The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-01-19
God Is Spirit

God Is Spirit -
Lesson for January 81, 1862
The Greek language. in which
the New Testament was at first
written. has no way Of expires
sing our E English indefinite
article" a or an. Consequently
the two sentences. God is q
Spirit" and God is Spirit
would be exactly the same in
Greek. So, then what did Jesus
say to the Samaritan woman?
Did He say God Is q SPIRIT
or God is Spirit? This Is one
Of these places where Bible
translation can't depend on the
words only. for here two differ.
ent translations would be equ.
ally correct, 50 far as the words
60. One reason why practically
all contemporary TRANSACTIONS
say Spirit" In John 4:24 ID
that saying God is a Spirit
might give the idea that God. Is
just one among many spirits.
God is Spirit fits better with all
that the Bible tells us about
God.
What Is God Like?
The central meaning of God
is Spirit" is that Gods nature
Is spirit. Water is liquid. earth,
water. fire and air are physi-
cal: God is spirit. It Is very
hard to think clearly what this
means. because we have never
seen spirit by itself. We expert
ence what 1t is to be spirit. our
selves: for man Is partly body,
partly spirit. Yet in ourselves
spirit never is felt alone. It Is
extremely hard to be certain at
any point in our experience
what clements are spirit" and
what elements are physical. ma
terial. We know what spirit and
matter are in close combina-
ton; We can observe matter
without spirit every time we
look at q rock or a raindrop.
But spirit, pure and unmingled?
Let us try to speak Of a few Of
the meanings that Christian
thinkers have seen in this ire
mendouS saying. so simple and
yet so profound.
No Likeness of Anything
Moses did not try to tell the
Israelites that God is spirit.
What he did say was something
simpler. The people Of God
were forbidden to make any
image Or likeness u anything
at all. in water. earth or air.
The Israelites alone. among the
PEOPLE Of the ancient East, had
no status nor pictures of their
God. God is not like any physi-
cal thing. Nothing that can be
seen with the natural eye looks
like God. Now this is very I'm
portant. # God had some kind
Of body. II God were as Deepen.
dent on His body as We On ours,
then like all bodies. His would
have to be at some definite 10.
cation in space. You could point
straight at God (let us say at
noon by the clock, but because
Of the way the earth spins, at
midnight you would have ID
point in the opposite direction.
Nothing that has a body can be
in more places than one at one
time. Everything that has a
body. or is a body. has to move
or be carried. from one place
10 another place. But God is
everywhere all the time. AL
places are here" to Him. This
could not be true unless God is
spirit.
Judgment and Consolation
This Christian belief (Which
We owe directly to our Master
that God is spirit. is not just a
difficult doctrine. It is extreme
~ practical. and that in two
ways. For QUE thing. you cannot
60 anywhere and shut God off
from following you. He does not
need to follow you. He is al
ways there. No door can be
closed against Him This means
that nothing escapes His eye.
No recording angel Is needed to
keep your record. At the final
judgment there is no need to
summon witnesses, no wonder
ing If they are telling the truth.
God does not depend on eye
witnesses. His Judgment is just
because He is always at
the scene of every crime i.
Crime? Yes. at the scene of
every sin too. In a human court
a man may "get by with muir
der" He may build up a repu-
tation he does not deserve. But
no man can surprise God; YOU.
reputation with Him is no better
than you are. .s
The other very. important
practical beartng tht, truth has
Is that Col is ureslert h ANN