Part 3 | The Only True God – God is Spirit

INTRODUCTION

In our previous Bible studies we have considered the existence, knowability and eternity of God. We will now move on to consider what the Bible means when it says that God is Spirit. There are a number of scriptures which describe what God is like through the ‘God is…’ statements. God is true (John 3:33), God is love (1 John 4:8), God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), God is not a man (Numbers 23:19). John 4:24 is one of the ‘God is…’ statements, ‘God is Spirit’. This revelation about what ‘God is’ comes from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Whilst the ‘God is’ statements of truth declare something about Him, they equally define what He is therefore not. For example, God is true consequently denies that He is false. The Westminster Shorter Catechism (Question 4) succinctly puts it this way, ‘What is God?’ to which an equally succinct answer based on John 4:12 states ‘God is a Spirit…’

AN UNLIKELY REVELATION

On the way to Galilee, after leaving Judea, Jesus decides that He needs to take a different route from the traditional route of a Jew. When making a journey from the south (Judea) to the north (Galilee), Jews would deliberately avoid the middle region known as Samaria. They would deliberately take the longer route alongside the river Jordon. However, Jesus’ decision to go through Samaria proves to be based not on geographical reasons, but a meticulously orchestrated divine reason, to reveal to the Samaritans that the Saviour of the world had come. It was during this journey that the Lord meets a Samaritan woman at a well and reveals to her one of fundamental and powerful truths of scripture, that God is Spirit. There is a lot going on here before Jesus declares that God is Spirit. In the build up to this revelation, consider everything that is going on.

Jesus, the Jewish Messiah is in Samaria. Jews have no dealings with Samaritans and certainly don’t go into Samaria. He speaks to a woman, but not only is she a woman but a Samaritan woman. Not only is she a woman and a Samaritan woman, but also a sinful and confused woman. She had been married five times and was currently living with a man to whom she was not married. Jesus is about to take a drink from the cup of Samaritan woman. Jews didn’t drink from the same vessels as Samaritans for the fear of becoming ceremonially unclean. Religious Jews didn’t consider Samaritans worthy of salvation and they didn’t consider the Samaritans worthy of such truths about God.

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. (v19)

First of all she calls Him sir. This is a noble title, but not an accurate one for a man who has just told her almost everything about her life. She then proceeds to acknowledge Him with a more fitting title as a prophet, but again misses the point. Whilst a prophet certainly is unique and points others to the things of God, it is unheard of for a prophet to say “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” She has clearly missed the point and Jesus makes note of this.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (v20)

She is earthly minded, not heavenly minded and her words give this away. She speaks in tangible terms. This well, that drinking water, our fathers, you Jews, this mountain, that Jerusalem. She has a very physical worldview of everything; one that is made up of locations, places, people and physical properties. Even when Jesus offers her living water, she confuses it with a physical drink (v15). She could not see beyond matter.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. (v21)

This woman had probably believed many people. Maybe she had heard everyone tell her something and she had taken on everyone’s views. After listening to all the things the woman says, Jesus says to the woman, ‘believe Me.’ She needed to find someone she could believe and trust. Here Jesus presents Himself worthy to be believed. He is worthy to be believed because He has proven Himself through the way He has conducted Himself around her. Jesus has gone out of His way and even violated cultural and tradition taboos in order that she might have life. He is worthy to be believed.

And then the Lord goes on to correct her understanding of God, worship and the worshipper. He first of all breaks her worldly mindset by telling her there is an hour coming where you will worship not on a mountain or even in Jerusalem. This ought to get here thinking outside of what she has known for all these years. ‘If I can’t worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem, where then can I worship?’

Jesus understands that the knowledge this woman has about God comes through the man, her forefathers. ‘Our fathers worshipped on this mountain’ she remarks. Yet she says nothing about who ‘our fathers’ worshipped. She had always thought of God through the Patriarchs and probably knew more about the forefathers that she did of God. And it is here in v21 that Jesus Christ reveals the Fatherhood of God. God, the object of our worship can be known as our Father.

You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. (v22)

Jesus begins unfolding to her the reason why her life is in a mess and her spiritual confusion. It is because she worships what she does not know. ‘You worship what you do not know.’ The Samaritan woman and the Samaritans most certainly worshipped, but it was blind, ignorant and not in truth. They didn’t know God. They didn’t know what God was like and therefore as a consequence, they didn’t know how to worship Him and what was pleasing to Him. They did all the religious activity, but they didn’t know to whom it was directed.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus then begins to lay out the greatest truths the Samaritans ears had ever heard. She was now hearing the definition of true worshippers, that God was personal and intimate like a Father. But the greatest revelation that Jesus gives to the Samaritan woman is that God is Spirit and those who worship Him, must worship in spirit and truth. In this one sentence, Jesus has just proclaimed everything which is contrary to this woman’s knowledge of God and true religion. The truth was very apparent in the Old Testament scriptures, but it appears that this woman missed it.

Religion can have this affect. God could be speaking very loudly and clearly to you, but you’re too busy ‘doing religion.’ Let us not fall into this trap and take heed. Let us take time to slow down and hear from God for ourselves and study the Scriptures.

GOD IS SPIRIT

There are many truths revealed in this passage of scripture. But the one truth which is the consideration of this Bible Study is that ‘God is Spirit.’ In Genesis 1:27 it says ‘God created man in His own image…’ Does this mean that if we are made in the image of God that God has eyes, hands, feet and hair like us? The answer is no. The Bible tells us that Jesus came to declare to us God. One of those declarations is that ‘God is Spirit’. Some transaltions translate this as ‘God is a Spirit’. What does this mean that God is Spirit? Clearly the study of the word Spirit would be beneficial.

Spirit (πνεῦμα) pneuma

Pneo = blow, breathe hard, breeze, wind, a current of air, breath, a blast of air, breeze,

When we think of Spirit we must not think of God having size or dimensions. It is equally wrong to say God is big, because that again refers to size. Spirit also ought not to be confused with vapour, steam, space, energy, matter or force as many of the cults do such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Christadelphian’s.

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

There is much confusion with the second commandment. Many people believe it is wrong to have an image of Jesus Christ. Some believe it is wrong to make an image of anything – even teddies, animals, statues of people. There are some strong convictions about this point. But this is what the scriptures teach regarding this. The second commandment must be understood within the context of God’s attributes, His character. If it were sin to make a carved image of anything in heaven or earth, why then would God say a few verses later:

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:18)

God’s eternal Word never contradicts itself. Therefore, something further needs to be understood about the second commandment. An image of God using something which resembles the temporary and created is sin. God’s is Spirit and nothing resembles Him. It is an offence to God to even try to fashion something after His likeness. God says ‘He is jealous’ for His glory. He will not share His glory, certainly not with matter which He has made. Also, because God is Spirit, an image would grossly misrepresent the truth about God. The Bible declares God is true, therefore it would be wrong for God to be represented as anything else which is contrary to this. Therefore, an image is an affront to the being of God and His character. It is the attributes, character and nature of God which is offended through images of Him.

Now, is it a sin to try to understand, paint or even make a film about the life of Jesus Christ and resemble what He may have looked like? No. It is not necessary to know what He looked like, but of one thing we can be sure – He had hands, feet, hair, eyes etc. God saw it fit that His glory should be veiled behind the cloak of flesh.

A SPIRIT IS IMMATERIAL – JESUS DEFINES SPIRIT

Jesus’ definition of a spirit is found in Luke 24:39. After the resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples. He challenges His disciples that upon beholding, handling and seeing His body, they should grasp the fact that He is not a spirit. In others, Jesus’ definition of spirit is immaterial, without body parts. Note He uses three key words: behold, handle and see.

• Behold – eido – be aware, consider, sensory, intellectually, mentally, perceive, understand.
• Handle – psélaphaó – feel, grope about, handle, touch.
• See – theóreó – gaze, look, observe, see, spectate.

Therefore, when we talk about God being Spirit, it means that we can neither behold Him, handle Him nor see Him. In the same way that air cannot be beheld, handled and seen.

DOES GOD HAVE BODY PARTS AND A GENDER?

If God is Spirit, why then do we have verses in the Bible which describe God as having body parts and a gender? For example:

For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12)

Understanding what an ‘anthropomorphism’ is can help us understand why the Scriptures refer to God as having a gender and body parts? Anthropomorphisms are used when God appears to us or manifests Himself to us in human form or even takes upon Himself human characteristics. We see anthropomorphism’s all the time – Tom and Jerry behaving in human terms, Disney animations use animals to explain human morals and principals.

GENDER
God’s masculinity in the Bible is an example of an anthropomorphism. It becomes abundantly clear as you read the Bible; references to God are constantly made in the masculine. However the study of some words will help us see a bigger picture of how the Bible writers used words.

• The Greek word for Spirit (pneuma) is gender neutral.
• The Hebrew word for Spirit (ru-ach) (Genesis 1:2) is a feminine noun.
• The Hebrew word for animal (hayyah), whether male or female is a feminine noun.
• The Hebrew word for book (sefer) is also in the masculine noun.

Therefore, does this mean a book is male? Or does this mean all animals, whether male or female are feminine. Both answers are in the negative, clearly no. In the same way, God is no more male or female, than a book is male. Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender and the Bible writers wrote in this way for the readers to understand. They too understood that a book is not male and all animals are not female, but their language was fitting for it. In the same way, they clearly understood that God has no gender, but this is how God had revealed Himself to their limited understanding.

BODY PARTS
Regarding the body parts of God; for example His ears, eyes and face; we must first consider the intention of the author—in this case the Apostle Peter. Under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit, it is clear that Peter’s purpose is to tell us what God desires on these occasions in a way that we can understand, and not to give us any physical pen-pictures of God. Peter does this by portraying God’s actions in terms of their human counterparts. God works with us in our time frame.  He has endured not only eternity, but also human history as He moves through it and through and with people to bring about His sovereign will and purpose.

DEFINITION

God’s spirituality means that God exists as being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence. (Wayne Grudem)

GOD IS INVISIBLE

Related to God being Spirit is another of God’s attributes, His invisibility. This means that no human being has really seen God in His entirety. He is invisible and has made Himself visible for a very good reason, lest His glory consume the flesh which tries to peak at Him.

No one has seen God at any time…(John 1:18)

Yet, the Scriptures testify of the deity and wonder of Jesus Christ. It ascribes the invisibility of God to the image of Jesus Christ.

He (Jesus Christ) is the image of the invisible God…(Colossians 1:15).

… the express image of His person…(Hebrews 1:3)

Not only that, but scriptures also teach us that whilst men have encountered God in some fashion or another and lived to tell the story, they have not seen God. They have seen something of Him, but not Him and the reason they have not seen God, lies with God Himself. God is invisible because should any person see Him, they will not live.

“You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” (Exodus 33:20)

However, the heart beating, soul enriching, mind satisfying Gospel truth is this, that Jesus Christ is the only One who has ever seen the face of God.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

…the brightness of His glory…(Hebrews 1:3)

The Spirit of the invisible God which is not contained, measured, tracked, weighed or seen, has been shown to us in the face of Jesus Christ. This same God, who if looked at, would consume you, has made His glory shine in the face of Christ. This same invisible God who is not seen, has been seen with body parts, hands, feet, hair and a body.

He who has seen Me has seen the Father…(John 14:9)

APPLICATION

1. We must go out of our way to declare the GOSPEL to the lost

We should try to find every possible way to lead sinners to Christ. It will mean we will have to go out of our way.

1. God relates to us in human terms

Jesus used parables to explain God and His Kingdom. The parable of the father and prodigal son. The parable of the King who set a feast. The parable of the vineyard owner and His Son. Don’t feel as if you are compromising if you use a parable to share what God is like.

1. Don’t be materially minded, but spiritually minded

Don’t let your religion be earthly minded like the woman. Be spiritually minded, a worshipper of God in spirit and in truth.

Tags: Anthropomorphism, Attributes, Body Parts, Gender, Invisible, John 4:24, spirit

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