Emotional attachment, within the context of the Bible, refers to the deep bonds and connections that individuals form with one another, with God, and with the created world. These attachments are often characterized by love, loyalty, and a sense of belonging, and they play a significant role in the biblical narrative.

Attachment to God

The Bible frequently emphasizes the importance of forming a strong emotional attachment to God. This attachment is rooted in love, obedience, and trust. Deuteronomy 6:5 commands, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This verse underscores the comprehensive nature of the attachment believers are to have with God, involving every aspect of their being.

The Psalms often reflect a deep emotional attachment to God, as seen in Psalm 42:1-2 : "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God." This imagery conveys a profound yearning and dependency on God, illustrating the depth of emotional connection that believers are encouraged to cultivate.

Attachment in Human Relationships

Emotional attachment is also evident in the relationships between individuals in the Bible. The bond between David and Jonathan is a notable example. In 1 Samuel 18:1 , it is written, "After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself." This passage highlights the deep friendship and loyalty that characterized their relationship, demonstrating the strength of emotional attachment between friends.

The marital relationship is another context where emotional attachment is emphasized. Genesis 2:24 states, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." This union signifies not only a physical but also an emotional and spiritual attachment, reflecting the intimate bond intended in marriage.

Attachment to Family

Family relationships in the Bible are often marked by strong emotional attachments. The love and devotion between parents and children are frequently highlighted. Proverbs 17:6 notes, "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers." This verse reflects the mutual pride and affection that characterize familial attachments.

The account of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis illustrates the complexities of emotional attachment within a family. Despite the initial betrayal by his brothers, Joseph's eventual forgiveness and reconciliation with them (Genesis 45:4-15) demonstrate the enduring nature of familial bonds and the potential for healing and restoration.

Attachment to the Community

The Bible also addresses emotional attachment to the broader community of believers. The early church, as described in Acts 2:42-47 , exemplifies a community bound by shared faith and mutual care: "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer... All the believers were together and had everything in common." This passage illustrates the strong sense of attachment and unity that characterized the early Christian community.

Warnings Against Misplaced Attachments

While the Bible encourages healthy emotional attachments, it also warns against attachments that can lead individuals away from God. In Matthew 6:24 , Jesus teaches, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." This warning highlights the danger of forming attachments to material wealth or other idols that can detract from one's relationship with God.

Similarly, 1 John 2:15-17 cautions against loving the world in a way that compromises one's attachment to God: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This passage underscores the importance of prioritizing one's attachment to God above all else.John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Topicalbible.org

Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before,
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James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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Proverbs 13:24
He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes.
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Proverbs 15:13-14
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
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Luke 15:11-32
And he said, A certain man had two sons:
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Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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Isaiah 53:4
Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
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Isaiah 51:11
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
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Acts XI
... that all the influence, both upon the understanding and the emotional nature, exerted ...
having found him he brought him to Antioch." The attachment being mutual ...
/.../mcgarvey/a commentary on acts of the apostles/acts xi.htm

The Preacher as a Christian.
... Christ had obtained, and He retained, an extensive hold on his emotional nature.
St. ... John, was more filled with the glow of personal attachment to Christ. ...
/.../stalker/the preacher and his models/lecture vii the preacher as.htm

Useful Phrases
... devitalized personality. devoted attachment. devouring ambition. devout thanksgiving. ...
emerald scintillations. eminent nonentity. emotional warmth. emotive power. ...
/.../kleiser/fifteen thousand useful phrases/section i useful phrases.htm

Hymns of Christian Devotion and Experience.
... religious nature, his spiritual frames exemplified in a notable degree the emotional
side of ... with him there in his cell led to an attachment which eventuated ...
/.../brown/the story of the hymns and tunes/chapter iii hymns of christian.htm

Miscellaneous Phrases
... Tamed and wonted to a settled existence. Tempered by the emotional warmth of high
moral ideals. That way madness lies. ... Unreasoning and unquestioning attachment. ...
/.../kleiser/fifteen thousand useful phrases/section xi miscellaneous phrases.htm

part iii.
... Our attachment to the world and the hallucinations growing out of it, prevent its ...
While, on the one hand, the intellectual and emotional qualities of the mind ...
//christianbookshelf.org/clark/the faithful steward/part iii.htm

Third Tractate. Problems of the Soul (1).
... such locations as that of desire at the liver and emotional activity at ... does contain
any such alien element it gives itself, with increasing attachment, to the ...
/.../plotinus/the six enneads/third tractate problems of the.htm

On the Soul and the Resurrection.
... If this is really so, an inordinate attachment of that particular soul to ... or by
purgation hereafter, our soul becomes free from any emotional connection with ...
/.../gregory/gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/on the soul and the 2.htm

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