Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Impassibility

God is not subject to emotional change or suffering caused by his creatures — though he genuinely loves, and the incarnate Son truly suffered in his human nature.

Latin impassibilis, 'not able to be acted upon / made to suffer'; Greek apathēs.

Inferred from immutability (Mal 3:6; Jas 1:17) and from God's completeness (Acts 17:25); the 'grieving' and 'wrath' language is read as real revelation accommodated to us.

The patristic and medieval consensus. The theopaschite question ('did God suffer?') was settled at Constantinople II (553): 'one of the Trinity suffered in the flesh' — the divine person is the subject, the assumed human nature the medium. Twentieth-century 'passibilist' theology (Moltmann's 'crucified God'; process theism) makes divine suffering central.

Classical defenders (Weinandy, Gavrilyuk) argue a God who is perfect Love does not need to suffer to love perfectly, and a God who is a victim of his creation cannot save it. Impassibility denies that God is overwhelmed by passion, not that he loves or acts.

One of the most contested attributes today; passibilists argue real sympathy requires the capacity to be affected and point to the cross.

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