events, for that would contradict the context in Genesis, which reveals God’s foreknowledge of events years and centuries before they happen (Gen. 15:13-16; 25:23; 37:5-8) as well as passages teaching the changelessness (immutability) of God (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17) and that God does not change His mind (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Ps. 33:11; Is. 46:10). The extended narrative of Joseph’s humiliation and exaltation drives home the doctrine that God planned all things so that Joseph could tell his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (50:20). Sin does not cause God’s plans to fail, but mysteriously fulfills them. Such a statement at the conclusion of Genesis sheds light on the fall of man recounted at the beginning of the book.
Therefore, we should interpret God’s repentance in Genesis 6:6-7 to refer not to a change of his plan, but a change in his dealings with man, a change that he had planned from the beginning for his glory in the salvation of his people. He “changes His mind” with regard to the blessing or punishment appropriate to the situation (Ex. 32:12, 14; 1 Sam. 15:11; 2 Sam. 24:16; Jer. 18:11; Amos 7:3, 6)—all in accordance with His sovereign and eternal purposes which He works out all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11), having ordained every change in human behavior as well as His response to it; thus, He never changes like we do on the basis of new information or unforeseen consequences. Because God is changeless in His being and eternally loyal to His covenant promises and unchanging decree, we can have firm confidence in Him who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). As Augustine said, “Thou…changest Thy ways, leaving unchanged Thy plans.”2
Helpful Resources
- Why Does God Regret and Repent in the Bible? | Desiring God
- Why Did God Regret Making Man in Genesis 6:6? - YouTube
- What does Genesis 6:6 mean when it says that God repented? - YouTube
- Horton, MacArthur, and Sproul: Questions and Answers #1 - YouTube