The Joy of the Lord
God has spoken in His holiness: “I will exult, I will portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth. Psalm 60:6 NASB
Will exult – Do you feel it? God does. Yes, that’s right, God rejoices. Don’t for one minute think of the immutable, impassible God of Aquinas or Luther or Calvin. God is not the “first principle of causation” or the mysterium tremendum (R. Otto). He is the Father of the faithful, full of passion and delight, laughter and joy! God exults.
The verb is ‘alaz. It’s found in only a few places in the Bible (e.g., Isaiah 23:12, Jeremiah 11:15 and 15:17, Psalm 149:5). This is emotion! It is a word about such overwhelming feelings that it results in uninhibited shouting and singing. By the way, when it is used of the emotions of the wicked or the sorrowful, it is just as strong. Weeping and gnashing of teeth come to mind. No two ways about it. This word is a feeling word.
Perhaps that’s why it is so important to recognize that the word is used by God Himself. One of the implications of a strong doctrine of immutability is that God cannot feel. Yes, I know, we don’t usually think like this. But theologians do. In fact, impassibility is the doctrine that it is logically impossible for God to feel. Why? Because feelings are fleeting and God cannot change. So if God feels an emotion of joy one time and an emotion of sorrow another, then this violates the idea of immutability and rather than change our doctrines, we just modify how we read the text. Presto chango—this isn’t really about God. It’s just an anthropomorphic expression for us! It’s what we need to hear but it really doesn’t describe God as He actually is. Once again, theology trumps the text. No wonder the guys who first thought up this idea instructed priests not to say anything about it. Do you really want a God who cannot feel?
Hebrew is so much more lively than Greek. God is right in the midst of it all. He is filled with joy when we obey. He loves what He does. He agonizes over the lost. He weeps for the wicked. He hates sin and pours out wrath on the unjust. In fact, there is hardly a verse about God in the Tanakh that isn’t saturated with emotion. Funny, we see the same thing with Yeshua. What do you suppose “If you have seen me you have seen the Father” means? Did you ever think that Yeshua’s remark included anger at Lazarus’ tomb, tears over Jerusalem, impatience with the disciples or gut-wrenching compassion for the widow of Nain? Have you seen the emotional God lately?
Perhaps we should add a verse here and there. We could start with “The joy of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” That might correct a good deal of Greek-based theology. Does God feel? Everywhere I look I find that the text says He does. So why do I hang on to a theological construct that says the text is wrong?
Topical Index: feelings, joy, exult, ‘alaz, impassibility, immutability, Psalm 60:6
“God cannot feel. Yes, I know, we don’t usually think like this. But theologians do.” “Mr. Theologian,” Jesus wept. (John 11.35)
~ For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin ~ (Hebrews 4.15)
There goes the excuse: “I’m only human!” So was He. And so was Luther and Calvin, and Adam and Noah, and Eve and Esther. We all (dear friend) are made of the same “stuff.” Body-soul-spirit. (Hey, at least I used dashes and not commas!)
There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to Him:
Now wait just a minute! “things that the LORD hates?” Isn’t “hatred” an emotion? And btw.. (just a thought)- aren’t we all (male and female) made in the image of God?
Blessed is the man? Isn’t blessed a state of happy? or joy? ~ Grieve not the Ruach Hakodesh! (the Holy Breath or Wind or Spirit). Can we “humans” grieve God? Are there things we do or say (or think) that grieve HIm? that cause Him great sorrow? – or even shame?
Just how (excuse me) “human” is God? Human enough to bleed. To bleed “real” red blood. Human enough to walk on the very ground He created. Human enough to work in a carpenter’s shop. Human enough to eat our food and to breath the very same air we do. Human enough to speak with
each and all of us. Human enough to pray. Human enough to teach.
Consider (if you are able) the compassion of (the) Christ. And may God (in the depths of His mercy) reveal unto each of us- what it means for us- we who live in the “here and now,” – to be fully human. We need to look no further than to the son of Man, the second Adam, – our sinless-spotless-satisfying Savior, the One who has promised: ~ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you ~
Friend, – I need that peace. The peace (shalom) that comes from the “Fount of every blessing.” And grace, God’s grace, meets need. ~ And He, the Prince of Peace- Jehovah Shalom – has given unto us- all things that pertain unto life and godliness ~
His instructions? Ask. Ask, and you will receive. Seek and you (too) will find. Knock. Patiently-persistently-expectantly, and it shall be opened/revealed unto you (too). Blessed is the Name of the LORD- Prince of Peace -Jehovah Shalom. Amen.
Somehow I found myself in middle age with the thought that there were ‘good’ emotions and ‘bad’ ones. Joy was qualified, somehow (it probably wasn’t ‘good’ that ‘bad’ people were joyful; they were probably enjoying sin!) and stuff like anger or jealousy were just unqualifiably ‘bad’. You were always going to be a sinner if you did those. Where did I get this stuff?
I wanted to know how to process emotion correctly after I began to figure out, sitting in a 12-step program, that I wasn’t handling any of them well. So I assigned myself the task of finding out how the Word handles the subject. What I found genuinely shocked me: it was God Himself Who was having emotions! Not just those ‘good’ ones, either! He was having EVERY ONE! Even those ‘bad’ ones! He was jealous, furious: He sulked, brooded, CHANGED HIS MIND! He cried and despaired, and became ecstatic when the bad guys got trounced. I was floored.
I am still on that floor. This subject looks like an assignment for life. Emotions seem to be very important. We don’t seem to understand them well. Especially when it comes to our God!
My biggest relief, initially, after seeing all that, though, was that i probably was not a ‘bad’ person for finding that, down deep, I was experiencing all those emotions ABOUT GOD. I began to suspect that, instead of being a terrible sinner for finding myself angry at Him, I might still be all right. It was at that very point I decided that I could screw up my courage and start an honest relationship with Him. And myself. And then others, too. It wasn’t me vs. my emotions any more. Emotions, per se, are not sin. Whew! What a relief! They, in fact, form the basis of relationship. It is what I DO with them, that counts! My first honest encounter with Him I found myself screaming at Him at the top of my lungs. I was sharing my anger at Him with Him. LIghtning didn’t strike me! We went from there.
Thank you, Skip, for having the courage to start again, from the bottom. Its just the very best place to start. The older I get, the more suspicious I get that we all have to go start there! May God bless us all.
Speaking for myself,
the joy of the Lord is the all surpassing experience of
His presence within and the unmatchable peace and
power of His Word.
We know from His Word that it is His desire that we share
in His joy more than just every now and then. “Rejoice in the Lord always.
Again I will say, rejoice!” Phil 4:4
I can see it now! Me in the presence of God and we are dancing, God and me. Oh what fun!
Fascinating, Skip. I think that idea that is so apparently mutable that you point out about the “immutability” of God is obvious. That false teaching about God having no emotions just leads us to soullessness. Good point. I wonder if that is why there have been such tragedies among Christians because their children are so bound up by the legalism and this particular wrong view of God not having emotion that they are sort of trapped into becoming sociopaths without realizing it. Jesus help us.
The verse I have been astounded by in this vein was God’s emotional response, when he saw in Noah’s day how violent man and even beast had become. In his regret that he had made man, the Hebrew word implies it knocked the wind out of him. …”it grieved his heart…” (Genesis 6:6)
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H6087&t=KJV
http://biblehub.com/hebrew/6087.htm
Oh God thank you for caring for us so.
Conversely, look at Jesus’ emphasis on sharing his and his Father’s joy. Reading John 17 through leaves no doubt God is a brilliantly happy and highly motivated (and hence excited) person.
Great ideas, Skip.
Thanks for the praise. By the way, this doctrine is fundamental to the Church even if no one wants to say so. It is a direct logical concomitant of immutability. I discuss it in detail in my book, God Time and the Limits of Omniscience. It’s origin is Parmenides. How it got into Christianity is quite an interesting story.
Skip, is this book (put on my Amazon.com wishlist) in anyway close to the ideas by Charles Finney about God’s sovereignty and man’s free will? I’ve heard so many different points of view, I just wondered.
The best thing I ever heard about this was from George Westlake, who described to me his clarity of this subject in the cross. From the standpoint of God’s complete Sovereignty, he was in Christ reconciling us to himself and this was a finished and an accomplished work then on the cross. We are saved by grace. Still, man can resist God’s grace, which is the other side of the cross – evil.
It is available on Amazon, but if you buy it from them, they will keep 65% of the revenue and that doesn’t help me much. Please consider ordering it from my web site.
skipmoen.com/products
While the book does address the issue of free will, it is primarily a study of HOW the idea of perfection, spawned by Parmenides, influenced the early Church fathers and subsequent Church theologians and CREATED the problem of free will and sovereignty, a problem that is resolved with a Hebraic view of time rather than the Greek view.
Okay. If I buy it, it will be from you directly. I have a limited budget, which is why I was so cheap joining your site. It goes with the territory of working at a university. lol
It is cheaper as a download PDF on my site.
This is how I feel about this today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfhuAWGscvg
Or better yet, – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI62qjx3DKQ&list=UUc-SflP5HkHBhrT9CysnU6w
It would be a helpful exercise, Skip, if you provided a list of those Calvinists who hold to an unqualified immutability as you suggest. 😉
A more important question: Does God suffer mood swings caused by his creatures? If so, can it be said that God is in control of his emotions? Is he in sovereign control, or does he merely react in thought and action to the actions of his creatures?
How about both. Minus the “merely”
Now you’re starting to sound like Augustine and Calvin. 😉
“Because of this relatively recent distortion, we now need to clarify something that has been understood for centuries: Immutability is qualified. Calvin and Augustine did not teach unqualified immutability (i.e., that God could not change at all in anyway whatsoever), but rather a qualified immutability (i.e. that God is unchanging in His nature and essence ~ or “substance,” which was Augustine’s word for essence). When Calvin et al used the phrase “absolute immutability,” it was in reference to God’s nature and essence, not His actions, not His relationships, not His emotions, not His manifestations, not the expressions of His glory.”
God’s emotions follow and align with His truth/righteous judgment. For example, God correctly judged the Israelites idolatry and the state of their hearts and His righteous anger followed. Humans do not always judge/think correctly about what is happening, so inaccurate/destructive emotions follow. For example, someone I know well would sometimes have a scowl on his face for no apparent reason, but I assumed he was mad at me. My emotions followed, and I felt hurt. However, he told me that he was scowling because he was in pain, and it had nothing to do with me. I then corrected my judgment to match the truth and no longer experience hurt in that situation. If I continued to hold my judgment that he was indeed mad at me, then I would continue to be hurt. Now I ask if I am in doubt so that my emotional response can be aligned with the truth. It seems that both God’s and humans’ emotions follow judgment/thoughts. The difference is that God’s thoughts/judgments are always accurate and, therefore, His emotions are always righteous. Ours on the other hand can follow faulty judgment/thinking and then only serve to solidify untruth which can be chaotic and destructive. We need to be guided into all truth and then righteous emotions will follow.
I am currently studying the word “alaz” in the Hebrew and I came across your article in a Google search. I wish you had said more. I find myself longing for more on “alaz”.