Love is a volition and not an emotion

"Palmer (pp. 77, 78) stresses man's need of regeneration because of total depravity. Well and good. But to substantiate man's sinfulness, after speaking of man's intellect and will, he adds, 'And as far as his emotions are concerned, he cannot love God, 'because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God' (Romans 8:7).' That an unregenerate man cannot love God is indubitably true, but the 'mind of the flesh' is not the emotions. The history of orthodox theology, at least from Augustine on, teaches that Biblical love is a volition, not an emotion. Paul himself has small respect for the emotions. In Colossians 3:5 he says, 'Mortify therefore your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, pathos, inordinate affections. . . .' The New American Standard translates the last two words as 'evil desire.' Desire may or may not be an emotion; fornication and uncleanness seem to be emotions; and pathos surely is.  The New American Standard translates it 'passion' - the English cognate. Arndt and Gingrich give 'suffering' which makes no sense in this verse, and then add 'passion, especially of a sexual nature,' and also 'anger.' The supreme of all lexicons, Liddell and Scott, has accident, experience, misfortune, death. None of these make sense in this verse. But the continuation is, emotion, passion, sensation, and in literature, emotional style. Paul therefore instructs us to suppress our emotions; and if so, love is not an emotion. It is a volition. Palmer himself escapes nearly all the religious deterioration this misinterpretation has so widely caused in recent years. But the congregations subjected to semi-Christian psychologies need constant warnings." - Gordon H. Clark, The Holy Spirit, Pg. 32 -33