Does God have a sense of humor?

from the old testament

• Genesis 1:26–27 teaches that we are made in God's image, meaning we reflect aspects of His nature—including humor. While our enjoyment of humor suggests God has a sense of humor, His emotions are holy, infinite, and untainted by sin—unlike ours, which are limited and fallen.
• In Psalm 2:1–3, the nations rage and plot against God (and His Anointed). God, who is transcendent, knows that’s silly. We read, “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” This is not mockery for amusement—it is the laughter of sovereignty. God is not threatened by rebellion and finds the foolishness of humans trying to overthrow Him worthy of mockery.
• God also uses dramatic reversals that add humor into a situation. For example, Balaam was a false prophet sent to curse Israel (Numbers 22:5–6). God told Him to not even try but eventually allowed him to go so he could bless Israel (Numbers 22:12; 23:11–12). On His journey, the angel of the LORD came and stood in his way, resulting in Balaam being rebuked by his donkey (Numbers 22:21–23). The situation is absurd, even comical, but it reveals God’s control over all things and His ability to expose human blindness in humorous ways.
• Esther is another example of God humorously reversing the situation. Though He is never named in the book, His hand is present throughout by the examples of providential situations. In the end, we see God working everything out so that the antagonist, Hamam, unexpectedly finds himself hung on the very gallows he built to hang the protagonist, Mordecai (Esther 7:10). The moral gravity is real, but the turnaround reveals a holy kind of poetic justice.
• After the ark had been captured by the Philistines, they placed it in the temple of their god, Dagon. But “when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place” (1 Samuel 5:3). First, their “god” was found bowed down before the LORD, but second, Dagon couldn’t pick himself up—the people had to lift him up. The situation of humans helping a supposed “god” is humorously ironic. As if to emphasize His divinity, God has the false god bow down twice to him, removing his arms and head the second time to emphasize the point (1 Samuel 5:4).

from the new testament

• Jesus employed wit and irony to expose spiritual blindness. In Matthew 23:24, He says, “You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” The Jewish leaders were trying to obey tiny things in the law while subverting justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23). Jesus’ humor is visual and exaggerated, illustrating the absurdity of legalistic nitpicking while ignoring weighty moral issues.
• Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well shows His humorous way of revealing her sin when He asks her to call her “husband.” The man she was living with was not her husband, and she had to admit that. Rather than approach her sin in a way that embarrassed or condemned her, Jesus lightly allows her to realize her own sin (John 4).
• In addition to Jesus’ humor, we find God working out His humor through the foolishness of Jesus’ disciples. As one example, Peter was in prison while others were praying for his release (Acts 12:1–5). However, after God miraculously released him in answer to their prayer, placing him outside the door of the prayer group (Acts 12:6–12), Peter had to continue to knock because they would not believe that their prayer had been answered (Acts 12:13–15). This illustrates God using men and women’s foolishness to tell a humorous story. Those who heard the story later would have been laughing, while those involved would have been blushing at their disbelief at receiving exactly what they had asked.

implications for today

God has a sense of humor, but it is not an irreverent or flippant humor. His righteous humor highlights foolishness, and His sarcasm teaches His people about righteousness. For Christians, this provides needed balance. Sometimes, we believe that being a Christian means being humorless, unmoved by the foolishness that surrounds us. In other times, we openly mock unbelievers, ridiculing them unrighteously. However, from Scripture we learn that we serve a God who maintains His righteousness while also allowing Himself to express His disdain for sin through humor.

When our laughter is grounded in righteousness, it shows that we are healthy branches, correctly abiding in Jesus (John 15:5). It also reminds us that eternity is not colorless and dry. While our humor easily slips into coarse or sinful mocking, God’s humor always serves truth and sanctification. It corrects pride, dismantles pretense, and shines a light on our limitations.

So, while we must guard against trivializing God’s majesty, we should also remember that the God who made laughter is not humorless. He is holy—and in His holiness, He can and often does smile.