Fallen Emotions? Reconciling Scriptural Commands on Emotions
If you did not read the first blog on “fallen emotions”, I suggest you go back and read it right here, but let me give a quick introduction to this post. I read recently a faithful pastor writing about “fallen emotions”, where he was basically saying that since we are commanded not to have fear and anxiety, that these are fallen emotions that did not exist prior to the fall. I dealt with the fact that, Biblically, there is no argument that can be made from Scripture these emotions did not exist prior to the fall. The Bible demands, in fact, that we recognize that they not only existed prior to the fall, but they are created by God.
In this post, my desire is to deal with the commands to not fear and not be anxious that we find in Scripture. Before diving in, however, let’s talk just a bit about harmonization of Scripture. Because the Bible is true and does not contradict itself, when we read it and find something that seems like an apparent contradiction, we must understand that the problem is not with the Word of God, the problem is with our understanding. Therefore, what we must do is seek to harmonize the passages. We do not setup Scripture to contradict itself, rather we think more deeply, make sure we are seeing it all in context, and then figure out what we might have wrong.
This is necessary when it comes to understanding the commands to not fear and to not be anxious. There are plenty of commands in the Bible that state that we are not to fear, but we also see plenty of places where we are instructed to fear. “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10, Legacy Standard Bible). “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). There seems to be many, many Scriptures condoning fear in the New Testament, and they must be harmonized with the commands not to fear.
...we must understand that the problem is not with the Word of God, the problem is with our understanding
I think the words of Jesus helps us harmonize this, “And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The words “do not fear” here are not condemning a feeling that rises up in our gut. If we were to get arrested for doing good, I believe every one of us would have a feeling that we would describe as fear in the pit of our stomach, but Jesus is not concerned with that feeling here, He is concerned, rather, with how we respond in our actions. Will the threat of arrest cause us to stop doing what God has called us to do or will we continue doing well despite the feeling in our gut? The point is that we are to be driven by what God says, not by fear of men. Like Peter and the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
My point is this, that the “do not fear” texts are not calling us to get rid of a feeling, rather they are calling us to respond properly to every circumstance. The Bible is not condemning the emotion of fear, it is rather teaching us that we are to make decisions out of truth, not emotion, and that we are to choose what is right despite the emotion. We must remember that the emotion is not the ruler, rather we are the ruler teaching our emotions what is true. In the case of the above text, we teach our emotions that despite the feeling we may have when man attacks us, faith shows us that God is worthy of enduring such.
We must remember that the emotion is not the ruler, rather we are the ruler teaching our emotions what is true.
Some may wonder if anxiety is similar, and I would argue that it is. The most common text referred to about anxiety is, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). Many a counselee has been hammered over the head with this text by counselors who have not studied diligently enough. One only need to look at the word Paul uses here and check with how he uses it elsewhere in the same book. Writing of Timothy Paul said, “For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your circumstances” (Philippians 2:20). Our English translations might change the word, but in the Greek “be concerned” is the same word as “be anxious”. Paul is commending Timothy to them because he possesses this emoton toward the church, he cannot later be condemning the church for merely having that same emotion.
Therefore, we must harmonize the two of these. Timothy and Paul had genuine concern, or anxiety, for the churches. This was a healthy concern, to which Paul and Timothy responded properly by writing and caring for them in many ways. In fact, how did Paul know Timothy had this concern? Because on the outside Timothy lived out this concern he had on the inside. When Paul, then, says that the church should be anxious (concerned) for nothing, he certainly would find it pleasing if they were concerned for the churches as Timothy was, would he not? Clearly, there is a good type of anxiety, or concern, and a bad type of anxiety, or concern. Paul is teaching the church to let go of their anxiety that is unhealthy, that is robbing them of their joy in the Lord, that is causing them difficulty in their lives. His desire is that feeling in their gut would lead them to turn to the Lord rather than look for solutions among themselves.
His desire is that feeling in their gut would lead them to turn to the Lord rather than look for solutions among themselves.
Harmonization helps us understand how we can be commanded to both fear and not to fear, and how anxiety can both be commended and condemned. We must always be careful to keep all Scripture in context of all Scripture. In my next blog post, we will take a look at Jesus and whether He experienced these emotions.
