We
must be careful when ascribing emotions to God in the same way we think of our
own emotions. A man may become angry against his will in the sense that he does
not to choose to become angry, and he does not choose to experience whatever
causes the anger, but that the “trigger” incites this emotion in him against
his preference. This implies to other
human emotional experiences such as joy, fear, grief, and so on. Although we may develop a certain level of
self-control in these emotional expressions by the power of the Holy Spirit and
the Scriptures, it still remains that a person’s emotions can well up with us against
our desire even if we do not express it through our volition. The perfect harmony between emotion and
volition is not something we possess.
How
many times have you “lost” your temper? Or, controlled your feelings for
someone? Often our feelings well up within us and we might show a level of
control in terms of not expressing it, but zero control in terms of
experiencing it.
This
cannot be true of God. Even if He were
to experience emotions, because of such lack of self-control would contradict
His sovereignty, omniscience, and immutability.
For
example, since God is omniscience (all knowing), He cannot be surprised, and
this would at least eliminate certain ways of experiencing emotions in the
similar way to do.
For
example, suppose I become angry because a person insults me at this very
moment. It would be unlikely that I
would still be angry two thousand years into the future. And if I had known two
thousand years in the past that I would be insulted by a particular person, it
would be unlikely that I would be insulted by the time he does it. In fact, if
I had two thousand years to consider his insult, by the time he actually does
it, I might not react at all.
Therefore,
does God have emotions?
End
of Part 2
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