Jesus Reveals a Relational God<\/h3>\n
Jesus teaches that God is an Abba (Father) who responds to children, which is intimately relational activity (Mk 14:36). In a story about a wayward son, Jesus describes God as a forgiving father who \u201cfelt compassion\u201d for a lost son; this father \u201cran and embraced [the son] and kissed him\u201d (Lk. 15:20).<\/p>\n
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his listeners to imitate this God of relational love: \u201cbe compassionate as God is compassionate\u201d (Lk. 6:36). I could cite many more examples of Jesus describing God as relational. In sum, the God Jesus reveals is relational.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/sweden_and_the_baltics_2_1391-200x300.jpg\")
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Perhaps more effectively than any theologian in the past half century, J\u00fcrgen Moltmann has argued that Jesus\u2019 death on the cross points to God\u2019s passibility. In Jesus, God identifies with the godless and godforsaken. The cross reveals that suffering is internal to Trinitarian life, says Moltmann. The crucified God shares in the suffering of the world, and thereby shows solidarity with those who suffer.[2]<\/a> In short, Jesus\u2019 suffering on the cross reveals that God suffers.<\/p>\n Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n It could be argued, however, that the relationality of Jesus — whom many Christians call the \u201cGod-man\u201d — describes only Jesus\u2019 humanity. Perhaps his deity remained impassible.<\/p>\n This argument might prompt us to ask, Should we project onto God the relationality we see in Jesus? Are Christians engaging in anthropopathic projection when they say Jesus reveals God as passible and capable of expressing emotions?[3]<\/a><\/p>\n When answering these questions, we should begin by admitting that although Jesus represents God\u2019s character (Heb. 1:3; 1 Jn. 3:16), he did not re-present every divine attribute. Jesus was neither omniscient nor omnipresent, for instance. And yet, Christians think God is like Jesus unless they have compelling reasons to think otherwise.<\/p>\n If Jesus was affected by others, expressed emotions, and yet remained steadfastly loving, there are Christological grounds for thinking God can do the same.<\/p>\n Instead of worrying that we might be engaging in anthropopathic projection of Jesus\u2019 passible and emotion-laded attributes onto God, we should believe we are engaging in a theopathic exercise that projects God\u2019s passibilty and emotions onto Jesus. The compassionate God, for instance, is revealed in the compassionate Jesus. And when we who are \u201cconformed to the image of the Son\u201d (Rm. 8:9) express positive relations and appropriate emotions, we imitate the passible and emotional God. Perhaps this is part of what it means to be made in God\u2019s image (Gen. 1:26).<\/p>\n Christians have strong Christological arguments to support divine passibility. When Jesus relates with others, expresses emotions, feels compassion, and suffers on the cross, he is acting like God.<\/p>\n Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Among the many books affirming Jesus and divine passibility, see Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament\u2019s Christology of Divine Identity<\/em> (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008), William Placher, Narratives of a Vulnerable God: Christ, Theology, and Scripture <\/em>(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994); Alan Torrance, \u201cDoes God Suffer? Incarnation and Impassibility,\u201d in ed. Trevor A. Hart, Christ in Our Place: The Humanity of God in Christ for the Reconciliation of the World <\/em>(Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1989).<\/p>\nIs Relationality Only an Aspect of Jesus’ Humanness?<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h3>\n
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