God
is Spirit
Spirit is defined as “the
nonphysical part of a person that is the seat of emotions and character.”
That definition has a lot to chew on: “nonphysical,” “seat,” “emotions,” and
“character.” We’ll talk about God’s emotions and character in future studies
but here, we’ll focus on the “nonphysical” or we might say, “nonmaterial” part
of the definition.
Because there is a God
who caused
everything, then God Himself cannot be caused. He was not created. He did not
“come” from anywhere. So, God is Pure Existence. He has no potentiality so He
cannot change.
The Bible clearly
teaches that God is spirit: Exo. 20:4; 33:20; 1 Kings 8:27; Isa. 66:1-2; Luke
24:39; John 1:18; John 4:24; Romans 1:20; Col. 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16; Heb.
11:27; 12:9, 23.
We will look at a few
of these verses. Exodus 33:20 - “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for
man shall not see me and live.” Cleary, God is of a different nature than man.
Luke 24:39 - “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see.
For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Paul writes of God’s
invisibility: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be
honor and glory forever and ever” (1 Timothy 1:17).
The fact that He created the
material/physical world (Gen. 1:1) and everything material and physical has a beginning and an end,
then God must be beyond
this world. He must be spirit.
Can we share in this
characteristic? If so, how? For one thing, when the Bible says that God made
man in His image,
after His likeness
(Genesis 1:26-27), clearly it is the case that God made man with a spirit. Our
spirit is not eternal. It had a beginning. But, it will not have an end. When
the Bible describes our
future, after death, it is referred to as either eternal “life” or eternal
“punishment” (Matt. 25:46).
What impact does this
characteristic have on us?
Because God is spirit, we cannot make
His image into something physical - Exo. 20:3-4; Acts 17:24-29.
Secondly, we must worship God in a
spiritual way - John 4:24. Worship is communion between our spirit and the
Eternal Spirit, God.
--Paul Holland
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