Reasonable Faith Podcast Can God Be Grieved?
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Apr 20, 2026 A lively theological back-and-forth about whether talk of God being 'grieved' is literal or figurative. They unpack divine attributes like aseity, impassibility, and simplicity. The discussion tackles resisting or quenching the Spirit and whether human choices can frustrate God’s purposes. Competing views on Molinism, Calvinism, and biblical language about God’s emotions feature prominently.
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God's Aseity Frames The Grief Debate
- Divine aseity means God is self-existent and all other reality is contingent on Him.
- William Lane Craig emphasizes this to set up how claims about God being 'grieved' interact with God's independence from created causes.
Free Will Frameworks Affect God's Grief Explanation
- Molinism and Arminianism allow God's will to be thwarted by human free choices while Calvinism stresses unilateral divine determinism.
- William argues biblical texts (1 Tim 2.4, thwarted desire for all to be saved) favor a non-deterministic account.
Impassibility Means Not Overtaken Not Emotionless
- Classical impassibility holds God does not suffer or experience emotions as humans do to avoid being 'overtaken' by passions.
- Kevin argues this is tied to divine simplicity and historic theology, while William objects to an overly strong version that denies real divine relations.