Does God have feelings?

[public hermit]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

Consider how your emotions are intimately related to your body. God is Spirit. What would it mean for a spiritual being to feel?

I know, there are so many passages that speak of God having emotions. Are those anthropomorphic? Or, is God truly subject to the ebb and flow of emotion?

What do you think? Does God feel anger, joy, compassion, etc.? Does God suffer? What of the Incarnation and the cross? Did the Father and Holy Spirit feel emotion as the Son died? Were they overjoyed upon seeing the resurrection?

 

[Curtis.Hilliker]

Yes I believe God does have emotions.

 

[Going_Nowhere]

We can be sure that God gets angry at least. Or he did in the past. The Old Testament is proof of that.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

Consider how your emotions are intimately related to your body. God is Spirit. What would it mean for a spiritual being to feel?

I know, there are so many passages that speak of God having emotions. Are those anthropomorphic? Or, is God truly subject to the ebb and flow of emotion?

What do you think? Does God feel anger, joy, compassion, etc.? Does God suffer? What of the Incarnation and the cross? Did the Father and Holy Spirit feel emotion as the Son died? Were they overjoyed upon seeing the resurrection?

Well, for one thing, from Scripture, we (all permanent disciples following Jesus), are instructed to crucify the flesh with all of its emotions and desires.

Not to follow nor to give in to nor to be influenced by them.

See, for good examples, every instance of what God calls Righteous and God's directions about "self control" in Christ Jesus, in Scripture.

 

[raindog75]

If God didn't have emotions, with no feelings for his creation, seems like he would be more of a deistic/clock-maker God, that would just wind up the universe and walk away. Perhaps some may believe in that kind of God, but I don't think it would resemble the Christian God very much.

 

[Jeshu]

Jesus is a true reflection of the Father and He possessed emotions just like us. Nothing wrong with emotions apart of when sin gets its hands on our emotions then they become evil. God cannot sin so His emotions are always under control.

 

[Sabertooth]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

That seems to be a little bit simplistic as a comparison. We are defective. Strong emotions may drive us to sin, i.e. "crime of passion."

God is incapable of sin. His emotions may motivate Him to revoke His mercy, but whether He judges or forgives, He does not sin.

"...for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:20 NKJV

God's emotions always remain consistent with His Righteousness (and other traits).

 

[hope faith love]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

Consider how your emotions are intimately related to your body. God is Spirit. What would it mean for a spiritual being to feel?

I know, there are so many passages that speak of God having emotions. Are those anthropomorphic? Or, is God truly subject to the ebb and flow of emotion?

What do you think? Does God feel anger, joy, compassion, etc.? Does God suffer? What of the Incarnation and the cross? Did the Father and Holy Spirit feel emotion as the Son died? Were they overjoyed upon seeing the resurrection?

yes i would have to say he does based on john 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
isnt Love an emotion expressed by action of God resulting in him sending his only son to die on the cross because he Loved us so much , and when the bible speaks of Gods wrath and vengence isnt that a result of his anger ?

 

[ICONO'CLAST]

No...God is not a man with changing passions or emotions.
He is perfect in all His ways, and Holy attributes.

 

[AvgJoe]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

Consider how your emotions are intimately related to your body. God is Spirit. What would it mean for a spiritual being to feel?

I know, there are so many passages that speak of God having emotions. Are those anthropomorphic? Or, is God truly subject to the ebb and flow of emotion?

What do you think? Does God feel anger, joy, compassion, etc.? Does God suffer? What of the Incarnation and the cross? Did the Father and Holy Spirit feel emotion as the Son died? Were they overjoyed upon seeing the resurrection?

The fact that we have emotions, is a proof that God has emotions, because He made us in His image. There are numerous passages of Scripture, that speak of God’s emotions but, are God’s emotions the same kind of emotions we humans exhibit?

No, our emotions, and those of God, are not exactly the same. We sometimes speak of our emotions “clouding our judgment” because our sinful nature has corrupted our emotions. But God has no sin, and His emotions are incorruptible. For example, there is a vast difference between human anger and divine anger. Human anger is volatile, subjective, and too often out of control (Proverbs 14:29; 15:18; James 1:20). God’s anger is rooted in divine justice. God’s anger is perfectly righteous and predictable, never capricious or malicious. In His anger, He never sins.

All of God’s emotions are rooted in His holy nature and are always expressed sinlessly. God’s compassion, sorrow, and joy are all perfect expressions of the Perfect Being. In contrast to the unreliability and instability of humans’ sin-tainted emotions, God’s emotions are as completely dependable and immutable as He.

www.gotquestions.org/does-God-have-emotions.html

 

[Tone]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

"emotion (n.)
1570s, "a (social) moving, stirring, agitation," from Middle French émotion (16c.), from Old French emouvoir "stir up" (12c.), from Latin emovere "move out, remove, agitate," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away"). Sense of "strong feeling" is first recorded 1650s; extended to any feeling by 1808."
emotion | Origin and meaning of emotion by Online Etymology Dictionary

We know that:

Genesis 1:2
"1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light." (emphasis mine)

That phrase "was hovering" is Strong's Hebrew: 7363. רָחַף (rachaph) -- relax,

"Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
flutter, move, shake
A primitive root; to brood; by implication, to be relaxed -- flutter, move, shake."

So, yes, I would say that He has the only real Emotion, which we have received when He Breathed into us.

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content.

Hmmmm, I don't know, I think people may be addicted to fear, anger, and/or other less desirable (usually) emotions. But yeah, I think, as children we would always choose happiness and contentment, though we know this twisted world changes things...causes us to find comfort with the familiar...even if the familiar is negative.

So, emotions are something outside of our control.

We (our perishing selves) are in complete control of our emotions (our own feeble wind), even if it may seem that they are undercurrents from an alien place, because we are in darkness. I am speaking here of our prior unregenerate state, which we still struggle with.

If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control.

He doesn't have emotions as we do, He has Emotion as we were intended to have...a Wind that can stir up the deepest darkness and Speak Light...and change everything.

 

[Nancy Hale]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
John 11:35 Jesus Wept
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
1 Thessalonians 1:6 You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit
Deut 32: 21They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

Consider your own emotions. You can't always control them. If you could, you would choose to always feel happy, or maybe, content. So, emotions are something outside of our control. If God has emotions as we do, then God is subject to something outside God's control. That doesn't sound right, does it?

I don't think it follows that God is not in control of His emotions because we are not in control of ours. In fact, I think there is a large possibility we simply don't control our emotions. The examples I'm thinking of are Aaron when his son's were struck down and David after his son attempted to overthrow his thrown, but possibly when his infant son died also. Oh, Lot and his wife being told not to look back! Their married daughters were still there!
Imagine if there were a set of laws for feelings? Yikes!

What do you think? Does God feel anger, joy, compassion, etc.? Does God suffer? What of the Incarnation and the cross? Did the Father and Holy Spirit feel emotion as the Son died? Were they overjoyed upon seeing the resurrection?

The cup Jesus ask to be taken from Him, do you think that is the cup of wrath?
And yesterday I was thinking about how God tells us to love our enemies and the examples He uses are all human; be kind to those who despitfully use you and so on; so we can be like the Father. My conclusion on that is that it hurts Him. Which is feelings.
But, look also how He includes and treats Satan in Job. I wonder if there is some parallel there. That is all just my (not very well thought out) opinion, which is why I didn't cite verses.
---edited to add--- I realize I didn't fully answer your questions. There are a few reasons. God exists outside of time, so how things seem to happen from our perspective doesn't really apply.

 

[com7fy8]

I see that ones of us, above, have brought out different things about this.

Another thing > I would say an emotion has a motive. It is what moves us according to what we want, or is a reaction to not getting what we want.

So, it can be very simple > often a humans wants what is selfish and so one's emotions are connected with selfish motives.

But God is love; so His emotions have to do with His loving and caring desires and interests.

But according to John 8:44 > Jesus says > worldly people want what Satan wants. And what do so many worldly people desire and seek? Pleasure. And we see how their emotions can be so about getting pleasure, or reacting very negatively and nastily about not getting their own way. And I see how worldly people can be about control, and this can be enforced by their emotions and ways of reacting, so they can maintain their culture of pleasure. This is how things work, in Satan's kingdom > consider James 4.

 

[public hermit]

I appreciate the thoughtful responses. A few of you mentioned that God loves. And I wonder, is love an emotion or is it something we do? Or both? How do we know that God loves us? Pace John 3:16, is it because we have insight into how God feels about us or because of what God did for us? Just a thought. At any rate, I appreciate the thoughtful responses.

 

[public hermit]

Well, for one thing, from Scripture, we (all permanent disciples following Jesus), are instructed to crucify the flesh with all of its emotions and desires.

Not to follow nor to give in to nor to be influenced by them.

See, for good examples, every instance of what God calls Righteous and God's directions about "self control" in Christ Jesus, in Scripture.

Are you asserting that God does not have emotion based on the instruction to crucify the flesh and all that entails?

 

[public hermit]

If God didn't have emotions, which no feelings for his creation, seems like he would be more of a deistic/clock-maker God, that would just wind up the universe and walk away. Perhaps some may believe in that kind of God, but I don't think it would resemble the Christian God very much.

This is an interesting point. I haven't considered a connection between deism and God's impassibility. Couldn't God be involved in creation without it being prompted my emotion?

 

[public hermit]

Jesus is a true reflection of the Father and He possessed emotions just like us. Nothing wrong with emotions apart of when sin gets its hands on our emotions then they become evil. God cannot sin so His emotions are always under control.

Assuming the orthodox position that Christ has two natures (divine and human) with no admixture between the two, wouldn't it follow that his experience of emotion pertained to his human nature and not his divine nature?

 

[public hermit]

His emotions may motivate Him to revoke His mercy, but whether He judges or forgives, He does not sin.

Does God experience change when, as you put it, God's emotions motivate Him? How do you reconcile this with the understanding that God is impassible?

 

[public hermit]

isnt Love an emotion expressed by action of God resulting in him sending his only son to die on the cross because he Loved us so much , and when the bible speaks of Gods wrath and vengence isnt that a result of his anger ?

This is a good question. I have to be honest, I understand love to be primarily related to how we live in relation to others and not so much an emotion. Primarily, love is doing what is in the other person's best interest. Let's assume one member of a relationship experiences warm feelings for the other, tells the other that they love them, and yet abuses them, would that be love?

Based on John 3:16, how do we know that God loves us? Is it because of a feeling God has for us (how would we know such a thing?), or because of what God does for us in Jesus Christ? What if God had said, "I love you" but had never sent the Son? What would those words mean if humanity perished with no hope?

 

[public hermit]

No...God is not a man with changing passions or emotions.
He is perfect in all His ways, and Holy attributes.

My man, said like a true Calvinist.