Impassibility
Historic orthodoxy
God is not subject to emotional change, suffering, or being overcome by creatures; his love and wrath are perfect and steady, not swings of feeling.
Also called: impassible, without passions
What it means
Impassibility means God is not acted upon by his creatures in a way that changes him. He is not moved from calm to agitation, overcome by grief, or made vulnerable by what we do. The confessions say he is "without passions," using the old sense of passion as something suffered or undergone.
This is not a claim that God is unfeeling. Scripture speaks of his love, joy, compassion, and anger, and these are real. Impassibility says they are not like ours, rising and falling with circumstances. God's love is always full; his hatred of evil is always steady. When the Bible describes God in emotional language, it truly tells us what he is like toward us, in terms we can understand.
What about the cross? The church confesses that the Son of God suffered, but in his human nature. The one who suffered is truly God, yet the divine nature did not suffer. That is why Christ took a body: so that the impassible God could, as man, suffer and die for us. Impassibility is a comfort, because the God we run to in grief is not himself overwhelmed.
In Scripture
God is not a man that he should change his mind, as people do under pressure.
The Lord does not change, and so his people are not consumed.
Paul and Barnabas say they are men of like nature with the crowd, unlike the living God they preach.
The Son shared in flesh and blood so that through death he might destroy the devil.
The Lord's loving devotion never ceases; his mercies are new every morning.
Where it comes up
Confessions: WCF 2.1; LBCF 1689 2.1
Related terms
Classical theismHistoric orthodoxy
The historic Christian teaching that God is infinite, eternal, unchanging, and perfect in himself, not dependent on or improved by his creation.
ImmutabilityHistoric orthodoxy
God does not change in his being, character, knowledge, or purposes.
Divine simplicityHistoric orthodoxy
God is not made up of parts; his attributes are not pieces of him but are each the one undivided God.
Hypostatic unionHistoric orthodoxy
In Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God took a full human nature, so that he is one person who is truly God and truly man.
Relational theismFlagged as a concern
A view that keeps much of historic theology but sets aside doctrines such as impassibility, immutability, or simplicity, so that God is changed by his relationship with creation.