What is divine impassibility?
The idea of divine impassibility is that God does not feel pain nor does He have emotions. Divine impassibility is a difficult concept because it often means different things to different people. For this reason, some think that the term is best left unused or replaced with something else. Impassibility comes from the root word…
What does it mean that God repented?
The term repent at its root means “to change one’s mind.” To repent of sin means to change your mind about sin. At one time you thought sin was good and acceptable and even fun. When you repent, you see sin as evil and harmful. Any change of mind can be described as repentance. When…
What does it mean that God is just?
When we say that God is just, we mean that He is perfectly righteous in His treatment of His creatures. God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34), He commands against the mistreatment of others (Zechariah 7:10), and He perfectly executes vengeance against the oppressors (2 Thessalonians 1:6; Romans 12:19). God is just in meting out rewards:…
What does the Bible mean when it says that God remembered something?
Several times in the Bible, the phrase God remembered is used. After the rains of the great flood had stopped, “God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark” (Genesis 8:1). When the Hebrew slaves cried out to the Lord in Egypt, “God heard their groaning…
Does God change His mind?
Malachi 3:6 declares, “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Similarly, James 1:17 tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Numbers 23:19 is clear: “God is not a…
What does it mean that God is a consuming fire?
God is first identified as a “consuming fire” in Deuteronomy 4:24 and 9:3. The writer to the Hebrews reiterates, warning the Hebrews to worship God with reverence and awe “for our God is a consuming fire.” There is nothing mysterious about the Hebrew and Greek words translated “consuming fire.” They mean exactly that—a fire that…
Does God get angry?
It would be foolish to ignore the passages in Scripture that talk about God’s anger. Yes, God does get angry; there are many examples in the Bible of this. He “displays his wrath every day” (Psalm 7:11). However, we must not equate God’s anger with our own human experiences of that emotion. We must look…
What does it mean that God is omnibenevolent?
The word omnibenevolent comes from the Latin word omni, meaning “all,” and the word benevolent, meaning “good” or “charitable.” When we say that God is omnibenevolent, we are saying that God is absolutely good and that no action or motive or thought or feeling or anything else about Him is not purely good. He is…
How does God reveal Himself to us?
The Bible tells us that God reveals Himself to humans in four primary ways. All that God has created in nature discloses who He is. Our consciences (the human mind and heart) bear witness to the existence of God. He reveals Himself to us through His Word and the person of Jesus Christ. The first…
What does it mean that God is merciful?
God being merciful basically means that, when we deserve punishment, He doesn’t punish us, and in fact blesses us instead. Mercy is the withholding of a just condemnation. Throughout the Bible, God gives many illustrations of His mercy. God fully demonstrates His mercy in Jesus Christ. God was merciful to the wayward Solomon in 1…