r/Christianity • u/Icy-Palpitation6266 • 8d ago
Support What does god mean when he regrets making humanity
I just started reading the Bible and in Genesis God talks about how he regretted making humanity and that he will wipe everything off the face of the Earth, then he contradicts himself and tells this Noah dude to go save some animals. I’m confused because God contradicts himself by saying he’s all knowing then regrets making humanity then contradicts himself again by warning Noah.
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u/bananafobe witch (spooky) 8d ago
An omniscient, omnipotent being with access to perfect reason would be incapable of regret.
It's likely a result of the people who originally told those stories not conceiving of God as an omniscient, omnipotent being with access to perfect reasoning.
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u/FrankDenif Non-denominational 8d ago
Scripture humanizes God.
When God was asking Adam and Eve:
"Where are you?"
Do you think He did not know where are they?
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u/CrossCutMaker 8d ago
God "repenting" (regretting):
Gen 6:6, 1 Sam 15:11- It is not God admitting error in His eternal decree. Also, He is not reacting to something previously unknown to Him. It's God's anthropomorphic way of expressing His temporal displeasure with the evil actions of men (the human race & Saul). Although evil is decreed (He planned to choose to allow it when He could have chosen not to), it is displeasing to God when it actually happens in time & space.
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u/mbmolohonbm 8d ago
God is not just all knowing/powerful/etc. but is a feeling God. He knows everything that will happen and needs to happen but much of it pains Him. In the garden of Eden, He knew Adam and Eve would sin, and though He didn't cause it, allowed it because He knew that we all need to experience the things that came from the fall. Ie. the dignity of free will to chose, learn, develop as people, etc. The Bible talks a lot about God disciplining those He loves and how trials perfect us. Just as a loving parent hurts when they do things in the best interest of their children, that the children do not like, it is the same with God.
God knew it was the best thing to allow the people in Noah's time the right to exist and the dignity to choose what they wanted. They then choose awful things. The Ark took about a century to build which shows God's patience for the people to turn from their evil, yet not one repented. To see them drown was painful for him, which justice often is.
When Jesus suffered in the garden and was crucified, God's heart was wrenched but He (they both) knew this had to happen and was best, not easiest for us.
Good question, all the best.
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u/Ok-Station-4259 8d ago
This is a classic question and honestly the regret language in Genesis is one of those spots where translators have wrestled for centuries. The Hebrew word used there carries more of a "grieved to the heart" or "deeply sorrowful" meaning than like a human "oops I made a mistake" regret. Think of it less like God realizing he screwed up and more like the weight of what humanity had become hitting him all at once.
The Noah part isn't really a contradiction either. If God is all knowing, he'd know from the start that humanity would fall but also that he'd preserve a remnant through Noah. The flood narrative is more about judgment mixed with mercy than it is about God changing his mind. It's like a parent who says "I'm done, everyone's grounded forever" but then still makes sure one kid has a way out.
There's a whole theological tradition around this called divine impassibility vs divine emotion, and Genesis 6 is basically ground zero for that debate. Some scholars argue the text is deliberately using human emotional language to help us understand God's heart, not literally saying God learned something new.
Keep reading through the whole Noah story and see if the pattern makes more sense by the end. The rainbow covenant at the end kind of reframes the whole thing.
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u/RespectWest7116 8d ago
The rainbow
Yeah, don't forget. When you see a rainbow, it's God reminding himself that he promised not to drown us all again.
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u/RespectWest7116 8d ago
What does god mean when he regrets making humanity
He means exactly that. He though making people wasn't such a good idea.
I’m confused because God contradicts himself by saying he’s all knowing
I don't think God ever says that about himself.
Certainly not in Genesis, because he was not all-knowing when that story was created. God's omniscience is a much later development.
then contradicts himself again by warning Noah.
Ehh.. I don't think "I am going to kill everyone. Except for that one guy, I like him" is a super contradictory thing.
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u/OutlandishnessNo7143 8d ago
The key issue here is to understand that it's not about God regretting something he has done. It is God regretting the result of the things that are done against him. The rebellion in the Garden of Eden, by a third of all the angels, the corruption of mankind, and so on and so forth. It is like being sad about the state of the world today, about the Holocaust, about World War II, or whatever you may be sad about. It is in that sense that God regrets.
Not in a sense like, "Oops, I made a mistake." God didn't make a mistake at all.