Podcast Summary: Doctrine Matters with Kevin DeYoung

Episode: What Is the Doctrine of Impassibility?
Host: Kevin DeYoung
Producer: Crossway
Release Date: February 24, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Kevin DeYoung continues his exploration of the incommunicable and communicable attributes of God, focusing especially on the doctrine of divine impassibility. DeYoung addresses frequent misunderstandings and objections related to the idea that God does not suffer, explaining its theological roots, connections to other divine attributes, its historic significance, and its implications for understanding God’s nature. He concludes by introducing the communicable attributes of God under the categories of intellect, will, and power.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impassibility Defined and Its Connections

• Definition of Impassibility (00:45):

  • “Impassibility, in short, means that God does not suffer, that he cannot be acted upon from without. Neither can his inner state change, for better or worse.”
  • Closely related to immutability (unchangeableness).

• Historical Support (01:50):

  • Long-standing Christian doctrine, “from the early Church through Anselm, Aquinas, Calvin, pretty much until maybe the last couple hundred years has this come under serious attack.”

• Misunderstandings Addressed (02:15):

  • Early Christians weren't merely influenced by Greek philosophy; they articulated impassibility based on biblical revelation.
  • “To be impassible did not mean [God] was inert or inactive. It meant that he was entirely active… he is always active… he cannot be acted upon.”

2. Theological Implications of Denying Impassibility

• Divine Passibility's Problems (03:20):

  • If God suffered like creatures, this would make him “the most miserable of creatures,” reducing him to the same ontological level as creation.
  • “He would be in a state of becoming rather than a state of being.”

• Relation to Process Theology (04:05):

  • Accepting passibility hints at a God “in process as we are” and needing to help us in order to relieve his own suffering—a concept foreign to classical theism.

• God’s Emotional Life (05:10):

  • Distinguishes between biblical descriptions of God’s emotions (anthropopathisms) and literal human emotions.
  • “He does not have emotions like we have emotions.… The Bible talks all the time about God having, we might say, an emotional life, having affections … anthropopathisms … describing God in ways that we can understand with human emotions.”

3. Impassibility and the Incarnation

• Preserving Mystery (06:20):

  • Invokes Charles Wesley’s hymn, “’Tis mystery all, the immortal dies,” and explains, “There is nothing remarkable about the mortal dying … The wonder and the miracle of the Incarnation is that God did the most ungodlike thing possible. He suffered and he died.”

• Importance for Christology (07:15):

  • The Son had to become man to truly suffer. “By [his] suffering and death he conquered sin, death, and the devil for us.”

4. Historical Heresies Related to Impassibility

• Theopaschetism and Patrapassionism (08:00):
  • Theopaschetism: The belief that God suffered as God on the cross, failing to distinguish between divine and human natures of Christ.
  • Patrapassionism: The belief (rooted in modalism) that the Father suffered when the Son suffered on the cross.
  • Early church councils, e.g., Council of Rome (382), repudiated these errors: “If anyone says that in the Passion of the Cross God felt painful … he does not think rightly.”

5. Transition: Communicable Attributes of God

• Overview (09:17):
  • Three broad categories:
    • Attributes of Intellect (God’s Thinking)
    • Attributes of Will (God’s Choosing)
    • Attributes of Power (God’s Doing)

A. Attributes of Intellect (09:40)

• Knowledge: God knows all things as they truly are—comprehensive and perfect.
• Wisdom: “Ability to use that knowledge … to the attainment of his ends in a way that glorifies him most” (10:00, citing Louis Berkhof).
• Truthfulness/Veracity: God is “the true God in that he is truth and he always does and speaks what is true” (10:25).

B. Attributes of Will (God’s Choosing) (10:47)

• Holiness: “The only divine attribute mentioned in threefold repetition—Holy, holy, holy…” (10:50).
• Goodness: God is the opposite of all that is harsh, cruel, or severe.
• Love:
  • “Just because our culture misunderstands this doesn’t mean we want to be in any way embarrassed. No, we want to trumpet … that the Bible says God is love” (11:15).
  • Multiple layers, such as love of benevolence (goodwill), love of beneficence (acts of kindness), and love of complacency (delight in self, the Son, and those united to the Son).
• Grace, Mercy, Longsuffering, Righteousness, Justice: Each briefly described as reflections of God’s moral character and relationship to his people.

C. Attributes of Power (God’s Doing) (12:55)

• Omnipotence: “There is nothing he cannot do … he has unrivaled power … he is for us. God wills what he wills, and the fact that he wills it because he has power to exercise it.” (13:00)
• Sovereignty: God “works all things after the counsel of his will” (13:48), determining the stars, ruling kingdoms, and ensuring his promises never fail (Daniel 4:35).
• Integration of Attributes (14:10):
  • “No attribute of God should be divorced from any other attribute.… God’s absolute power does not exist independent of his goodness, his love, his mercy, his knowledge, his truth, his immutability, his wisdom.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Impassibility and God's Nature:

  • “He is so active, he is pure act, he is always active … that he cannot be acted upon.” (02:10)
  • “The wonder and the miracle of the Incarnation is that God did the most ungodlike thing possible. He suffered and he died.” (06:35)

• On God’s Love:

  • “No, we want to trumpet from the mountaintops that the Bible says God is love. And we see this displayed in the sending and the sacrifice of His Son.” (11:15)

• On Divine Sovereignty:

  • “There is nothing too hard for God. Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.” (13:23)
  • “God always works for the good of his people and for the glory of his name.” (14:53)

Key Timestamps

• 00:45 — Introduction to Impassibility: Definition and background
• 02:10 — Impassibility is not divine inactivity: “He is pure act”
• 03:20 — Risks of denying impassibility & lowering God to creaturely level
• 05:10 — Biblical language for God’s “emotions” (anthropopathisms)
• 06:35 — Mystery of the Incarnation: God suffering as man, not as God
• 08:00 — Explanation of Theopaschetism and Patrapassionism
• 09:17 — Transition to communicable attributes: intellect, will, and power
• 13:00 — God’s omnipotence and sovereignty explained
• 14:10 — The integration of God’s attributes; why sovereignty is good news

Summary Takeaways

Kevin DeYoung delivers a concise yet comprehensive look at the doctrine of divine impassibility, showing its intertwined relationship with other core attributes of God such as immutability and sovereignty. He clearly distinguishes between the Creator and creation, highlights the vital importance of maintaining the classical distinction between literal and analogical predications about God, and calls believers to marvel afresh at the mystery and glory of the Incarnation. The episode concludes with a systematic break-down of the communicable attributes, urging listeners to see God’s thinking, choosing, and doing as inseparable aspects of his perfect being and his redemptive work.