Is the ‘Sin of Empathy’ a Biblical Teaching?

I see Christians debating about the “sin of empathy.” Is that a biblical teaching?

I think the phrasing might be deliberately provocative, verging on clickbait. But the point, I believe, is that any virtue, even empathy, can be twisted and weaponized. Although that is true, I worry that some people use that to disparage calls for genuine empathy and compassion or to justify behaviors lacking in empathy and compassion in the name of zeal for God’s truth. People have often distorted and weaponized the virtue of zealous truth telling too.

In fact, the Bible emphasizes tempering truth telling with empathy, compassion, and gentleness. The apostle Paul told us to speak “the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). He described the “Lord’s servant” as someone who “must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful” (2 Tim. 2:24). Even doctrinal opponents “must be gently instructed” (2 Tim. 2:25). Paul enjoined Christians to “mourn with those who mourn” (Rom. 12:15). He wrote that the church is one body with many parts, and “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). God’s people are to clothe themselves with “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Col. 3:12). Hebrews 13:3 says, “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:39). Can we do that genuinely without some level of empathy? Jesus himself was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), and he publicly wept out of empathy (John 11:35). Jesus harshly rebuked religious teachers who lacked empathy (Matt. 23:4).

The Bible is more concerned with the lack of empathy and compassion than with having too much empathy.

There is a good reason for this emphasis. Gustave Gilbert, the American psychologist who studied the Nazi war criminals of World War II, famously concluded, “Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” Of course, we have to be careful not to demonize everyone who lacks empathy, as some people who are neurodivergent naturally have difficulty showing empathy. Nevertheless, it is a cautionary note.

Let us emphasize what the Bible emphasizes and worry more about lacking empathy than about having too much empathy.