Impassibility
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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.
Some theological systems portray God as a being expressive of many (or all) emotions; in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; however, it is understood that God is not subject to sin, as sin is defined as rebellion against God's loving authority and holiness.
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[edit] Christianity
[edit] Main theologians
Augustinism, one of the chief Christian schools of thought, strongly asserts the impassibility of God as well as his impeccability. It also defends the notion of acts of God and divine intercession, such as the miracles of the Scriptures.
John of Patmos, in his Apocalypse, speaks of Jesus as a divine Judge, Alpha and Omega.
Cyril of Alexandria wrote at length on the incarnation of the Logos when teaching on Jesus Christ.
Martin Luther was heavily influenced by Augustine, and his theology is similar in many respects with regards to divine impassibility.
Biblical 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 Holy Spirit and an expression of God's sovereignty over and intervention into the material world.
Another Christian view on impassibility states that the scriptures portray a God who does have emotions and emotional reactions to creation, but these emotions should not be viewed as altogether similar to human emotions. Human emotions, originally a reflection of God's emotional capacity, have been marred by the fall of man. Human emotions are subject to time, space, and circumstance. God's emotions are always in keeping with His 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 Flood. 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.[1] God is never "subject to" emotions, as man is, but rather He expresses emotions as subject to His sovereign will, holiness, and love. Consequently, God's will for mankind and love for mankind in Christ are not swayed by His emotions; He is immutable.
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 sanctified emotions and was subject to the same physical limitations as humanity, such as hunger or exhaustion. The New Testament says in Hebrews , "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."[2] For this reason, God accepted Christ's sacrifice on man's behalf and so is able to offer atonement through His Son.
[edit] Gnosticism
Some early adepts of gnosticism 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 Body.
[edit] Theopaschism
A rival doctrine is called theopaschism, which highly insists on the suffering of the Lord Jesus at the Passion. However, theopaschism has often been rejected by theologians as a form of modalism.
[edit] Judaism
Jews hold to the impassibility of God, and do not believe that the Messiah is divine, but rather that he is political. The belief in divine simplicity is at the heart of judaism, and the gender of God (ie God the Father) is not specified in that religion.
[edit] Islam
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 incarnation, passion, Holy Trinity and resurrection and God the Father because it is seen as an attack on divine impassibility.
[edit] Greek mythology
This is not the case in all religions: many folk religions, especially ones dealing with ancestor worship, will treat good weather, favorable harvests, etc., as a sign that the gods are pleased, and will attribute disease or misfortune to their anger. Many polytheistic traditions portray their gods as feeling a wide range of emotions.
For example, Zeus is famous for his lustfulness, Susano-o for his intemperance, and Balder for his joyousness and calm. Impassibility in the Western tradition traces back to ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato, who first proposed the idea of God as a perfect, omniscient, timeless, and unchanging being not subject to human emotion (which represents change and imperfection). The concept of impassibility was developed by medieval theologians like Anselm and continues to be in tension with more emotional concepts of God.
[edit] Recent works
- Gavrilyuk, Paul L. (2004). The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004/ 2006.
- Weinandy, Thomas G. (2000). Does God Suffer? Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000.
- Creel, Richard E. (1986). Divine Impassibility. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
- "There Is No Pain, You Are Misreading": Is God "Comfortably Numb"? - An Essay by Robert Gonzales Jr.
