Channels, Fall 2016

Page 16 Little • Emotions and the Divine Nature descriptions serve as checks upon each other. God is not a static, impersonal thing. But he is a perfect person, such that he will not change nor be corrupted. Second, Irenaeus views God as meaningfully good and loving. 93 He states, “the love of God, being rich and ungrudging, confers upon the suppliant more than he can ask from it.” 94 He further describes God as good and kind, saying, “And those things which, through His super-eminent kindness, receive growth and a long period of existence do reflect the glory of the uncreated One, of that God who bestows what is good ungrudgingly.” 95 These descriptions of God hardly match a cold and static view. God is kind and possesses rich love. God can be understood as both the “primary cause” 96 and the God who is good and kind. In The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Irenaeus further describes God as “merciful, compassionate, good, righteous, the God of all.” 97 All of these descriptions serve as limits for how we understand Irenaeus’ view of impassibility. God is unchanging and, as creator, is not subject to the passions of man. However, he is consistently good, compassionate, and kind. Irenaeus follows the Scriptural narrative in allowing creation to signal that this transcendent God is disposed towards us in meaningful and personal ways. 98 Third, Irenaeus upholds the wrath and judgment of God. He derisively says of his heretical opponents, 99 “thinking that they had found out a God both without anger and [merely] good, they have alleged that one [God] judges, but that another saves, unconsciously taking away the intelligence and justice of both deities.” 100 For Irenaeus, the anger of God is an important attribute that is intimately tied to his justice. 101 God’s wrath against sin is essential to maintaining his justice and must be maintained along with impassibility. The God of Irenaeus is a God who is both just and wrathful. These three limiting factors further clarify Irenaeus’ apophatic use of impassibility. This use maintains an understanding of the divine nature as unchangeable and incorruptible. It appropriately recognizes the distance between creator and created and warns us against assuming that God has the same passions as men. At the same time, it does not mean that God is inactive, and it certainly does not discount his anger and goodness. The God of Irenaeus is a trustworthy and incorruptible God who cares about his creation. 9393 I am indebted to Weinandy for his analysis of this aspect of Irenaeus’ thought. See Weinandy, Does God Suffer? 93-95. 94 Irenaeus, Against Heresies , 3 preface. 95 Ibid 4,38,3. 96 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4,38,3. 97 Irenaeus, Apostolic Demonstration, 8. 98 Weinandy, Does God Suffer? 93. 99 In this case the Marcionites. 100 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3,25,2. 101 Gavrilyuk, The Suffering of the Impassible God, 53.