Does God suffer?

[tonychanyt]

The word God is a loaded term with many nuances.

Impassibility (from Latin in-, "not", passibilis, "able to suffer, experience emotion") describes the theological doctrine that God does not experience pain or pleasure from the actions of another being. God is impassible in his nature or attributes. As such, he does not feel disappointed. However, when the Bible anthropomorphizes God, then he does, Genesis 6:

6 the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

God is also immanent. He is actively involved in the world and relationally engaged with His creation. Because of the divine attribute of impassibility, God is not subject to passions or emotions. However, because of his immanence, he does feel grief. As a God-man, Jesus suffered physically and mentally. Through the incarnation and crucifixion, God experienced suffering in a unique way.

The concept of divine suffering raises questions about the nature of perfection, love, and the relationship between God and creation. Each perspective has its own scriptural, philosophical, and theological justifications. The answer depends on how one defines suffering and emphasizes which attribute of God.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Impassibility descends logically from Aseity. My understanding of it doesn't say he can't feel pain or suffer, but that anything exterior to himself that affects him in any way does so by HIS design and causation.

On the other hand, his 'suffering', (etc), if there's anything to the notion that he suffers (etc) is not like ours. He is all his attributes infinitely. Thus, for example, if he "thinks", it is not like us. He needn't, for example, consider options. I suspect that for him to think is to do. For him to enjoy or delight in something might even BE his Glory. I don't think his suffering or pain is like ours, but, seeing as how we tend to see everything backwards, our suffering and pain is like his, only not very much —ours is not infinite. Furthermore, his suffering and pain, like his wrath, is not new to him in the last 6000 years (or 15 billion, if you prefer). It does not detract from his nature nor impede him in any way.