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God Without Passions: God’s Unshakeable Perfection (US)

Samuel D. Renihan

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God Without Passions: The Majesty of God's Unshakeable Perfection

“Samuel Renihan’s “God without Passions” provides a clear, cogent, biblical, and pastoral presentation of the truth about our all-sufficient, constantly-faithful God.” Dennis E. Johnson

What is This Book About?

This new and revised edition of Renihan’s widely-acclaimed theological classic deals with the doctrine of divine impassibility – a long-forgotten doctrine in our day. The word “impassibility” is completely unfamiliar to the majority of Christians today. Even in the study of systematic theology, impassibility tends to receive a minute amount of attention compared to other doctrines.

So, what is impassibility? Why is it important? And why is it relevant to us today? In “God Without Passions” Samuel Renihan wonderfully explores this doctrine and its implications for the Christian life in an accessible way, showing why it is biblical, necessary, and fruitful for God’s people to embrace the doctrine that God cannot be shaken or stirred – that he is without passions. In studying how God lacks passions, the reader of this book sees the unchangingly faithful and perfect God of the Holy Scriptures as our sure rock and foundation amidst the turmoils of life. Read this book and rejoice in the knowledge of our glorious unchanging God.

Read a review of or interview about this book at:

Alpha and Omega – Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals – Reformed Forum

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About the 'Confessional Perspective' Series

The Confessional Perspective series is dedicated to doing theology for all in the church. The books within will explore the doctrines of the Christian faith from a confessional and pastoral perspective, and their aim is to provide readers with rich yet accessible content that introduces them to confessional theology. This series is committed to the Second London Baptist Confession, its contemporary application and the recovery of sound doctrine in our day for Christ’s church around the world.

We pray that you will be blessed by the truths of God’s word found within these rich resources!

About the Author

Samuel D. Renihan, PhD, is Pastor at Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in La Mirada, California, and has written several books on theology, such as The Mystery of Christ and Deity and Decree. He is married to Kimberly and they have one child, and he teaches as Adjunct Professor of Theology at International Reformed Baptist Seminary (IRBS). Sam writes, “This short book is designed to give a simple, clear, and practical presentation of the doctrine of divine impassibility for everyone from the pulpit to the pew… May God use this book to enrich your understanding of him as he has revealed himself in Scripture and to increase your appreciation of the truths the church has confessed throughout history.”

The doctrine of divine impassibility has been maligned, misunderstood, unhelpfully nuanced, and even rejected in our day. But why is it so misunderstood? Why such differing opinions over a doctrine included in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Second London Confession of Faith? In God without Passions, Samuel Renihan’s method of approaching the doctrine of divine impassibility is the answer to that question. I commend this book to people in the pew, theological students, pastors, and seasoned theologians. It is well-written and easy to digest. Its method is sound. Its doctrine is confessionally and biblically faithful. Though every chapter is worth reading and will provide much profit, if you are like me at all, chapter 1 will seal the deal. And the last chapter shows how important and practical the doctrine of divine impassibility is. Though only a short introduction to the subject its contents will inform the mind and fill the soul with wonder and amazement. May you increase in the knowledge of God!

The biblical presentation of God who does not change, whose character is eternal, is not a plaything, something merely for the ivory tower. He who is beyond time and change uses representations of himself that are human-like in order to adapt himself to our circumstances, and to be our guide in life. This means that in our thinking about God we are required to discipline our minds, and Samuel Renihan shows us how to do this.

Too often today the truth that the eternal, unchangeable Creator sustains his universe, redeems his people, and interacts with his creatures without becoming hostage to their ceaseless fluctuations is ignored, misunderstood, misrepresented, and rejected. Renihan demonstrates the biblical origins and historical foundations of this doctrine, and he shows its positive implications for our personal spiritual struggles and for the pastoral care of our fellow-strugglers.

I n addition to penning extensive theological systems and confessional documents, the theologians of the Reformation and postReformation era devoted their energy to writing shorter treatises for the instruction of the church. They did so convinced that theology was itself practical (not that it needed to be made practical), as it not only nourished faith but promoted the worship and adoration of our infinite God and Savior. Sam Renihan’s God without Passions is clearly born of the same conviction and directed toward the same goal. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, both to those who are unfamiliar with this doctrine and to those who have wrongly assumed that divine impassibility is but a vestige of an unbiblical and impractical theological system for which we have no need. Read carefully and your knowledge of the living God will be deepened, your faith increased, your hope enlivened, and your love warmed.

What Sam Renihan has done in God without Passions is to provide clarity in terminology and foundational principles for discussing the issue of divine impassibility. He provides a long-needed reminder of the biblical hermeneutics necessary to discuss accurately such a difficult topic. Renihan’s insight that God does not have affections or passions but, rather, perfections, is the biblical and theological key often missing in the debate whether God “feels” love, mercy, anger, etc. I commend Sam Renihan in his clear, consistent outline and explanations which are easy to follow on such a complex topic. His final chapter on “Personal Applications and Pastoral Implications” catches my attention as the kind of Pastoral Theology we need more of today. I will be using this book with my people.

God without Passions is like a wholesome, satisfying meal, nourishing our souls. It should be eaten leisurely, for pleasure and for health, and with gratitude to the impassible God who provides it. The last chapter explaining the practical uses of this theology is a delectable dessert, but let me suggest its use also as an appetizer. If you wonder whether this topic will benefit you as a Christian, then read the last chapter first. Then when you’ve read the preceding chapters, read it again for maximum impact. With God’s blessing, you will never be the same. Let me invite and urge you to put aside any distracting junk food, breathe a prayer of thanksgiving for this feast, and sit down to savor it. May the Lord strengthen your inner man by this rich fare!

Many theological writers can be expected to understand their subject. Far fewer are able to make their subject understandable. Samuel Renihan has that rare ability to do both. This introduction to the topic presents a profound truth in a profoundly simple manner. This book will find use in the hands of scholars and students, pastors in pulpits and people in pews. I have read few modern theological treatments that can both illumine and inspire. The old writers excelled at both, and it is good that God is blessing us with young men who can do the same.

God Without Passions is the most important theological book most Christians don’t know they need to read. The theological terrain of divine impassibility is dangerous, often leading to a view of God that is either temperamental or altogether unfeeling. Pastor Sam Renihan leads us safely through to the open pastures of God’s true character where certainty and safety abound. This is an accessible book, biblically persuasive, and a theologically tight work that is sure to benefit the church at large, and strengthen the faith of those who read it with an aim of understanding, depending on, and worshipping the God who is love.