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God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. —John 4:24 (KJV)

Who is God and what is He like? This is what we are asking and seeking to answer as we study the subject known as the attributes of God. As we have said, this is one of the most if not the most fundamental of all subjects related to life and religion. First, our view of God will determine everything else we believe and do concerning Him. If we are incomplete or in error about who He is it will affect everything else in our faith and practice, whether it be salvation, worship, or service to Him. Second, it is because God is the way He is that everything else is the way it is since He is the Cause and Creator of all things. And it is because He is the way He is that we have to be and do everything He requires of us. This is apparent from our text—because God is a Spirit, those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

The King James Version says, "God is a Spirit," while most modern versions translate it, "God is spirit," without the indefinite article. In the Greek there is no indefinite article; it may be supplied if the context and subject warrant it. Some feel that saying "God is a Spirit" is misleading because it implies that He is only one among many spirits. On the other hand, saying "God is spirit" seems a little awkward, so abstract and indefinite that it sounds like He is a mere principle or essence of some kind and not a definite Person.

What do we mean when we say God is a Spirit? What did Jesus mean by it? To begin, let us examine the context of His statement. It occurs during a conversation with a woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria, a region north of Jerusalem and Judea inhabited by descendants of mixed marriages between Jews left behind after the Assyrian conquest and native people of the land of Canaan. Because they were "half-breeds" the Jews would have nothing to do with them and forbid them to enter the Temple in Jerusalem. But the Samaritans still considered themselves Jews, so, in an attempt to continue to worship God, they set up, quite illegitimately, a temple for themselves complete with priesthood and sacrifices on Mount Gerizim near the city of Samaria and Jacob’s well. Jesus had to pass through Samaria on His way to Galilee from Jerusalem unless He were to take the route through the Jordan valley, preferred by Jews so as to avoid Samaria altogether. While He rested at Jacob’s well waiting for the disciples to return from town where they had gone to buy food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water. She was surprised when Jesus initiated a conversation with her, seeing she was not only a woman, but a Samaritan, and He a Jew. Ordinarily Jews would have no dealings with Samaritans, whom they considered dogs. After Jesus had unsuccessfully attempted to talk with the woman about salvation, He abruptly changed the subject to the woman’s husband, a "sore spot" for her since, as Jesus perceived supernaturally and related to her, she had been married five times and now lived with a man not her husband. This shocked her into discussing religious matters:

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:19-26; all Scripture quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise indicated.)

In context, we may now see something of what Jesus meant by our text. That God is a Spirit and that spiritual worship is the only acceptable worship is held in contrast to worshiping at a physical location (Mt. Gerazim or the Temple Mount in Jerusalem). "Spirit" stands in contrast to what is physical or corporeal. Jesus was therefore saying that God is not a physical being and cannot be worshiped by merely physical means nor in only certain physical locations. The Jerusalem Temple was until that time the only place authorized by God for worship in the fullest sense of the word, with sacrifices, priests, singers, musicians, etc. When the Temple was destroyed and the Jews of the southern kingdom taken captive to Babylon, the practice of meeting in local synagogues began. The Jews continued to meet in synagogues after the return to the land and the rebuilding of the Temple. But worship was not a part of the synagogue service, which consisted mainly of prayers, reading, and teaching. The place for worship in the fullest sense was still the Temple. Jesus’ pronouncement, "a time is coming and has now come," signaled a great change. It is not that God had changed, for many times He had complained that the formal worship of Israel did not come from their hearts. But there was now to be a great change in that the physical aspects of the worship He Himself had instituted with all the corporeal sacrifices and ritual was to come to an end. Spiritual worship was to take its place, worship more suited to the nature of God’s being, which is Spirit.

Many times, it seems, people mistake Jesus’ statement, "God is a Spirit," for a reference to the Holy Spirit. Of course we know the Holy Spirit is a Spirit, the Spirit of God; but that Jesus is speaking of the Father, not the Holy Spirit, is evident (v.23).

What Jesus means by "God is a Spirit" is that God is not a physical or corporeal Being. He is immaterial in substance. As we have seen and shall see with the attributes of God, one attribute always seems linked with others, as though they were in clusters. The fact that God is a Spirit is linked obviously with what we studied about Him last month—that He is invisible. It is also linked with the fact that He is omnipresent or everywhere present, an attribute we shall study in detail later. This is alluded to in Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman—"neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem...[but]...in spirit and truth."

Because God is a Spirit, those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit. No doubt Jesus is referring to that aspect of man which is also invisible and immaterial, his spirit—that is, his inner being. It is possible that "in spirit" may also refer to spiritual worship offered through the Holy Spirit, as in several passages in the New Testament (Ephesians 2:18). It is not that physical or bodily organs—the hands, the voice, etc.— are not to be employed at all in spiritual worship, but that these organs are to be instruments of the inner spirit of man from which worship of God must spring. The added phrase "and in truth" in the context of the passage is a direct reference to the unauthorized worship of the Samaritans on Gerizim. True worship is that worship which is authorized and acceptable according to what God the Father has ordained instead of man’s ideas of how to go about it. Men cannot possibly be worshiping God right if they worship Him in ways He never ordained or if they have erroneous and unworthy opinions of Him. This phrase is also a direct reference to the ignorant worship of the Samaritans: "You Samaritans worship what you do not know," or as the King James has it, "Ye worship ye know not what." True worship can only spring from a true knowledge of God. But this phrase can also mean that men cannot worship God rightly as long as their beliefs and doctrines are opposed to His Word or are merely constructions of men. As Jesus said to the Pharisees,

"You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’"(Matthew 15:7-9)

We may see in these verses the close connection between spiritual worship (from the heart, the inner spirit of man) and true doctrines. Their worship was "vain" or useless not only because it was only formal or physical ("with their lips") and not from their hearts but also because their doctrines were only man-made precepts. Their false teachings ruined their worship and made it worthless. This connection is even more apparent in other translations, only a comma separating the "worship" and the "teaching." The King James has, "But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." The New American Standard Version has, "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." And the Amplified Bible reads, "Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men." This applies to many today who make a great deal of singing and praising God but are either basically ignorant of Him, hold inadequate or unworthy views of Him, or are in error in their doctrine. No matter how exuberantly, how long, or how noisy their worship may be, it is not true worship. And might we add that since God is Holy, it is only holy worship that is true worship; and holy worship can only come from those who are holy.

Let us define the word "spirit". The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology says:

The Gk. word pneu- from which the NT word for spirit is derived, denotes dynamic movement of the air. Its derivatives have the following meanings: pneo, to blow (of wind and air generally, also on a musical instrument); to breathe...; pnoe means blowing, breathing...ekpneo means to breathe out, blow out, stop breathing (i.e. to die)...empneo means to breathe in....

pneuma, spirit, a word of great significance in the NT, is formed from this root with the suffix -ma and denotes the result of this action, namely, air set in motion, considered as a special substance and with an underlying stress on its inherent power. When it first occurred...it therefore meant wind or breath, but increasingly it took on the functions of related concepts....The air that men breathe was considered to be the bearer of life (thus to discontinue breath means to die...). From the 5th cent. onward Gk. physicians developed a physiology based on this and soon drew a distinction between man’s inward, innate pneuma and the air he breathed. In Aristotle this pneuma was the formative power which, from the embryo onwards, gradually produced the mature individual and then, in the case of man, became the instrument whereby the soul controlled the body. Already, therefore, it was approaching the meaning held by psyche, soul, the distinction being that the latter was a purely functional term, while pneuma was regarded as a substance. (Vol.3, p.689)

Some of the cults misunderstand the development of the word pneuma and insist that it and its Hebrew counterpart, ruach, mean only what the original root of the word meant—breath, wind, or air. They deny that man, for instance, has any such thing as an immortal spirit or soul that survives death and that what is meant by man’s spirit is simply his breath. Likewise, the Holy Spirit is viewed by these cults as God’s "breath," His energy, force, or power. But if we plug "breath" into our text for the word "spirit" we contract an absurdity: "God is a breath, and they that worship him must worship him in breath and in truth." And so with many other texts in the New Testament. Even though the original word meant wind or air, pneuma came to mean the immaterial and immortal substance of man’s inner being that survives death. To say that God is a Spirit, then, is to say that He is an immaterial, immortal Being, not a puff of air or a wind.

How did the word which originally meant air or wind come to mean an invisible, immaterial, immortal spirit? The answer is phenomenologically based; that is, a spirit (in the traditional sense) seems similar to air or wind in appearance or activity, and not that they are the same in nature as the cults would have it. Wind or air is invisible and apparently immaterial (even though we now recognize scientifically that all gases are matter). Yet wind or air has power to move itself, and, when strong enough, can move other objects as well. So it is with spirit. The spirit of man, though it too is invisible and immaterial, is the underlying power that moves and controls the body. And, since breath is fundamental and essential to life, it is easy to see how it could be compared to the invisible spirit or inner man which is equally fundamental to man’s existence. Without the spirit (just as without breath) the body becomes a mere lifeless corpse.

God is not the only Being that is spoken of in the Word of God as a Spirit or having spirit. Angels are called spirits in Hebrews 1:13,14—

To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

Demons are called "evil spirits" over 40 times in the New Testament, primarily the Gospels. The word pneuma refers to the human spirit nearly 40 times in the NT as well. The New International Dictionary of NT Theology goes on to say:

In Judaism under the influence of its Hellenistic [Greek] environment, the spirit was a vital force divinely breathed into man and forming a part of his being; it was not distinguished from the "soul" as far a terminology was concerned, but was contrasted rather with the body: the body is of the earth, the spirit stems from heaven....Palestinian Judaism also differed from its Hellenistic counterpart in regarding the spirit not as part of a divine substance but rather as something divinely created and therefore to be clearly distinguished from its Creator. It possessed immortality..., and at a later stage was also credited with preexistence....[In the NT] the spirit of man is that aspect of man through which God most immediately encounters him (Rom.8:16; Gal.6:18; Phil.4:23; 2 Tim.4:22; Phlm.25; Heb.4:12; Jas.4:5), that dimension of the whole man wherein and whereby he is most immediately open and responsive to God (Matt.5:3; Lk.1:47; Rom.1:9; 1 Pet.3:4), that area of human awareness most sensitive to matters of the spiritual realm (Mk.2:8; 8:12; Jn.11:33; 13:21; Acts 17:16; 2 Cor.2:13; 7:13)....[D]eath [is spoken of] as a giving up the spirit (Matt.27:50; Lk.23:46; Acts 7:59)....From this it follows also that the dead person can be thought of simply as a pneuma, as belonging wholly to the spiritual realm (Lk.24:37,39; I Timothy 3:16; Heb.12:23; 1 Pet.3:18 f.; 4:6). (Ibid., pp.692-694)

The difference or relationship between man’s spirit and soul is often debated. While there are some verses (I Corinthians 2:14; 15:44; I Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12; James 3:15; Jude 13) which contrast the two, the spirit as the higher element relating to heavenly and the soul to the more earthly realms, there can be no doubt that most passages using these two terms refer to them as practically the same. Both mean the invisible, eternal aspect of man’s being that survives death. For instance, compare Hebrews 12:22,23, "You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God...You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect...." with Revelation 6:9, "...I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained." That the spirit and soul are for most purposes practically the same is demonstrated by the fact that both words are derived from words, though not the same, which mean to breathe or blow. "Soul" often stands for a man’s self or life in the Old and New Testaments (Mk.8:35; Mk.10:45; Lk.9:23; 14:26; Jn. 10:11; 12:25; 13:37). To seek to maintain in all occurrences the contrast seen in some NT passages between soul and spirit is to run upon many absurdities.

Now let us bring all this together to determine just what is meant by the statement, "God is a Spirit." First, let’s consider what it does, then what it does not , mean.

1. That God is a Spirit means that this is the kind or class of Being that He is. That God is a Spirit is not unique to Him alone, for other beings are referred to as spirits—angels, demons, and men. I am far from saying that all spirits are somehow equal; they most decidedly are not. But they all belong to the same class or kind of being in the sense of classification. In biology we have plants, animals, and, some add, protozoans or one-celled living things. But man, angels, demons, and God are neither plants nor animals, but belong to another category of beings entirely—spirits. Spirits are immaterial, not corporeal beings, and as such and due to the substance of which they are constituted, are incapable of being dissolved or destroyed; in other words, they are eternal. God is the only being in this category that is eternal or immortal in the strictest sense of the words in that only He always has existed as well as always will exist. But all other spirits, once having been created by God, will never cease to exist. And, as we have said, that God is a Spirit is also linked to His being Omnipresent or everywhere present, even though He is the only spirit that possesses this attribute. God is unique in that He is the only Uncreated, Omnipotent, and Omniscient spirit as well.

2. That God is a Spirit, as we have said, means that He is immaterial, that He has no body. On the day of Christ’s resurrection the disciples met together,

And while they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst. But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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." (Luke 24:36-39,NASV)

It is true that "spirit" here probably means a disembodied human spirit or, as the NIV has it, "ghost." Nevertheless it remains true that a spirit does not have physical substance, a body. But this does not mean that they have no substance whatsoever or no shape or form.

Often, especially in theology, what something is is best described in terms of what it is not. Let’s proceed then to what the fact that God is a Spirit does not mean.

1. That God is a Spirit does not mean that He is somehow less than real. Our age has been influenced greatly by the philosophies of naturalism and materialism, according to which the only realities are physical and nothing but the physical exists. But the Scriptures confirm the reality of spiritual things, the spiritual realm, and the existence of spirit beings. That men should think of spirits or the spiritual realm as something less than real only reveals the influence of materialism and unbelief. In point of fact, material things are inferior to spiritual things because material things are only temporal while spiritual things are eternal. God, angels, demons, and the spirits of men are certainly real even though they are not of this material creation.

2. That God is a Spirit does not mean that He is an impersonal force or influence. Unbelievers and adherents of false religions and cults often speak of God only as a "higher power" or energy of some kind, which is their concept of "spirit." They think of an ethereal quality pervading all space without precise definition—real, but without personality or personhood. But all spirits are persons. Angels are persons with all the qualities that make up personality—thought, speech, will, motion, etc. And they have definite shape, usually described in Scripture as "men," owing to the fact, no doubt, that they are in appearance very much like men. As God wills, they may even take on bodily form as men. Nevertheless, even then their forms would not have the same corporeal reality that the human body, which is of the ground, does. Two of the many angels mentioned in Scripture have their names given: Michael and Gabriel. Angels, though they are spirits, are certainly persons, not impersonal forces or influences. It is the same with demons. Jesus ordered the evil spirit possessing the Gadarene demoniac in Mark 5 to disclose his name and received the reply, "My name is legion, for we are many" (5:9). Evil spirits or demons, like angels, have all the characteristics associated with personality—will, desire, feeling, thought, and speech. Likewise the human spirit exhibits personality, personhood, often being referred to as "the inner man" or "the hidden man" (Romans 2:28,29; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Ephesians 3:16,17; I Peter 3:3,4). Moses and Elijah appeared and spoke to Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:30,31). This was not a vision in the sense of a spiritual vision one might have by the Spirit, because it says the disciples awoke and saw these two men talking to Jesus (v. 32,33). Neither were these two furnished with resurrection bodies, because the Scripture explicitly declares that Christ was the first to rise from the dead (I Corinthians 15:20; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5). Certainly the spirit of man is not simply a force or influence but a person; in fact it is precisely the spirit of man that gives him personhood and personality. By the same token, the fact that God is a Spirit means He is a Person, not an impersonal force or influence.

3. That God is a Spirit or, as the modern versions have it "God is spirit," does not mean that all "spirit" or spirits together, corporately, go to make up "god." This seems to have been the idea of some of the ancients as well as the more pantheistic eastern religions and their related kind today. But the Scriptures are clear that while men, angels, demons, and God are all spirits, each individual spirit nevertheless retains its own identity and are not all parts of some conglomerate whole.

4. That God is a Spirit does not mean that He has no shape or form whatsoever. We saw this last week under "God is invisible." The fact, as Jesus said, that no one had seen the Father’s shape is an indication that He does have one. Many people view "spirit," again, as so ethereal, indefinite, and vague, that they think the fact that God is spirit means He is spread equally in all parts of space and matter in the universe. But this is pantheism, the belief that God is everything and everything is God, not the Scriptural view of God at all. While it is true that God is omnipresent, that is, everywhere present, this does not negate the fact, on the other hand, that strictly speaking, God’s Being is localized as well. He is often referred to in Scripture as the God of heaven or as dwelling in heaven as His abode in distinction to the earth. So, while He is able and does manifest His presence everywhere and in that sense is omnipresent, nevertheless He has a specific, local dwelling place in heaven on His throne as well. As we noted last month, God appeared to men on occasion in Scripture. Men actually saw Him, but did not see Him as He is in the fullest sense. They did not see all of His form in detail, but definitely saw a form. In the same vein, God repeatedly said that no one would ever see His face and live.

No doubt most of the references to God’s "hands," "feet," "arms," "eyes," "ears," "mouth," "nostrils," etc., are merely anthropomorphisms, a big word meaning assigning to God (or objects or animals) human characteristics for the sake of illustration or as a literary device, a figure of speech. They do not necessarily mean that God literally has these body parts that we know as human beings. They are intended to show the action of God in different ways—His power, His knowledge, etc.—and are not meant to be a physiology of Him. On the other hand there are passages that refer to parts of God that seem to be literal, not metaphorical. "Face" is one such term. Of course to "seek God’s face" which is mentioned in many Scriptures, means not to attempt to get a glimpse of what God looks like but to seek His presence or favor. However, when God said, "No man shall see my face and live," as He did to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 33:20), He seemed to be referring to a literal part of His "anatomy," because He went on to say, "You will see my back; but my face must not be seen" (v.23). Angels are spirits, yet they have shape and form. Demons and fallen angels are graphically depicted in the Revelation as having hideous forms. And God, even though He is purely Spirit, nevertheless, evidently, certainly has a shape and form.

t’s just that the substance of which spirits are constituted that make them visible with a shape or form in the spiritual realm is not a physical substance as we know it. It is not of this physical world or creation.

5. That God is a Spirit does not mean, as we have already said, that He has no "localized" Being and is spread equally and evenly throughout infinite space. This is evident from His often being spoken of as dwelling in heaven and from His appearances to men in the Bible.

There are actually eight appearances of God to men mentioned in Scripture. By "God" we mean the Father, not the Son. Of course the Son is God, the Second Person of the Trinity, but we are referring to God the Father. God the Father is a Spirit. Some of these eight might be questionable because we don’t know whether to take them as "real" appearances or simply visions. Of course all appearances of God would be "visions" in one sense, so you can understand the difficulty. The eight appearances are:

1. To Abraham (Genesis 18:1-33);

2. To Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 32:22-32);

3. To Moses (Exodus 19:16-19; 20:4,18-21; 33:18-33) and the elders (Exodus 24:9-11,15-18; Deuteronomy 4:10-19) at Sinai;

4. To Isaiah (Isaiah chapter 6);

5. To Ezekiel (1:4-3:15; 10:1-22);

6. To Habakkuk (3:3-5);

7. To Daniel (7:9-10,13);

8. To John (Revelation 4:2-5).

Each of these would be worthy of verse-by-verse exposition, as much about what God is like is revealed in them. God’s awesome power, majesty, and holiness is particularly prominent in these appearances. We tend to lose sight of these characteristics when, as in our day, we hear of God and think of God only in terms of a loving heavenly Father. But these passages show us that, as fundamental as this may be, He is more than this.

The appearance of God to Abraham in Genesis 18 seems particularly strange. "The Lord" appeared to him in the form of one of three "men" who talked, ate, and drank with Abraham and disclosed their mission of visiting Sodom previous to destroying it. The Lord speaks to Abraham as not knowing whether Sodom and Gomorrah were so evil as the "report" or outcry to Him had indicated. Strange, when we think of God as omniscient or all-knowing. When the scene changes to Sodom, only two angels in the appearance of men enter the city and stay the night.

The appearance of God to Jacob at Bethel was in the form of a man also—"a man wrestled with him till daybreak" (Gen.32:24). Our first impulse is to consider this "man" as an angel, but Jacob’s asking for his name and the resultant obscure answer as well as the fact that Jacob says he had seen God (32:27-30) seems to indicate this "man" was more than an angel. Possibly what is meant is that he saw God through the person of one of His glorious angels.

The appearance of God to Moses and the elders and, in a more limited sense to the people who saw the smoke and fire and heard the voice like a trumpet, is awesome indeed. Many commentators say that terms like God "coming down" to talk with Abraham or standing on Sinai is only figurative, not literal language. God is already everywhere, they say, so it would not be possible for Him to "go" or "come" anywhere, that these terms are simply used for our sake because that is the only way we can conceive of God doing these things. But isn’t this taking "anthropomorphism" too far? It seems like we should understand the Lord’s coming down to talk with Abraham and visit Sodom literally. And even more so in the case of Sinai. The whole scene seems to bear witness of the absolute reality of the event—God actually coming down upon a mountain and speaking with Moses, delivering to him the Law for Israel to keep. And as we have noted, God is spoken of as having parts.

Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." And the Lord said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence....But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then the Lord said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen." (Exodus 33:19-23)

And of the elders or leaders of Israel the Bible said,

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank. (Exodus 24:9-11)

And of God’s appearance to the people it is said,

The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you....[B]e ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people."...On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him....When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. (Exodus 19:9-11,16-19; 20:18-19)

It is true that most of the time the "hand" of God in Scripture is simply a metaphor for His power; the "face" of God a metaphor for His presence or favor; the "back" of God a metaphor for His forsaking someone; the "feet" of God for His dwelling place; and the "voice" of God for prophetic utterance. But in the case of these appearances on Sinai, it doesn’t seem possible to take them in a figurative sense. The whole narrative speaks of reality. It is true, symbolism is present in such things as thunder, lightning, etc., but they were real manifestations as well, and not a natural thunderstorm. However unsophisticated the Israelites may have been in their scientific knowledge, they certainly knew the difference between an ordinary thunderstorm and a mighty manifestation of God Himself.

The prophet Isaiah said concerning his commission to be a prophet,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4)

That this was not simply a spiritual vision is indicated by the fact that the voices of the seraphim (angels) shook the doorposts and thresholds of the temple. Isaiah does not describe God in any detail, but it is clear that he both saw God and heard Him speak to him and commission him to be a prophet. The rest of the scene is described in terms of the overwhelming sense of God’s holiness.

Ezekiel in his vision of God spends most of his time describing the four creatures standing around His throne. It seems that God descended to where Ezekiel was near the Kebar River in Babylon on something like a space chariot. His description of God’s throne is quite similar to that of John in Revelation. After describing the chariot and the four living creatures in some detail, he says,

Then there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads as they stood with lowered wings. Above the expanse over their heads was what looked like a throne of sapphire, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be his waist up he looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and that from there down he looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking. (Ezekiel 1:25-28)

Later when he saw the glory of God depart from the temple in Jerusalem in anticipation of its destruction, Ezekiel makes it clear that what he saw as he described in chapter one above was "God." "These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River" (10:20). Rather than a mere anthropomorphological description of God, this again seems to be an actual appearance of God to Ezekiel at his commission.

Though it seems more of a "vision" in the usual sense of the word, Habbakuk describes God’s appearance to him:

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. (Habbakuk 3:3-6)

I like Habbakuk’s description because it stands in stark contrast to the god that the charismatic healing evangelists and faith teachers insist is utterly harmless and from whom we have nothing to fear.

Daniel describes his vision of God in terms of the Great Day of Judgment:

"As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:9-10)

Some might say this is all symbolic and certainly there is much symbolism in the account, but at the same time, it seems to be a real representation of God and His throne. And that it is the Father Who is described is evident from the verses that immediately follow which describe the Son:

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." (7:13,14)

Am I mistaken or do those who insist that Jesus and the Father are the same person have a problem with this passage?

Finally, John saw God the Father in chapter four of the Revelation:

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. (Revelation 4:2-5)

John’s description of the throne and the four creatures is remarkably similar to Ezekiel’s. And that the one sitting on the throne is the Father, not the Son, is evident from the fact that John had already recorded his vision of Jesus in chapter one.

Among many other things, these appearances of God conclusively demonstrate that although God is a Spirit, this does not mean that He is some sort of indefinite, impersonal influence or pantheistic essence. It does not mean that God does not have a shape or form or that He has no specific location or dwelling place besides being omnipresent, or that He is less than real.

As we have said, most of the references to God’s parts as though He had a body like a man are simply figures of speech designed to convey some attribute or activity of God, not literal physical characteristics. Many verses refer to God’s eyes:

His eyes are on the ways of men; he sees their every step. (Job 34:21)

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry. (Psalms 34:15)

The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)

In all of these and many like expressions, we are to understand God’s eyes as His watchful care or omniscience. Job rightly asks of God, "Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees?" (Job 10:4). And of course the answer is that He does not. If God does have eyes, they are nothing like the instruments for viewing we possess that collect reflections of light. Otherwise God would have trouble seeing what people do in the dark or in secret places, but the Psalmist assures us:

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalms 139:11,12)

Likewise God’s "ears" are prominent in Scripture:

"In my distress I called to the Lord; I called to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears." (2 Samuel 22:7)

"Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place." (2 Chronicles 6:40)

By whatever means He uses, we know God does hear our prayers. But certainly He does not hear with ears like ours that pick up sound waves produced by compressed columns of air that vibrate on His ear drums. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum, so sounds on earth would not travel through space. God hears as though He had ears, but He doesn’t have ears like ours.

Likewise, God may have a literal mouth of some kind, but that is not necessarily what is meant by these texts:

The men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. (Joshua 9:14, KJV)

"But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 1:20)

The "mouth of the Lord" in these as well as many other cases was a prophet or spokesman for God.

The "face of the Lord shining upon the people" is surely a figurative expression for favor and blessing:

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26)

Conversely, God’s "hiding his face" or having his face "against someone" is an expression of anger and ill-will:

"On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’" (Deuteronomy 31:17)

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. (Psalms 34:16)

The "arm" of God stands for His power and omnipotence to either save or destroy:

"My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm." (Isaiah 51:5)

The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52:10)

In the same ways, the Lord’s "hand" is mentioned often in Scripture:

"Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy." (Exodus 15:6)

My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. (Psalms 63:8)

The "finger" of God is figurative of His power also:

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place. (Psalms 8:3)

On the other hand, when it says that the Ten Commandments were "inscribed by the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10), it may very well be a literal expression, seeing that God manifested Himself on Sinai.

We have already seen that the elders of Israel literally saw God’s feet (Exodus 24:10); but on the other hand His "feet" are no doubt figurative in these verses:

...His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3)

The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress. (Lamentations 1:15)

God is a Spirit. Oddly, even though this is taken quite for granted by most of us, our text in John 4 is the only place in the Bible that plainly says so. In contrast, there are many hundreds of Scriptures that speak of God in human terms as having eyes, ears, mouth, fingers, hands, arms, feet, etc. Why is this, since we know that most of these expressions are figures of speech not to be taken literally? Maybe it’s because even though God is a Spirit, He does not want us to think of Him in terms of an abstract or difficult to grasp "spirit", but as a Person with all the characteristics of personality—thought, speech, will, desire, feelings, etc. This is in fact the whole point of the Incarnation. Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of God known to us and it is evident through Him that God is a Person and not an influence of some kind. Maybe all the anthropomorphisms are in reality prophetic of Christ!

We must close for now and take up another aspect of the attributes of God next time. I hope you benefit from our study. Until next time, may God "make His face to shine upon you," "guide you with His eye," and keep you in the hollow of His mighty hand!

Leon Stump, Pastor of Victory Christian Center

Background from Greenfield Graphics.