If you have read my book, you already know my answer to the question. The word empathy is a modern word that has only been used in the English language for the last hundred or so years. It was coined as a psychological term meaning “in-feeling”. The modern day meaning of the word has evolved into the basic term to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”
When the Bible was written thousands of years ago, the word empathy did not exist. Sympathy and compassion are the two main words used in the Bible to describe how we are to feel sorry for one another or bear each other’s burdens. Both sympathy and compassion demonstrate love for another by showing that we care about the other person when they are suffering. The roots of the word sympathy are the Greek words sym, which means “together”, and pathos, which refers to feeling or emotion. The Latin root “passio”, means to suffer, is paired with the Latin prefix “com”, meaning together – to suffer together.
You will not find the word empathy anywhere in a word-for-word translation of the Bible. Not because the idea of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes did not exist at the time, but the idea was not the representation of what the author’s chose to use. There is an important difference in sympathy and compassion vs empathy. Sympathy and compassion are external representations of caring for someone and empathy is the idea of living out the struggle with the other person through their experiences.
To understand the significant difference, one must first understand who Jesus is. Jesus is sinless. He never participated in sin. Jesus lived in a sinful world surrounded by sinners. Jesus ministered to sinners. With that being said, the only possible way that Jesus could show empathy according to the definition of “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” is to be in a situation with similar circumstances.
One of the greatest examples of Jesus feeling our pain as humans is found in John 11. If you read about the death of Lazarus when you get to verses 33-35 you will see Jesus’s reaction to his friend’s death. In this example Jesus wept with Mary. The emotions of Jesus paralleled that of Mary in response to the death of Lazarus. In that moment Jesus empathized with Mary’s feeling of sadness over the loss of Lazarus.
NASB 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept.
No where in the example above did Jesus enter sin to empathize with the emotional sadness of the situation. Again, like I have stated above, Jesus lived a sinless life. To maintain a sinless example, it is not possible for Jesus to empathize in situations that are caused by the direct result of sin. Look at the example below. This is one of the most horrid examples of twisting and turning scripture that I have ever read.
Example
Hebrews 4:15 NIV For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet he did not sin.
Hebrews 4:15 NASB For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
In Hebrews 4:15, word-for-word translations clearly show us that Jesus sympathizes with our weakness and failure to maintain a sinless life. NIV is not only changing the word sympathizes to empathize, but it is completely changing the meaning of the verse. Suggesting that Jesus can empathize with our weakness (sin) is not only Biblically inaccurate but is blasphemous in my opinion.
Modern day empathy seeks validation from others. It demands that you see things from the other persons perspective and imagine what it is like to live in their situation. That mindset is wicked and evil. Remember that Jesus is sinless love. There is no way that Jesus would wonder what it is like to be a prostitute, a tax collector, a drunkard, a thief, a murderer, an adulteress. Jesus would never put himself in those sinful situations. When people expect others to empathize with their sinful decisions, it is against God and completely unbiblical.
Should we show sympathy and compassion for others who are living with sins of their past? Most certainly. We are called to love one another. Loving and caring for another person does not mean that we must become part of the situational sin. We should be able to decern the proper time to show sympathy and compassion and when to appropriately show empathy. To be more Christ-like we should demonstrate more sympathy and compassion for others and less empathy.
Regardless of what anyone says, sympathy, compassion and empathy are distinctly different words with different meanings. When applying these words to situations in your life, make sure that you are using the appropriate word to fit the situation. Empathy by definition is “I know how you feel”. Sympathy by definition is “I’m sorry for the way you feel”. Compassion by definition is “I want to relieve your feelings”. Know the difference.