God So Loved the World He Regretted Creating Man

Many prominent English Bible translations say that God “regretted” creating mankind. In Genesis 6:6, Moses writes, “…the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth…“ (Genesis 6:6a)-ESV, also NIV, RSV, NRSV, NET and others.

On the other hand, many prominent English Bible translations also say that God “loved the world” (John 3:16).

Two shocking and seemingly contradictory statements. How are we to understand the apparent contradiction between God’s “regret” and God’s love? How can these two views of mankind coexist in God’s heart?

“God so loved...”

One clue to cracking this conundrum may be found in the tiny but power-packed and often overlooked word “so” in John 3:16. But before we get there let’s first look at Genesis 6:6.

In Genesis 6:6, the translations definitely say that God “regretted” making mankind. When it’s a reference to God’s actions, the Hebrew verb ‘nāḥam’ translated “regret” lands like a hammer slamming the soul into reverberation. No one perceives God as being able to regret anything. “Regret” sounds like disappointment, miscalculation, even doubt and having second thoughts—as if God looked at sinful man in the world He created and wished He hadn’t bothered. The translation “regret” makes God look like He has made a mistake with very little concern or care for mankind.

But there is, however, a far wider spectrum of emotional content to the verb ‘nāḥam’ than what the translation “regret” projects. And this broader spectrum may help us understand God’s heart more fully. The verb doesn’t at all describe a divine mistake or a “man, I wish I hadn’t done that” attitude. The core idea of ‘nāḥam’ is “strong emotional movement" — "a shift in feeling,” often toward someone.

In the case of Genesis 6:6, ‘nāḥam’ describes a movement of deep divine grievous sorrow, an unimaginable grief that moves God to His core, if that is possible to say about God. And since translators apparently found it impossible to say that about God, they chose “regret” as the closest and strongest equivalent, but not necessarily the most precise in English since God, in His omniscience, cannot regret.

What helps us understand Genesis 6:6 is the Hebrew style of writing that is employed in this verse. If you notice in Genesis 6:6, there are two stanzas. The first stanza records God’s ”regret”. The second stanza parallels the first and gives us a clue to understanding what the “regret” in the first stanza is referring to - “…the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart“ (Genesis 6:6b).

That verse composed of two stanzas is typical of Hebrew parallelism, a Hebrew stylistic writing mechanism that, when used, is meant to draw attention to what is being said. So, the doublets in the stanzas of “regret” and “grief” function as one idea and serve as the focus of what is meant to be noticed in Genesis 6:6. One stanza qualifies and clarifies the other stanza and vice versa. So, we see in Genesis 6:6 a double focus on the emotional state of God’s heart at the moment he sees the sin of mankind in Genesis 6:5. Moses writes, “God saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time." The parallel indicated that a “grievous (‘nāḥam’) grief” is the focus right after God saw the wickedness and evil of mankind.

Taken to the limits of its definition, the emotional content of ‘nāḥam’ as “grievous grief” is an overwhelming force of emotion that brinks on debilitating grief. Jesus experienced this level of grief in the Garden of Gethsemane paralleling the Father’s grief in Genesis 6:6. We see when at his most grief-stricken moment in his earthly life, Jesus poured out his feelings to his disciples. Jesus was “grievously grieving” his imminent suffering and crucifixion saying, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Matthew 26:38). For Jesus to admit the extent of his grief was “to the point of death” sounds very much like debilitating grief to me.

In the midst of this grief, we definitely get the impression that the grief-stricken humanity of Jesus is vulnerably exposed as he seems to project this very idea of “regret” when he goes on to say “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me…” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus in his full humanity is experiencing the full depth of human grief to the brink of regret in asking for another way to fulfill God’s plan instead of what’s brutally ahead for him in the next few hours of his life.

Jesus’ grief-stricken condition in Gethsemane seems to be quite similar to God’s grief-stricken condition in Genesis 6:6. Both passages speak of the deepest grief recorded in the Bible and it’s the kind of grief that emotionally stretched both the 1st and 2nd persons of the deity to immeasurable emotional lengths without bending their character. (By the way, we also know that the Holy Spirit also grieves. The word for “grieve” that Paul uses in reference to the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:30 is the same Greek verb Matthew uses here for Jesus’ grief in Gethsemane.) Of course, Jesus, immediately after his request for another way out of the cross, ultimately subjects himself to His Father’s will. He says, “Not my will but yours be done” (Matthew 26:39).

So, it is plausible that in Genesis 6:6 the Father, seeing the sins of the world before his eyes, is assaulted by His own tumultuous grief over his eternal purpose for the suffering and sacrifice planned for His own Son for the sins of the world. Equally plausible, the Son is also just as grievous at the same suffering and sacrifice He is about to endure for the sins of the world. Both experience an immeasurably deep grief driven and sustained by an equally immeasurable love for mankind.

If God feels this deeply with this kind of grief over humanity—grief strong enough to be on the verge of a translation such as “regret,” the question still remains—how can the same God also say He loves the world in such a way that He gives His only Son to be sacrificed?

Well, the tension no longer is a contradiction if “regret”, in the sense of wishing something had never happened, is not the take-away meaning in Genesis 6:6. If a deep “grievous grief” is the take-away, a grief not for mankind’s sin, but for His Son’s sacrifice for mankind’s sin, then that is the gospel story. The God who grieves over the destiny of His Son for humanity in Genesis 6:6 is the same God who grieves over the same destiny of His Son for humanity in John 3:16.

Could it be that this kind of grief is the deep foreboding sorrow, not of man’s sinful state, but of a Father knowing that His preordained plan for His Son to be crucified for the sins of the world has rushed upon Him at the sight of the sinfulness of man?

Could it be that this grievous “regret” is the long-anticipated sorrow of a God who planned from the beginning of creation that the way in which to be fully understood by man was to reveal Himself to a world in a way that would cost Him most deeply? Revelation 13:8 describes Jesus as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” meaning the crucifixion was already present in God’s eternal plan before the first human breath. And now in Genesis 6:5-6, does seeing the sinfulness of man draw from the soul of God an unimaginable grief for the purpose of His Son and the plans He has in place for Him?

Could it be that according to God’s eternal plan, by design, He intentionally purposed to express the depth of His grievous love by the sacrifice of His own Son on behalf of mankind? If so, then did God also design man socially and relationally in family units who would know no greater pain and grief in life than to lose a son (or daughter) to death?

What if God, before time began, before the foundation of the world, designed the human race with this grievous death of his own Son in mind, and this death would be the central point for revealing Himself to mankind so that through man’s own awareness of grief we would understand the depth of the grievous love God has for us.

Perhaps the crucifixion of His Son that He had planned long ago for the remedy of the sin of mankind is in focus in view of the rampant sin at that time mentioned in Genesis 6:5. Maybe, the grief God expressed in Genesis 6:6 is the forward-looking emotional realization of the reality of His decision to create mankind as he views mankind in all its evil.

The connection becomes more powerful when we remember that earlier in Genesis 3:15, we see the foreshadowing of this suffering and crucifixion as the pinnacle victory over the fall of man through the crushing of Satan’s head.

God’s plan was laid in place before the foundation of the world (1Peter 1:20). He had already written His own grief into that plan. He knew from the beginning that creating humanity would ultimately bring Him tumultuous grief which He purposely intended to endure so that man would see and know the depth of His love for us and His Son.

God’s grief helps us understand that the plan of redemption was not a reaction but a pre‑creation intention. God didn’t prepare himself for the grief. He prepared the grief for Himself. He designed His grief to be the primary revelation strategy that would express His deepest character. And that character is that “God is love!” (1John 4:8, 16)

God knowingly created a world in which His own heart would be pierced when His own Son’s heart would be pierced. Only in such a world could His grace, mercy, and goodness be fully revealed. It is only in this context of the voluntary sacrifice of a son on behalf of families, would families who are able to grieve, understand the depth of God’s grief-loving character. God exposed himself to such grief so he could express such love so He could be understood in the most meaningful way. "God so loved the world.”

God’s planned grief for His planned creation of mankind becomes the result of the approaching fruition of His plan to give His Son for the forgiveness of man’s sins. His love becomes His gift. His gift becomes His sacrifice. His sacrifice becomes His grief. "God so loved the world.”

The "so" in John 3:16 is the ultimate expression of the grievous emotional movement already present in God’s heart as the result of His plan for revealing Himself to humanity. God’s revelation is rooted in love for man, resulting in His grief for his Son whom He sacrificed on behalf of man.

In conclusion, the emotional movement behind the Hebrew word nāḥam actually prepares the groundwork for the New Testament’s most famous declaration of divine love. When John writes, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,” he is not describing a detached deity suddenly deciding to show kindness. He is describing the same God who, throughout the Old Testament, allowed His heart to be moved by the sacrifice of His Son on behalf of human sin. The forward-grieving response of God who “regretted” creating mankind in Genesis 6:6, is the God who ultimately expresses His grieving heart in the giving of His Son in John 3:16. "God so loved the world.”

In this sense, God’s “regret” in Genesis 6:6 is God's grievous grief that foreshadows God’s divine plan to demonstrate His love in John 3:16.

The “so” in John 3:16 is the breadth of that plan: God loved the world so much that He embraced the most grievous pain to make His love so unmistakably clear to us.

In that sense, God Loved the World So He Regretted Creating Man.