Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

Emotions – Strong feelings elicited in response to stimuli. Historically, the emotions have been regarded differently as they relate to the Christian life and spiritual development, with some traditions emphasizing the place and validity of emotions while other traditions downplay their importance, emphasizing instead the places of reason and Scripture.

Donald K. McKim, The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), 101.

It is not uncommon in today’s chaotic world to hear folks say they are an “emotional wreck.” As humans, “emotions” are constantly on a roller coaster due to sin.

God has created human persons with emotions, feelings, and affections, which are important for their lives and their relationships with God.

Emotions are an essential part of human life that, though broken by sin, are redeemed and restored by Christ. Human beings experience emotions passively. We suffer negative emotions, and even in positive emotions, we are to some degree subject to our circumstances. In this way, emotions reveal the dependency and finitude of human life. (This is also the reason that the emotions, or passions, have been traditionally denied of God, in the doctrine of God’s impassibility.)

Joel B. Carini, “Human Emotions,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

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Classic Christian orthodoxy teaches that God is impassible — that is, not subject to suffering, pain, or involuntary passions. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God is “without body, parts, or passions, immutable.” ¹

I am not going to pretend to fully comprehend this doctrine. What my finite mind appears to glean from reading numerous books and articles like those below is the following:

• The Bible makes numerous references to God’s Emotions
  • • Anger – Psalm 7:11; Deuteronomy 9:22; Romans 1:18
    • Compassion – Psalm 135:14; Judges 2:18; Deuteronomy 32:36
    • Grief – Genesis 6:6; Psalm 78:40
    • Love – 1 John 4:8; John 3:16; Jeremiah 31:3
    • Hate – Proverbs 6:16; Psalm 5:5; Psalm 11:5
    • Jealousy – Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Joshua 24:19
    • Joy – Zephaniah 3:17; Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 32:41
• God is unaffected by emotions as humans understand emotions
  • God does not have mood swings, and His emotions are not fickle
  • God does not change His promises, His Word, etc. He is Immutable
  • God’s judgment is always righteous, never cloudy or wrong unlike many courts today
  • All God’s emotions flow from His greatest Attribute/Character/Nature His Holiness

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Additional Resources:

How to Believe against Your Feelings

Divine Impassibility by J I Packer

Divine Impassibility by R C Sproul

¹ https://www.monergism.com/topics/god%E2%80%99s-attributes/impassibility-god#:~:text=Classic%20Christian%20orthodoxy%20teaches%20that%20God%20is%20impassible,with%20the%20theology%20of%20the%20%E2%80%9Csuffering%E2%80%9D%20of%20God.