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analogy. Thus scriptural expressions which indicate "anger" or "sadness" on God's part are considered anthropomorphisms, mere analogies to explain mankind's relationship to God, who is impassible in his own nature. Some objecting to this claim assert that if God cannot have emotions, then God cannot love, which is a central tenet of
Christianity. However, Catholics would point out that love is not an emotion except in a secondary sense, and is far more than simply a changeable emotion. Furthermore, the human nature of Christ expressed emotional love as well as possessing the timeless, unconditioned "
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Human emotions are subject to time, space, and circumstance. God's emotions are always in keeping with God's character as described by the scriptures and in the person of Jesus Christ, according to
Christian scholars and the Bible. A few examples are found in Genesis, chapter 8, in the account of the
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with the timeless, immutable, impassible divine nature, which retained all of its divine attributes without alteration, just as his human nature retained all of its human attributes. In
Catholic doctrine, it would be erroneous and blasphemous to attribute changes or emotional states to God, except by
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that God is impassible. The divine nature accordingly has no emotions, changes, alterations, height, width, depth, or any other temporal attributes. While Jesus Christ's human nature was complete, and thus Christ possessed a human body, human mind and human soul, and thus human emotions, this human
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God is "grieved" at the pervasive evil of mankind, yet "pleased" with Noah's faithfulness. After the flood, God is "pleased" by Noah's burnt offering. Traditional
Christian interpretation understood such depictions of changing emotion in God to be simply an anthropomorphic way of expressing his
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Other
Christian views portray a God who does have emotions and emotional reactions to creation, but these emotions should not necessarily be viewed as altogether similar to human emotions. Genesis 1 says that humans were made in God's image, but human emotions, originally a reflection of God's
758:, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." For this reason, God accepted Christ's sacrifice on man's behalf and so is able to offer
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is not. (Bible, book of James, chapter 1 verse 17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (King James
Version).
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Generally, scholars do not take anthropomorphic phrases in the Bible like "the finger of God" or "the hand of God" to mean that God literally has a hand or finger. Rather, it is interpreted as an allegory for the
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held that Jesus did not have a living body and was not able to suffer the
Passion. This debate occupied a great deal of early Church Fathers, who took labours to prove that Jesus really did have a human body.
290:. Other systems, mainly Christianity, Judaism and Islam, portray God as a being that does not experience suffering. However, in Christianity there was an ancient dispute about the impassibility of God (see
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emotions and was subject to the same physical limitations as humanity, such as hunger or exhaustion. Most
Christians traditionally believed these experiences to be proper only to Jesus' human nature.
1052:, but meant in terms of God being beneficent towards creation rather than in terms of softening of the heart. The latter implies a psychological change, and contradicts God's absolute transcendence.
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Although there are differing opinions in
Christian circles about the impassibility of God, Christian scholars consent that Jesus was completely human and completely God, and so expressed
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The
Islamic religion is based on the notion of the absolute impassibility of God, an impassibility which is only matched by transcendence. Again, Islam does not believe in
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pleasure or displeasure with human actions. They believed God's eternal will for mankind and love for mankind in Christ does not undergo alteration; God is immutable.
672:, an early Christian bishop and theologian, wrote, "wild and blasphemous are they who ascribe passion to the divine nature," in his Demonstrations by Syllogism.
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were heavily influenced by Augustine, and their theologies are similar in many respects in regard to divine impassibility.
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Although love and mercy are attributed to God, it is emphasised that God is completely dissimilar to created things.
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Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility
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for his joyousness and calm. Impassibility in the Western tradition traces back to ancient
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from the actions of another being. It has often been seen as a consequence of divine
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Some theological systems portray God as a being expressive of many (or all)
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The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought
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God Without Mood Swings: Recovering the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility
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is divine or spiritual, but rather that he is political. The belief in
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God is Impassible and Impassioned: Toward a Theology of Divine Emotion
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and continues to be in tension with more emotional concepts of God.
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1178:. Ed. Nigel M. de Cameron. Edinburgh: Rutherford House Books, 1990.
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Helm, Paul. "The Impossibility of Divine Passibility". In
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because it is seen as an attack on divine impassibility.
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Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering
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Thinking through Feeling: God, Emotion and Passibility
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256:, "able to suffer, experience emotion") describes the
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1157:, who first proposed the idea of God as a perfect,
90:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
1229:. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
1222:Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000.
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1204:. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004/ 2006.
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1328:A representative Sunni view is expressed in
732:emotional capacity, have been marred by the
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357:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
53:Learn how and when to remove these messages
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1013:(i.e., God the Father) is not specified.
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212:Learn how and when to remove this message
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1189:Keating, James F., Thomas Joseph White.
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1354:Attributes of God in Christian theology
1319:The Bible, Contemporary English Version
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1048:, the Merciful, is one of the primary
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1310:The Bible, New International Version
1092:adding citations to reliable sources
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294:). Still, it is understood in all
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34:This article has multiple issues.
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1233:The Nature of Love: A Theology
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1176:The Power and Weakness of God
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1256:. New York: Continuum, 2011.
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915:A rival doctrine is called
192:the claims made and adding
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1286:Baines, Ronald S. (2015).
1213:. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.
1138:for his intemperance, and
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754:The New Testament says in
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1046:Al-Rahman & Al-Raheem
603:Emotions expressed by God
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418:Part of a series on the
1290:. Palmdale, CA: RBAP.
481:Overarching attributes
1050:names of God in Islam
836:Some early adepts of
400:hypostatically united
319:Roman Catholic Church
1227:Divine Impassibility
1216:Weinandy, Thomas G.
1181:Johnson, Phillip R.
1088:improve this section
963:improve this section
877:improve this section
798:improve this section
351:improve this section
267:does not experience
84:improve this article
16:Theological doctrine
1198:Gavrilyuk, Paul L.
550:Incomprehensibility
296:Abrahamic religions
1349:Conceptions of God
1225:Creel, Richard E.
1130:is famous for his
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1086:Please help
1074:
1043:
1035:resurrection
1031:Holy Trinity
1020:
1000:
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961:Please help
949:
917:theopaschism
914:
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875:Please help
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845:Theopaschism
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796:Please help
784:
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707:
699:intercession
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535:Immutability
520:Graciousness
463:Omnipresence
395:dogmatically
388:
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349:Please help
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314:Christianity
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292:Nestorianism
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82:Please help
77:verification
74:
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36:Please help
33:
1132:lustfulness
1023:incarnation
734:fall of man
721:Holy Spirit
713:John Calvin
697:and divine
695:acts of God
676:Augustinism
585:Sovereignty
468:Omniscience
458:Omnipotence
398:nature was
258:theological
1343:Categories
1261:References
1159:omniscient
979:March 2018
893:March 2018
838:gnosticism
814:March 2018
766:Gnosticism
749:sanctified
703:Scriptures
580:Simplicity
570:Providence
499:Perfection
407:" of God.
367:March 2018
254:passibilis
186:improve it
110:newspapers
39:improve it
1151:Aristotle
1075:does not
950:does not
864:does not
785:does not
760:atonement
684:Calvinist
670:Theodoret
530:Immanence
338:does not
300:immutable
252:, "not",
190:verifying
45:talk page
1136:Susano-o
925:modalism
611:Jealousy
595:Veracity
560:Kingship
525:Holiness
473:Eternity
393:teaches
288:emotions
273:pleasure
261:doctrine
1096:removed
1081:sources
1027:passion
1003:Messiah
971:removed
956:sources
931:Judaism
885:removed
870:sources
806:removed
791:sources
756:Hebrews
740:Flood.
565:Mission
504:Trinity
494:Oneness
359:removed
344:sources
304:Godhead
184:Please
124:scholar
1294:
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1163:Anselm
1140:Balder
489:Aseity
281:affect
277:aseity
245:(from
126:
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1155:Plato
1149:like
1144:Greek
1017:Islam
631:Wrath
621:Mercy
405:agape
263:that
247:Latin
131:JSTOR
117:books
1292:ISBN
1237:ISBN
1153:and
1128:Zeus
1079:any
1077:cite
1037:and
1033:and
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952:cite
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866:cite
789:any
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682:and
626:Will
616:Love
389:The
342:any
340:cite
269:pain
103:news
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800:by
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