Does God Have Emotions?

Recently, I published an article exploring why God often seems harsher in the Old Testament than in the New Testament and what this tells us about his character. In that article, I concluded that God’s love and justice are both necessary aspects of his character. His anger is an expression of his love and desire to maintain a relationship with humanity. God is often angry when humans do not honor his holiness, perpetuate injustice, act unfaithfully, or practice idolatry because these actions harm the relationship we have with him and others around us. 

After reflecting on this article, I realized that along with having a hard time coming to terms with God’s anger, many people also find God’s emotions difficult to grasp. I truly believe that if we want to grow in our relationship with God, we need to also grow in our knowledge of God. Many of us are aware of God’s attributes: he is eternal, just, gracious, merciful, and compassionate among other things. However, we rarely stop to consider God’s emotions. 

The Bible does, at times, describe God using emotional language. He feels anger, compassion, love, sorrow, joy, hate, and jealousy. Maybe you’ve wondered about this as you’ve read scripture. If the Bible uses emotional language to speak of God, does this mean he has emotions? If so, what does this mean for his immutability? Can we learn anything about God’s character from his emotions? How do his emotions differ from ours? How might learning about God’s emotions help us with our own?

Whether you’ve spent hours thinking about God’s emotions in the Bible or this is the first time you’re considering them, keep reading. 

Does God Have Emotions?

This question is so significant that theologians and philosophers have written countless books and articles on it. If you pick up one of their books, you’ll find that the two main positions taken on this are divine impassibility and divine passibility. Passibility is simply the ability to feel, suffer, or be affected by something else. Of course, there are other positions that fall within the spectrum of those two views. 

The Bible has plenty of descriptions of God experiencing emotions in relation to humans. ¹

Here are a few:

How should we interpret these examples? 

These passages describe a variety of emotions God experiences. However, God is immutable and there is a distinction between God and humans. God is not the same as humans and humans are not the same as God.² Should we view these passages literally or figuratively? 

Some theologians suggest that if we take descriptions of God’s emotions literally, then this means that God also changes. Additionally, the distinction between God and humans would be blurred if God has emotions that are similar to our human emotions. These theologians argue that we should view passages describing God’s emotions figuratively. In other words, descriptions of human-like feelings, emotions, and passions for God are only there to help humans understand God better.³

Other theologians believe that while God does experience emotions, unlike humans, God cannot be overwhelmed by an emotion. He experiences emotions voluntarily.⁴

Next, there are theologians who view these passages analogically, and emphasize both the similarities and differences between God’s emotions and human emotions. God does feel emotions since he created the world and freely opens himself up to being affected by the world. This, however, does not diminish the distinction between God and humans.⁵

Lastly, theologians who hold to a “strong passibility” view of God highlight similarities between divine and human emotions.⁶

In my view, we should take these biblical examples analogically. The distinction between God and humans is important. However, humans were created in God’s image so it makes sense that much of our emotions and feelings come from the God who made us. Of course, there are feelings and emotions we experience that God does not experience. Additionally, although God and humans might share some emotions in common, we don’t experience emotions in the same way that God experiences them.

If God doesn’t change, how can God have emotions that change? 

Emotions typically change. Someone can be angry one day, and then happy the next. Likewise, God’s emotions change — at times, he is angry with his people and at other times, he isn’t. 

God’s emotions can change without his character or identity changing. Thomas J. Oord explains that while God’s experiences and emotions can change, his nature and character never changes.⁷ On the other hand, human emotions can cause our character and nature to change. 

If we look at Genesis 6:6, we learn that the Lord “regretted” that he made humans. Does this mean that God’s will concerning humans changed? No. Instead, Genesis 6:6 is letting us know that God experienced sorrow because of human sin. 

Related: Why Does the Old Testament God Seem Different than the New Testament God?

What can we learn about God’s character from his emotions? 

Just as God’s anger teaches us about his love, God’s emotions also teach us about the things that are important to God. Notice that in the passages I shared above, each emotional response is related to the actions (or lack of actions) of humans. God cares about humans. 

I understand the need for some theologians to highlight God’s transcendence. However, if we emphasize God’s transcendence at the expense of his nearness, then we are left with an aloof, uncaring God. This kind of god would not enter into human history, live among us, and then give his life for our sins. 

Thankfully, God is not aloof. He cares deeply for us. This means that it matters to him whether we choose to live for him or not. We can do things that bring God joy and delight. Unfortunately, we can also do things that bring God sorrow and pain. This doesn’t change who he is, but it can affect how he feels. 

Related: How Compassion Moves Us to Love Our Neighbors As Ourselves

How are God’s emotions different from ours?

While God shares some emotions with us, there are feelings we experience that he does not, and he responds to emotions differently than we do.

While human emotions are not sinful, they can lead us to respond sinfully. However, God’s emotions do not lead to sin since God is perfect and doesn’t sin. 

For example, if God is grieved by something humans do and acts as a result of that grief, his actions are still good and righteous. On the other hand, our grief may cause us to act in unrighteous ways. 

Even though our emotions can be volatile and we sometimes struggle to understand them, God is with us and can help us make sense of the feelings that are difficult to process.

Related: What Does it Mean to Be Made in the Image of God?

How can learning about God’s emotions help us with our own? 

Emotions can be hard. Some people are great with understanding and feeling their emotions and others struggle to make sense of them. I can relate to the second category. Often, it’s difficult to know what I’m feeling, let alone make sense of it. 

I don’t consider myself to be a very emotional person. Yet, I recognize that the God of the Bible values emotions and even feels them himself. This encourages me to make space to feel my emotions even when I’d rather ignore them. 

Perhaps you don’t relate to this. Maybe you feel emotions deeply but you’ve been told your whole life that they’re dangerous. Learning about God’s emotions can be a reminder that your emotions matter, and feeling them is not bad or dangerous. Feeling and honoring your emotions isn’t the same as being led by your emotions. 

Wherever we fall on the spectrum (lots of emotions or not super emotional), we don’t have to shy away from what we’re feeling. We can take time to feel the joy, the happiness, the anger, or the grief. Perhaps processing these feelings with God and a safe community can actually lead us to deeper, truer faith. 

Some Resources for Further Reading 

If you’d like to read more about God and emotions, here are a few books I would recommend. 

P.S. — If you decide to purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you, which helps me continue sharing thoughtful resources and reflections.

• If you want to learn more about the spectrum of theological views on God and emotions, this book might be a good choice: Divine Impassibility: Four Views of God’s Emotions and Suffering edited by Robert J. Matz and A. Chadwick Thornhill 
• If you’re looking to learn more about how God’s emotions help us understand his character, this book is a great read: The Emotions of God: Making Sense of a God Who Hates, Loves, and Weeps by David T. Lamb
• For a more practical book about emotions and Christianity, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature by Peter Scazzero 
• Last but not least, Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It by Jennie Allen can help us learn how to identify and process our emotions.

1.  This article will focus on God’s emotions in the Old Testament. Since Jesus is fully God and fully human, we know that he has emotions.
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2.  This is known as the Creator-creature distinction. 
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3. Robert J. Matz and A. Chadwick Thornhill, eds., Divine Impassibility: Four Views of God’s Emotions and Suffering (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019), 9. 
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4. Ibid. ↩︎
5. Ibid. ↩︎
6.  Matz and Thornhill, Divine Impassibility, 9. 
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7.  Ibid, 130. 
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