John Frame on a Hard Phrase in Scripture
I always love it when someone helps me understand something a little bit better. Especially when it's something in the Bible.
John Frame is someone who has done this for me several times before. You know those difficult phrases in the OT when it says “God relented” or “God changed his mind” or even “God repented” (see particularly in 1 Samuel 15)? There is no easy, quick answer to the apparent difficulty with God changing his mind. In other words, doesn't someone change their mind when they don't really know what's going on? Isn't God omniscient (i.e., since he knows everything why would he change his mind?)? This quote from Frame is instructive:
Frame and Vern Poythress have a joint website with their materials linked here. There seems to be a large variety of resources from the two of them there.
Related Books:
John Frame The Doctrine of God
John Frame The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God
*From his article "Does the Bible Affirm Open Theism?," emphasis mine.
John Frame is someone who has done this for me several times before. You know those difficult phrases in the OT when it says “God relented” or “God changed his mind” or even “God repented” (see particularly in 1 Samuel 15)? There is no easy, quick answer to the apparent difficulty with God changing his mind. In other words, doesn't someone change their mind when they don't really know what's going on? Isn't God omniscient (i.e., since he knows everything why would he change his mind?)? This quote from Frame is instructive:
How then should we understand God’s “relenting?” For one thing, God states as a general policy in Jer. 18:5-10 that if he announces judgment and people repent, he will relent; similarly if he pronounces blessing and people do evil. In other words, relenting is part of God’s unchanging plan, not a change forced on him by his ignorance.*Simple, clear, and helpful.
Frame and Vern Poythress have a joint website with their materials linked here. There seems to be a large variety of resources from the two of them there.
Related Books:
John Frame The Doctrine of God
John Frame The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God
*From his article "Does the Bible Affirm Open Theism?," emphasis mine.
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