How can a perfect being have “passions” or emotional responses to
things? The Bible doesn’t say. It just talks about God’s response to things in emotional language and then claims that God is perfect in the sense that he is completely properly formed in his being and person.
For those interested in trying to understand this better, I recommend this article by Paul Helm here.
The Doctrine is called “Diving Constancy” or more commonly “Divine Impassibility”.
i. His Deity– He alone is God.
ii. His Sovereignty– “That he made heaven and earth, and that he has the right to rule what he has made as he thinks right.”
iii. His Glory- the quality of his person is worth the highest valuing and should eclipse all other lesser glories.
iv. His People- his covenant is more sacred and enduring than the most beautiful marriage.[1]
Read Spurgeon’s Sermon here
[1] We should have pity on those that ridicule and hate God’s people. They are evoking the jealousy of God and his avenging of his bride is an awful fate.
Worship is an integral part of the Christian faith, and God’s demand of our worship should be a cause of great joy – it is an act of justice, truth, goodness, generosity and compassion toward us. But one objection to Christian worship is resentment toward God for demanding worship. C.S. Lewis, before he was converted, believed that the constant demand of worship from God and the Psalms were like that of a vain, insecure old woman demanding praise and complements. The extent to which we believe this will repel us from adoring and enjoying God through worship. So is God vain to demand worship of us? Is it the product of divine insecurity and therefore only offered by us out of fear?
Continue reading Is God vain or insecure to demand worship from us?
Engage & Equip 