The impassibility claim, therefore, primarily recognizes the creator and creature distinction. God has no body, neurons, hormones, hunger, and so on. Hence, he cannot be passible like us. But according to his being (immaterial, etc.), he loves, grieves, and so on. He does so without ever deviating from the course.

Adolf Harnack advanced the thesis that early Christians used Greek thought rather than Jewish or Biblical categories to define God. Following him (and others), many commonly make the accusation that: “Early Christians were beguiled by Greek thought. So they imported Greek thinking into their conception of God instead of using the Bible.”

This accusation does not make sense of the evidence. It is a weak argument that we should leave behind and forget about entirely. Here is the reality.

Reality

Of all the church fathers, Origen might be considered the most Greek of all early Christian thinkers (again, not a helpful description). But even he does not meet the stereotype of propagating a static God of the Greeks. For example, he once wrote of Christ:

 “He came down to earth out of compassion for the human race. Having experienced our sufferings even before he suffered on the cross, he condescended to assume our flesh. For if he had not suffered, he would not have come to live on the level of human life.

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