“The Bible is authoritative on everything of which it speaks. Moreover, it speaks of everything.”

-Cornelius Van Til

“And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

-Colossians 1:17

Introduction

If you look up the definition of any emotion right now, it will invariably define it in relation to other emotions. Every definition is just other emotions associated with that emotion, or the affect that it shows in the one experiencing it. Why is this? “How does that make you feel?” is the stereotypical question associated with counseling. We see it in movies and tv to the point of parodying counseling. The counselor on the screen will usually, in an overly serious manner, reply to something unrelated the counselee has said with “and how does that make you feel?” There are appropriate times to ask the question, of course. But how do we decide to answer it?

Our emotions play a significant part in our lives. There are, however, many presuppositions to identifying emotions that we take for granted. First, we assume that whatever we answer will have an agreed upon meaning. It requires sometimes hundreds of follow up questions to get an understanding of it to the point of being useful to the counseling process. If we did not, we would secondly be assuming working definitions, or how they affect our lives. Suppose a counselor asks you this question, or some variation of it, such as “How are you feeling?” Where do your definitions come from? How do you define emotions? Are they just on a scale of happy to sad with variations of them in the middle? This doesn’t seem very helpful, in counseling and otherwise.

The Pixar movie Inside Out has been used in counseling children, at times, to show the complexity and coexisting nature of emotions. But other than the color of the character representing that emotion (red, blue, green, yellow, purple), the expression cues on their face and body language (smiling, frowning, fire shooting from their head), and their actions (laughing, biting their nails, yelling), what are emotions themselves? Is it all just based on a common experience of what they result in? We need a standard. We need objective Truth. As the title plainly says, God defines our emotions in His Word to us. Without Him, we can’t make sense of anything, let alone something as complex as emotions.

Emotions in Full

Our emotions, as authentically experienced as they are, are fallible, and need to be submitted to God. God has the authority to define reality. Colossians 1:16-17 says “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Italics added). Paul is speaking in this case to Colossians about the society they live in on a macro level, but he includes “all things.” This is an inclusive statement including all areas of our lives down to the smallest detail. Another way to say this is that without God, nothing exists, including our emotions. God defines facts, and created an orderly world allowing us to do science and discover His incredible order.

Order, or “facts”, without emotions descend into darkness. Emotionless data means nothing. To illustrate what I mean here, the data that is collected to make the next great medical discovery would mean nothing if it did not bring joy to countless people, who without it, would be in despair. The relationship between truth and emotions is not a careless investigation into meaningless data, but an emotion filled search for truth, held together by the word of his power in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3) in God’s created and orderly universe.

The Word of God, as He is revealed through Scripture, is the standard that we submit them to for defining. It allows us to experience them as they really are, in full. Submitting our emotions to the truth of God’s Word allows us to have a standard that we not only learn about, from the outside looking in, but that we experience. We do this in light of their purpose in our lives to conform us to the object and example of our faith, The Father’s Son, Christ Jesus, “to the praise of His glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6)

This is perfectly displayed in the person and work of the God Man, Jesus Christ. He Himself is the truth (John 14:6). The “Logos” term used in the first Chapter of John is astounding. “In the beginning was the Word (Greek, “Logos”) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) Christ is the Truth, and created all things and defines them. What I’m saying here is that I will take the Biblical definition of something over the strictly clinical definition, every time. God cares about our emotions and experiences them as well. For example, Christ was a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3) but “for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). Notice the emotional tension in that last sentence. He is feeling the cross, not only physically, but with every emotion in full, as he takes the wrath of the Father in our place. Your emotions are important to God, but when we ask ourselves “How do I feel?” we can acknowledge what is contributing to how we define them (environmental, biological, cognitive factors) and then follow with “What does God say about this?” Does the Bible provide examples of this emotion and what did God say about it?

Our emotions are not in charge. Thank God. Our Creator turns all of our emotions for our good and His glory, as we see in the Psalms. For example, “It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). The psalmist sees a direct correlation between his negative experiences and his good result of knowing God more. All of the negative emotions that accompany affliction are experienced in light of knowing God is good and loves us as His children, and co-heirs with His Son, Christ (Romans 8:17). Our Father has the only and final authority on what our emotions are, what they do, and how we are to respond to them.

More Than Coping

We can experience these emotions while realizing that they ultimately have a purpose that is higher than just making us cope with them. We don’t want to just neutralize the negative emotions and cling to the positive for as long as we can stretch the experiences out. We want to experience them all to the full, recognizing each one is meant to be submitted to God for a purpose in our lives. We do cope with negative emotions. As opposed to methods of whatever can conjure up a positive alternative emotion, we cope through the light of His Word, containing the fact that God uses our emotions to draw us to obey Him, and grow in our love for Him.

There is an assumption that religion, specifically the Christian faith, disregards emotions, traditionally, in favor of “duty.” Jesus tells us something spectacular about one of the most frequently discussed human emotions: love. Although love is more than an emotion alone, it is not less than emotion. People define love in many different ways. Without Christ, all definitions are futile for every single emotion, including the emotions that we associate with love. He created them all and thus defines them. Jesus tells us “if you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). This is an astonishing proclamation for Him to connect our duty with our emotion. He doesn’t see the two as unrelated or even at odds with each other as some would suggest. This is a theological giant in our Christian doctrine. We don’t disconnect our love for Jesus, or any of the full range of emotions we experience, with our obedience to the commands of Scripture.

Mirroring the Artist

The Bible contains a variety of literature types within it. The historical books, books of prophecy and wisdom, witness accounts, and epistles provide an endless mine of spiritual gold. As we read and study the Bible, we discover how each type of literature shows unique characteristics of God. One of my favorite, is the type of poetry and song in the Psalms. The Psalms are a treasure trove of sweet spiritual realities experienced through the full range of human emotion.

This treasure trove that we have in the Psalms is meant for endless consumption. We can “taste and see” that God is good daily, no matter our circumstances. He defines what is good, and we can trust that any emotion we currently have is good in light of who He is. What follows are many examples of different emotions I see throughout the Psalms. Although it is not listed like a dictionary, we see many statements made about emotions that we can draw out and define them with.

We often get to see emotion as experienced by God. We see that He is “near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18-19), that he simultaneously is “angry with the wicked everyday” (Psalm 7:11), that He is present, even in our troubles (Psalm 46:1).

We likewise get to see concerning our emotions, true joy can only come from Him (Psalm 16:11)

We also have the various psalmists experiencing emotions as mankind. We see their response to them and what role these emotions play in glorifying God with the psalmist’s life.

Psalm 13- exhausted, feeling unable to bare it any longer. Sorrow for prolonged time.

psalm 17- feeling wronged, treated unfairly.

Psalm 18- distressed

Comedy, Not Tragedy

All of history is headed towards Joy. God will ultimately be joyous in the end of all things to show His characteristics to their fullest degrees of love, wrath, justice, mercy, grace, and holiness. This will result in joy for those who have faith in Him, through his Son, Christ, and sorrow for those that don’t. The ultimate effect of emotions in the lives of those who have faith in Jesus should be in light of the Gospel, which is that God will “wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” For Christian, your negative emotions lead ultimately to your eternal joy in God. I always seem to end up at this verse but I will end with this comparison given by Paul “For I consider that the sufferings” (and all of it’s negative emotions, author’s commentary) “of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory” (endless joy, author’s commentary) “that is to be revealed to us.” Submit your emotions to God’s Word and each one of them, from the lowest to the highest, will be used for your eternal good.