Confessing the Impassible God

New RBAP title coming this fall

Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility, eds. Ronald S. Baines, Richard C. Barcellos, James P. Butler, Stefan T. Lindblad, and James M. Renihan.

RBAP currently has two books on divine impassibility, God without Passions: a Reader and God without Passions: a Primer. What is divine impassibility? Sam Renihan, in his newest book (God without Passions: a Primer), defines it as follows: “God does not experience emotional changes either from within or effected by his relationship to creation” (19). That definition might startle you. It sounds as if God were a cold, indifferent divine rock or robot. Notice the words just used to describe God: “cold,” “indifferent,” “rock,” and “robot.” Each of these terms are creaturely; they are borrowed from the created realm. Of course God is not “cold,” “indifferent,” a “rock,” or a “robot”; He is not creature. This is exactly what the Second London Confession of 1677/89 asserts, when it says, “[God is] without body, parts, or passions” (2.1). Each of these terms – “body,” “parts,” “passions” – are indicative of creatures not the eternal Creator. “Passions” are creaturely actions which need a creaturely “body” and creaturely “parts” (i.e., faculties of the soul) in order to exist. “Passions” come into being; God is (Exod. 3:14).  Since God has neither “body” nor “parts” of which He is comprised or compounded, and due to divine immutability and eternity, He is impassible (i.e., “without…passions”).

But, someone might be thinking, does divine impassibility mean that God is not love? Of course not, for we are told that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The love of God is a divine perfection, co-extensive with the divine essence and, therefore, eternal. It is not a divine passion (a contradiction). Love is what God is (i.e., actually), not what God can become (i.e., potentially). God can and does reveal His love to creatures but He does not and cannot manufacture more love or deplete Himself of previous love. For to become more or less loving, for example, implies the imperfection of a previous state of existence. God’s perfections are immutable.

This leads to RBAP’s next book on divine impassibility, Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility. This book will cover hermeneutics, exegesis, historical theology, systematic theology, the Confession, and practical theology. It will contain a Foreword by Paul Helm and has been endorsed by Earl Blackburn, Walter Chantry, James Dolezal, J. V. Fesko, Ryan McGraw, Fred Sanders, David VanDrunen, Jeffrey Waddington, and Sam Waldron.

Here is the table of contents:

Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Foreword…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Paul Helm

Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

The Editors

Introduction

An Introduction to the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: Why is this Doctrine Important?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

James M. Renihan

Part I: Theological and Hermeneutical Prolegomena

1. Analogy and the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility……………………………………………………..

Charles J.  Rennie

2. Hermeneutics: Analogia Scripturae and Analogia Fidei………………………………………………….

Ronald S. Baines

Part II: Biblical Foundations

3. The Old Testament on Divine Impassibility: (I) Texts on the Nature of God………………

Steve Garrick with Ronald S. Baines

4. The Old Testament on Divine Impassibility: (II) Texts on Immutability and Impassibility………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ronald S. Baines and Steve Garrick

5. The Old Testament on Divine Impassibility: (III) Texts on Apparent Passibilism and Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Steve Garrick, James P. Butler, and Charles J. Rennie

6. The New Testament on Divine Impassibility: (I) Texts on the Nature of God, Immutability, and Impassibility…………………………………………………………………………………

Richard C. Barcellos and James P. Butler

7. The New Testament on the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: (II) Creation, the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ, and Conclusion………………………………………………..

Richard C. Barcellos

Part III: Historical Theology

8. Historical Theology Survey of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: Pre-Reformation through Seventeenth-Century ……………………………………………………………………..

Michael T. Renihan, James M. Renihan, and Samuel Renihan

9. Historical Theology Survey of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: The Modern Era……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Brandon Smith and James M. Renihan

Part IV: Systematic Theology

1. A Theology of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: (I) Impassibility and the Essence and Attributes of God…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Charles J. Rennie

1. A Theology of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: (II) Impassibility and the Divine Affections…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Charles J. Rennie

2. A Theology of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility: (III) Impassibility and Christology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Charles J. Rennie and Stefan T. Lindblad

Part V: Confessional Theology

3. Confessional Theology and the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility……………………………….

James M. Renihan

Part VI: Practical Theology

4. Practical Theology and the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility……………………………………..

James P. Butler

Part VII: Conclusion

5. Closing Comments and Affirmations and Denials……………………………………………………..

Ronald S. Baines and Charles J. Rennie

Appendices

1. Review of God with Us: Divine Condescension and the Attributes of God, K. Scott Oliphint……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Charles J. Rennie

2. Review of God is Impassible and Impassioned: Toward a Theology of Divine Emotion,

Rob Lister…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

James E. Dolezal

Scripture Index………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Name and Subject Index………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Glossary of Technical Terms and Theological Phrases…………………………………………………….

Bibliography of Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………………

Here are some brief excerpts from Paul Helm’s Foreword:

. . . This book can be said to present an interdisciplinary exposition and so a cumulative defense of divine impassibility and of the doctrine of God of which that is an aspect. Each line of argument strengthens and supports the other. Its foundation in Scripture, and the hermeneutics employed, show the doctrine to be not speculative or abstract but to have its foundation in the varied data of the both Testaments of the Bible. The chapters on history show that divine impassibility is not a recent whimsy or the peculiar invention of a Christian sect, but the historic catholic faith. Those on the confession and the doctrine of God set out its Baptist pedigree, and the connectedness of impassibility with other distinctions made in the doctrine of God, and their overall coherence. Each line of enquiry sensitizes the palate to taste the others. There is a polemical strand throughout the book, contrasting this view with those of Open Theism and aberrant statements from contemporary Calvinists and others. But these arguments are used not to score points but to set forth and make even clearer the positive, historic teaching on divine impassibility, by contrasting it with other currently-held views.

I am honored to have been asked to write this Foreword, and delighted with what I have read. Confessing the Impassible God is heartily recommended.

Paul Helm

Former Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion

King’s College

London

Here are some excerpts from the endorsements:

How is the confessional phrase God is  “without . . . passions” to be understood? Is God really without passions? Isn’t he like us or rather aren’t we like God, made in his image? We have passions and emotions, therefore, God must have the same; or so the argument goes. Can God become emotionally hurt or distraught? Does God actually and emotionally change with varying circumstances and situations in human history? After all, doesn’t the Bible say that God repented? These are some questions that have been raised in the past century, but with renewed vigor in the last ten years.

The above questions are skillfully answered in this book Confessing the Impassible God. . . .

Earl M. Blackburn

Heritage Baptist Church, Senior Pastor

Shreveport, Louisiana

_______________

. . . You will find within these covers profound thought that is not all easy to grasp but well-worth the effort.

I am pleased to commend this volume. May it bring much praise to “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Walter J. Chantry

Author of Today’s Gospel, Authentic or Synthetic?,

Signs of the Apostles, and Call the Sabbath a Delight

_______________

The essays in this volume constitute a wonderful blend of biblical, historical, contemplative, and practical theology all in defense of the doctrine of divine impassibility. The defense mounted is not primarily against the usual cast of detractors—Open Theists and process theologians—but against those evangelicals who imagine that abandoning or reconceiving impassibility can be done with little or no detriment to the edifice of a classical theology proper. The authors are convinced that once one begins to chip away at this crucial piece of the foundation the whole house of orthodox Christian conviction about God and his attributes begins to falter. And they are right.

. . . The result is a richly rewarding study that magnifies our unchanging God.

James E. Dolezal

Assistant Professor of Theology

Cairn University

_______________

Truth sometimes sounds stranger than fiction, which is why Confessing the Impassible God is a welcomed, rigorous defense of the traditional and confessional doctrine of divine impassibility. . . . The contributors provide a significant exegetical, theological, historical, and practical engagement of the issues, which makes this eminently useful for pastors, scholars, seminarians, and even people in the pews.

1. V. Fesko

Academic Dean

Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology

Westminster Seminary California

_______________

Theology is not static. The church has made progress in its understanding of the Trinity, Christology, Soteriology, and Ecclesiology. However, theological development ordinarily comes through the church combating error rather than choosing a research topic for a new book. In responding to error, the church must build upon and enrich her understanding of Scripture, in dialogue with church history, with an eye toward a new generation, rather than jettison the past in the name of theological progress. This book presents the old view of divine impassibility, using old arguments, against new critics.

Ryan M. McGraw

Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

_______________

A spirited reclaiming of the doctrine of divine impassibility, this coherent, well-edited, multi-author project is unique in several commendable aspects. It is decisively Baptist, but advances its argument in ways that recent generations have stopped expecting from Baptist theologians. These authors are committed to the final authority of Scripture in doctrinal matters, but mastery of their tradition’s confessional resources gives them uncommon access to depths of theological understanding. In particular, they have chased the doctrine that God is “without passions” all the way down metaphysically, relating it meaningfully to the theology of the divine being as pure act, and steadfastly refusing mere voluntarism, the persistent Scotist reductionist temptation to make everything depend on God’s will rather than his nature. Evangelical projects of retrieval are becoming more common as theologians appropriate patristic and medieval resources. Confessing the Impassible God stands out for its commitment to a retrieval of the middle distance, the Baptist confessions of early modernity as the nearby trailhead to the great tradition of Christian theology. Good fences make good neighbors, and I think that, paradoxically, the decisively Baptist focus of this project is what will make it useful beyond its own Reformed Baptist confessional borders.

Fred Sanders

Professor of Theology

Torrey Honors Institute

Biola University

_______________

Confessing the Impassible God addresses a topic that gets to matters at the heart of our understanding of the living God. Exploring the doctrine of divine impassibility through thorough historical, confessional, systematic, and exegetical studies, the authors make a compelling case that maintaining a robust affirmation of impassibility not only secures our continuity with the long patristic, medieval, and Reformation tradition of theology proper but also guards against falling into a range of errors that entail portraying God as something fundamentally other than the God of classical, biblical Christianity.

. . . I recommend this volume to all thoughtful Christians who wish to know and worship God truly, and I expect they will find here great encouragement to embrace impassibility not as a sterile idea of Greek metaphysics but as profound biblical teaching meant to bolster our faith, hope, love, joy, and confidence in the Triune God.

David VanDrunen

Robert B. Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics

Westminster Seminary California

_______________

Classical theism is under attack in our day. Specifically such doctrines as divine simplicity and impassibility are deconstructed in an effort to achieve a more believable and accessible God. Unfortunately this more believable and accessible God is not the God of the Bible. It would be bad enough if the enemies of Christ led the attack against classical theism, but it is so-called friends who undermine the classical biblical witness to our great and glorious self-contained triune God. The broader church and Reformed community owe a debt of gratitude to our Reformed Baptist brothers for producing Confessing the Impassible God. In this fine book, the classically biblical doctrine of divine impassibility is defined and defended, explored and exposited. . . . This volume covers the whole spectrum of the theological encyclopedia on divine impassibility. I salute the men who have been involved in the publication of this fine book.

Rev. Jeffrey C. Waddington
Stated Supply & Ministerial Adviser—Knox Orthodox Presbyterian Church Lansdowne, PA
Ministerial Adviser—Calvary Church of Amwell (OPC) Ringoes, NJ
Panelist & Secretary of the Board—The Reformed Forum
Articles Editor—The Confessional Presbyterian Journal
Book Series Editor & Fellow—Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

_______________

There was a time when it was my opinion that the Doctrine of God or Theology Proper was settled. It seemed to me that, except for the debates over God’s eternal decree between Reformed and Arminian Christians, the Doctrine of God was of little polemic interest. If that was ever really the case, it is surely not the case now. The onslaught of Process and Open Theism, the claims that the classical Christian doctrine of God was seriously infected with Greek philosophical ideas, and the consequent and widespread proposals to modify the traditional Theology Proper of classical Christian theism are provoking widening discussion. Confessing the Impassible God provides an important, deep, and thoughtful response to the proposed revisions to the doctrine of divine impassibility—one of the hot-spots in the polemic furor among Reformed evangelicals over the Doctrine of God. I am grateful for the theologically careful and historically informed hermeneutics and exegesis of the present volume. I am grateful especially for the reminder that this book contains of the importance of recognizing the revelation of Scripture as analogical, and sometimes anthropopathic, and the importance of recognizing this in our teaching. Confessing the Impassible God deserves close study and appreciative discussion among Reformed Christians.

Sam Waldron

Dean of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary

Pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church

Owensboro, KY

_______________

Confessing the Impassible God: The Biblical, Classical, & Confessional Doctrine of Divine Impassibility, eds. Ronald S. Baines, Richard C. Barcellos, James P. Butler, Stefan T. Lindblad, and James M. Renihan, coming soon from RBAP!

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