To cause or experience deep sorrow, pain of heart, or distress — used both of human mourning and, remarkably, of God's own response to human sin. "And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart" (Genesis 6:6). That God grieves reveals that he is not an impassible abstraction but a Person who is genuinely affected by the actions of his people. Paul commands believers: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Ephesians 4:30) — an astonishing verse that implies the Spirit can be pained by the sins and unkindness of his people. Grief is also a spiritually valid human experience: Jesus wept (John 11:35), and Paul distinguishes godly grief (which leads to repentance) from worldly grief (which produces death) in 2 Corinthians 7:10.
GRIEVE, v.t. To occasion grief to; to give pain of mind to; to afflict; to make sorrowful. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. — Eph. 4:30. v.i. To feel grief; to be in pain of mind; to be deeply affected by some evil; to sorrow; to mourn. We grieve at the loss of friends or property.
Modern culture has democratized and psychologized grief to the point that nearly any disappointment qualifies. "Grieving" your favorite TV show's cancellation, your team's loss, or a social media slight dilutes the profound moral and theological weight of the word. More dangerously, the command "do not grieve the Holy Spirit" has been all but erased from evangelical consciousness. Sin is described in terms of its effects on the believer (freedom, health, wholeness) but rarely in terms of its effect on God himself. That our sin pains the indwelling Spirit should be among the most sobering motivations for holiness — not guilt management but love for a grieved Person.
Ephesians 4:30 — "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
Genesis 6:6 — "And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart."
2 Corinthians 7:10 — "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."
Isaiah 63:10 — "But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them."
G3076 — λυπέω (lupeō): "to grieve, to pain, to make sorrowful" — used in Ephesians 4:30 of grieving the Spirit
H6087 — עָצַב ('atsab): "to grieve, to hurt, to wound at heart" — used of God's grief in Genesis 6:6
G3997 — πένθος (penthos): "mourning, grief" — the grief of lament and sorrow over loss or sin
"Paul doesn't say the Holy Spirit will be annoyed or inconvenienced by sin — he says the Spirit will be grieved. That's a Person who loves you responding to betrayal."
"Godly grief over sin is not wallowing — it is the appropriate response of a soul that understands what it has done to a holy God, and it leads somewhere: repentance."