Does God Have Emotions? Part 3

Since God is eternal (timeless), everything that happens, past, present and future, occurs simultaneously in the now. So that insults and offenses that are directed toward Him are happening “now.” God does not necessarily have to wait 2000 years in the future for an event to occur while having the time to think about it, or reflect 2000 years in the past to get over an offense. To an eternal God, all events are happening to Him in the “now.”

But even here we need to be careful. We do not want to imply that God would be angry about one particular insult throughout eternity, and not just when it happens. The crucifixion of Jesus was an insult to God, but it occurred at a particular moment in time (Gal. 4:4).

The Bible says that God is angry with the wicked every day and displays His wrath (Psalm 7:11). Yet, while we were once enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), Jesus died for such people (v. 6). Therefore, those who have received God’s wonderful gift of His Son, God has turned His anger away from them (Rom. 8:1). So, while it may be nice to think of an eternal God who experiences all events in the here and now, it is confusing to suggest that God is both angry and pleased with Christians. It is either one or the other. You see, since God knows His Son’s sacrifice as well as the sins of people before coming to Jesus, we would not know whether God is angry or not at us if all events and things to God are happening in the eternal now. God is not like man. So we cannot attribute Him our characteristics of thinking and reasoning without some biblical guidelines.

Okay, let me put it this way. If an action of mine can cause anger in God in a similar way that I can cause anger in man, then this means that I can cause anger in God by my power. To the degree that God lacks power and self-discipline, He is helpless against my efforts to cause anger in Him.

Similarly, if an action of mine can produce joy in God in a similar way that I can produce joy in a man, then this means that I have the ability to produce joy in God at will. So then, I would exercise a significant measure of control over God. But such thoughts would surely contradict God’s sovereignty and immutability.

End of Part 3