Does God have emotions?

The Gospels present Jesus, whom Christians believe reveals God, feeling a full range of emotions: grief (John 11:35), anger at injustice (Mark 3:5), visceral compassion (Matthew 9:36), joy (Luke 10:21), dread (Luke 22:44), a sense of forsakenness (Matthew 27:46), love, weariness, and wonder. God, in Christ, is not detached or unfeeling.

Why do the emotions of Jesus matter?

Because they reveal a God who understands human feeling from the inside, not from a distance. Whatever you are feeling, grief, anger, dread, exhaustion, longing, Christ has felt it too, which means you are met not by an unmoved deity but by One who enters your emotional life with you.

The heart of God in Christ

The Emotions of Jesus

We are taught to imagine God as pure, unmoved calm, too high and too complete to feel anything. The Gospels tell a different story. In Jesus, God wept, burned with anger at injustice, was moved in the gut with compassion, rejoiced, dreaded the cross, felt forsaken, loved specific people by name, grew weary, and marveled at faith. God is not unfeeling. In Christ, he felt it all, from the inside.

“Hebrews 4:15”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.

Each feeling below has its own page: the moment he felt it, why it changes everything that God felt it, and how it meets you in the same feeling.

Jesus WeptAt the tomb of Lazarus · John 11:35
Jesus Was AngryIn the synagogue and the temple · Mark 3:5
Jesus Was Moved With CompassionSeeing the crowds · Matthew 9:36
Jesus RejoicedIn the hour of the seventy's return · Luke 10:21
Jesus Was Troubled and in AnguishBefore the cross · John 12:27, Luke 22:44
Jesus Felt ForsakenFrom the cross · Matthew 27:46
Jesus Loved Individuals by NameBeholding one man, one family · Mark 10:21, John 11:5
Jesus Was WearyTired at the well · John 4:6
Jesus MarveledAt faith, and at unbelief · Matthew 8:10, Mark 6:6

✝

A God who felt it too

The feeling you are carrying, grief, anger, dread, longing, was not foreign to God. In Christ he felt it himself, from the inside. The Living Bread is a quiet place to bring the whole of what you feel to the One who understands it, read the Gospels, and pray, at your own pace.

Meet JesusLiving Bread on the webiPhoneAndroidThe questions Jesus askedLook Again

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Frequently asked questions

Does God have emotions?: The Gospels present Jesus, whom Christians believe reveals God, feeling a full range of emotions: grief (John 11:35), anger at injustice (Mark 3:5), visceral compassion (Matthew 9:36), joy (Luke 10:21), dread (Luke 22:44), a sense of forsakenness (Matthew 27:46), love, weariness, and wonder. God, in Christ, is not detached or unfeeling.
Why do the emotions of Jesus matter?: Because they reveal a God who understands human feeling from the inside, not from a distance. Whatever you are feeling, grief, anger, dread, exhaustion, longing, Christ has felt it too, which means you are met not by an unmoved deity but by One who enters your emotional life with you.