Genesis 6:7
Genesis 6:5-8 (see also Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 32:35)
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD 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 am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Fallen angels slept with human women (Genesis 6:2),
producing a race of giants known as “Nephilim.”
(Genesis 6:4) The extent of man’s corruption had
broken God’s heart, so He decided to flood the earth.
God’s patience was also tested by Israel, when God
was ready to annihilate them, and start over with Moses.
(Deuteronomy 9:14) God put it to Moses, to make
him the new Abraham (of sorts), but Moses interceded,
so God spared them. (Deuteronomy 9:20-29) Today,
Jesus mediates for us. (1st Timothy 2:6)
Question: So did God experience regret in creating man?
Answer: “Why did I ever marry this person?” Marital fights can become so heated, that one or more sides ends up regretting that they had ever gotten married. But this is a temporary feeling. Most people who get married, naively expect to be the one couple that never has a fight, and guess what happens? Nevertheless, knowing in advance that difficulties could lie ahead, does not stop them from getting married. Why? Because the benefits outweigh the pitfalls, and the pitfalls, hopefully, are temporary. So did God experience the temporary feeling of regret over creating man? Knowing ahead of time, what was coming, God created man anyway. Why? For the same reason.
However, this passage does not work well with Calvinism at all, considering how Hard Determinism teaches that God immutably decrees whatsoever that comes to pass:
John Calvin: “We also note that we should consider the creation of the world so that we may realize that everything is subject to God and ruled by his will and that when the world has done what it may, nothing happens other than what God decrees.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.66, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “First, the eternal predestination of God, by which before the fall of Adam He decreed what should take place concerning the whole human race and every individual, was fixed and determined.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
Question: Would it make sense for God to have decreed the very event which had brought Him remorse? Can you imagine a married couple, plotting their own fights? Does that make sense?
Calvinist, William MacDonald: “The Lord’s sorrow does not indicate an arbitrary change of mind, though it seems that way to man. Rather, it indicates a different attitude on God’s part in response to some change in man’s behavior. Because He is holy, He must react against sin.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, p.40, emphasis mine)
Question: Did God experience genuine regret, or was He just putting on a show, simply as part of an out-working to “display various attributes”?
Answer: I don’t think that God was simply putting on a show. I think that this is really how God felt.
Exodus 32:9-14 states: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.’ Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, ‘O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, “With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth”? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.”’ So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
Sure the Lord was testing Moses (as Moses was mediating on behalf of Israel, just as the Lord does), and perhaps the Lord did not intend to go through with this threat, as it is possible that the Lord did not intend to go through with having Abraham actually have Isaac be made into a burnt offering, but in this case, God is said to have “changed His mind.” You can believe it or not, but that’s what it actually said, and if that is true, literally, then it becomes difficult to harmonize with exhaustive Determinism.
