Does God have feelings?

[zoidar]

Well, there is the whole Patripassianism thing, which was associated with Sabellianism. Did the Father suffer on the cross, or suffer with the Son? But yeah, I understand what you are saying.

Good question if the Father suffered with His Son, He didn't suffer on the cross with the Son. Isaiah 53:10 says that "the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief." So the Father was pleased. Surely that must be that God was pleased with Jesus doing His will, the most greatest deed ever, giving up his own life for the salvation of mankind. As Paul says, there is no greater love.

 

[renniks]

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?

Of course he does. He constantly portrays himself as an emotional being. I'm not saying I understand how that works since he's not bound by time, but I trust what he says is true.
Jesus wept, he laughed, he got depressed, he even sweat blood because of his great sorrow. To portray God as not having emotions is to have another god than the one in scripture.

 

[public hermit]

Of course he does. He constantly portrays himself as an emotional being. I'm not saying I understand how that works since he's not bound by time, but I trust what he says is true.
Jesus wept, he laughed, he got depressed, he even sweat blood because of his great sorrow. To portray God as not having emotions is to have another god than the one in scripture.

I don't necessarily disagree. However, I am curious about using Jesus as our example. Correct me if I am wrong, but the orthodox position is that our Lord is two natures (divine and human) in one person, with no admixture of those natures. The sweep of emotion we see in him are human emotions, and I am inclined to think-if we keep with the orthodox position-those are due to his human nature. To whit, when he sweat blood in anxiety in the garden it was his human nature that was anxious, not his divine nature. When he wept it was his human nature. When he died, it was his human nature that died, right?

Or, is the position that he was human and divine with no admixture wrong? Or, maybe I am misunderstanding it?

 

[renniks]

I don't necessarily disagree. However, I am curious about using Jesus as our example. Correct me if I am wrong, but the orthodox position is that our Lord is two natures (divine and human) in one person, with no admixture of those natures. The sweep of emotion we see in him are human emotions, and I am inclined to think-if we keep with the orthodox position-those are due to his human nature. To whit, when he sweat blood in anxiety in the garden it was his human nature that was anxious, not his divine nature. When he wept it was his human nature. When he died, it was his human nature that died, right?

Or, is the position that he was human and divine with no admixture wrong? Or, maybe I am misunderstanding it?

Well, regardless, Yahwah constantly portrayed himself as having emotions in the Torah, too.

 

[Halbhh]

I don't necessarily disagree. However, I am curious about using Jesus as our example. Correct me if I am wrong, but the orthodox position is that our Lord is two natures (divine and human) in one person, with no admixture of those natures. The sweep of emotion we see in him are human emotions, and I am inclined to think-if we keep with the orthodox position-those are due to his human nature. To whit, when he sweat blood in anxiety in the garden it was his human nature that was anxious, not his divine nature. When he wept it was his human nature. When he died, it was his human nature that died, right?

Or, is the position that he was human and divine with no admixture wrong? Or, maybe I am misunderstanding it?

Well, while I don't know how the spirit in a person and their heart are connected, I did learn something about differing reactions. One day innertubing I decided I could go over a low water dam on a river, since at age 12 I thought I was pretty invulnerable. There was a big undertow from the force of the waterfall pulling downward. I was sucked down underwater, which wasn't all new to me, since I'd been underwater in rivers before, but when I tried to swim straight up through the froth, I kept being sucked back down, and though I was a very good swimmer, I realized I probably needed to just leave the inner tube above and try to swim outward, and when I tried swimming up diagonally up away from the dam I did get to the surface, and so I thought now I could grab the tube and pull it away, but that wasn't so easy and I got sucked back down, and then 2nd time diagonally I could barely touched the tube before I was sucked down again, and then I tried leaving the tube, but there was a back current on the surface and I couldn't swim away because the water was so bubbly it is hard to swim in it, and I couldn't swim away, and soon went down again, so I became afraid. The question became: is it possible to get away from the dam even. Fear like that is a heart/body feeling. And then something pretty interesting happened, I was there on the bottom, about 8 or 9 feet down I think, and trying to think and noticed a part of me was just....watching. Almost like another person, but kinda so familiar, or constant, that part of me was like....someone watching, dispassionately, not affected. Connected. But not worried about...totally unconcerned about oxygen, death, time, just there, watching. So, it seems from that to me the spirit isn't affected by bodily emotions, but...somehow still the spirit is truly connected with consciousness it seems like. Someone observed something once like the soul is the result of the spirit residing in the body, so it seems like it does matter how the heart is -- we are not to be guided by the heart, but rather our hearts are to be changed for the better. But if the soul is the combination in some since of the self and the spirit, and the soul is also what is being saved. Maybe it's like when your soul is going the right way, then the heart is in the service it should be in, but the soul isn't fully independent of the heart, rather the soul/heart is being rescued. So....not sure, but it seems like a being as God creates us really is supposed to have a heart and a spirit, together, so that what we are 'conquering' (see gospels and revelation) isn't the heart, but the 'flesh', meaning the body trying to take over and be the ruler (mind being only a part of body). So I guess it seems like the answer is both ways: both feelings and transcendence of feelings. (we are made in His image, and He made us to have both)

This is a good point. It would be odd if heaven were full of joy, and yet there is God all stoic and unaffected.

He will walk among us.

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 

[Josheb]

What do you think? Does God have emotion?

Yes, God has emotions, a perfect, holy, righteous form of emotion, not as we observe and experience in the fallen state.


This is necessarily the case because God is love. Love is inherently a cognitive, somatic, emotional, volitional, behavioral and relational condition by which value is expressed for another. To consider love without the emotion of feeling loved or feeling loving is to undue any claim of being love. Similarly, the attributes of love described in 1 Cor. 13:4-7 most certainly entail a variety of emotional content (there can be no patience without the emotional duress of urgency or anticipation. There can be no longsuffering or forbearance withought the emotional experience of suffering or bearing that which is disdained.

Conversely, what wrath would there be absent emotion?

 

[Swan7]

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?

There’s a lot of evidence in the Bible that God does indeed have emotions, but He instructs and shows us to control them. Being always sober in all ways.

 

[Bruce Leiter]

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?

You're right that there are many Bible passages referring to God's emotions. I don't believe that they're anthropomorphic. However, our emotions are affected by the fall of Adam and Eve into self-centeredness. As a result, though God made us like him with emotions, he cannot be affected by the ebbs and flows of emotions the way we are.

His feelings are constant. For example, he is pleased with us as his creatures and as believers, and his displeasure happens when we go astray from his will.

Also, Jesus satisfied the Father's just anger against sin with his death and achieved joy when he rose from the dead.

In your question, you make the interpretation mistake of starting with our emotions instead of starting with the Scriptures in discovering what God's Word assumes and says about God's feelings.

With your last question, of course, God feels compassion and suffers with us. You rightly refer to Jesus' incarnation and suffering with the huge weight of the sins of the whole world on his shoulders.

 

[Nancy Hale]

Oh man, I would be hating it. I'm grateful there aren't. But, what about when Jesus says we should not hate or we are liable to judgment? Is he referring to an emotion, or something else. Matthew 5:21-22

Hate? Doesn't it say angry? And just calling someone foolish puts you in danger of hell fire?
I don't know every version. I read the one I do because I find the language pretty, so I'm most familiar with it and another I use when stumble over meaning. (I don't want to come across as attached for other reasons, because those aren't mine)
That was actually one of the things I avoided. I'm trying not to step on toes. Not yours, I don't think. The things I think would be easily understood by most, often turn out not to be. It's very hard for me to tell. If you hold any stock in Myers-Briggs I'm INTP.
I hope this is safe: the difference between our anger and God's is the difference in our nature and His. We even see it with Jesus.

 

[public hermit]

Hate? Doesn't it say angry? And just calling someone foolish puts you in danger of hell fire?

You may be right. I may be thinking of 1 John 3:15.

I'm trying not to step on toes. Not yours, I don't think. The things I think would be easily understood by most, often turn out not to be. It's very hard for me to tell.

You can't step on my toes. I move way too quick. Seriously, it's hard to hurt my feelings. I don't take myself that seriously.

I hope this is safe: the difference between our anger and God's is the difference in our nature and His. We even see it with Jesus.

I'm inclined to think that's probably right. As I was saying above, since we are created in the Divine Image, our emotions are analogous to what is perfect in God. So, I think you're right, the difference is a difference in nature.

 

[public hermit]

And then something pretty interesting happened, I was there on the bottom, about 8 or 9 feet down I think, and trying to think and noticed a part of me was just....watching. Almost like another person, but kinda so familiar, or constant, that part of me was like....someone watching, dispassionately, not affected. Connected. But not worried about...totally unconcerned about oxygen, death, time, just there, watching. So, it seems from that to me the spirit isn't affected by bodily emotions, but...somehow still the spirit is truly connected with consciousness it seems like.

That is truly fascinating.

So....not sure, but it seems like a being as God creates us really is supposed to have a heart and a spirit, together, so that what we are 'conquering' (see gospels and revelation) isn't the heart, but the 'flesh', meaning the body trying to take over and be the ruler (mind being only a part of body). So I guess it seems like the answer is both ways: both feelings and transcendence of feelings. (we are made in His image, and He made us to have both)

That's an interesting analysis. Rarely is the truth ever so one-sided, but often somewhere in the middle. You're probably right. It's not one or the other, but both/and. I hadn't thought about it that way.

 

[public hermit]

As a result, though God made us like him with emotions, he cannot be affected by the ebbs and flows of emotions the way we are.

I appreciate your comments. I think this has been a common position on this thread. We are created in God's Image, so the emotions are part of that; however, God is still impassible, i.e. not affected by the ebb and flow.

 

[brinny]

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, it is written that God does have emotions. It is written that He rejoices over us with singing. It is also written that we can sometimes grieve His Holy Spirit.

However God's emotions are ALWAYS without sin. He is holy and therefore His emotions are without sin, and holy. It is "we" who have distorted emotions and thus sin drenches them to overflowing at times. That is why the book of Proverbs was written, for instance. so that God's wisdom can guide us in ALL of it.

It is also written to be angry, but sin not. Now that's something to munch on in a study, isn't it?

 

[public hermit]

Now that's something to munch on in a study, isn't it?

It is. That's why when I am about to get angry I count to ten and then say, "Bubbles."

 

[brinny]

It is. That's why when I am about to get angry I count to ten and then say, "Bubbles."

LOL! That's a very wise and effective strategy.....

i'm soooooo thankful i didn't have a mouthful of cola when i read that.

 

[com7fy8]

So, are you saying both God and humans have emotions, but they differ in intention and motivation? God's are always good, but not always with humans?

yes

Couldn't God be involved in creation without it being prompted my emotion?

My opinion > it was prompted by emotion.

Our Father and Jesus shared in such intimate affection before the creation. And our Father was so pleased with His Son Jesus, that He desired to have many children who are like Jesus > Romans 8:29. Moved by His love and delight . . . emotion . . . with Jesus, He created the earth as His place for having and bringing up children who would be pleasing and enjoyable to Him, like Jesus.

It might be like how a man so loves his lady, that he is moved to build a house where they can live and love and bring up their children. Even his love for his children, though not born yet, moves him

 

[Ilikecats]

I wouldn’t say that God doesn’t have emotions. Your emotions are part of you but so are other aspects such as reasoning. The complete being is often conflicted because of the different aspects of it but I wouldn’t say that there was an outside force controlling God. God’s emotions have always existed and weren’t created by him. That’s what I assume.

 

[The Righterzpen]

This is a really thoughtful thread; I'm glad to have stumbled across it.

I think the expression of God's emotion is a complicated one for us to grasp. Most agree that He has them and we also agree they are not tainted by sin; like ours are.

I'm not sure we can "get" this one though (as far as God's perspective). Not from lack of intellectual ability (after all; we aren't talking about trying to articulate the Trinity)! LOL; but from our perspective of experience.

I think God experiences emotion (maybe even more intensely than we do); but on account of His paradigm being so much different than ours; how this is, is almost beyond our grasp.

In this life, I certainly think it's beyond our experience to grasp without our sin getting in the way; but much to the contrast of the notion that God "not having" emotion; (emotion being "muted" by holiness) I've come to the conclusion that it's probably much more the opposite. Not being encumbered by sin; leaves God at absolute freedom to feel the purity of what range of emotion was really meant to be.

I find it interesting if we look at Jesus; He was anything but "flat affect" (as psychology would call it). It would have been truly fascinating to "live in His head". Yet I'm sure that at least half of what that experience would have been; we wouldn't have even really understood.

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to live in this world without sin.

 

[Saint Steven]

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

Right.
Because what God really wants is emotionless robot slaves doing his will. - lol

 

[Maria Billingsley]

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?

Jesus Christ of Nazareth is God in the Flesh. Lets not loose sight of that. The Fathers essence was encapsulated in His Son, The King. If we for one moment think that God is void of emotion, then best we revisit our Lords pain all through scripture. Here is one to meditate on.
Blessings
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Jesus Christ of Nazareth Can anyone feel His pain?