Chapter 12: The Character of God: "Communicable" Attributes
(Part 1)How is God like us in his being, and in mental and moral attributes?
A) Attributes Describing God's Being(186-190)
1)Spirituality
a) God's spirituality means that God exists as a 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 anyother kind of existence. (John 4:24: "God is spirit....")
-- not limited to any spatial location
-- does not have size or physical dimensions (remember omnipresence)God forbids us to portray or think of his very being as similar to anything in the physical creation (Ex.20:4-6)So God does not have a physical body(though Christ took on a human nature, and still lives in heaven as the God-man)
-- to have a physical nature would deny many of God's attributes (independence, omnipotence,omnipresence, eternity, unchangeableness)
God is not made of energy or thought or anything else in creation: God is spirit
Do you think this is an inferior kind of existence? less real? less desirable?God's being as spirit is so powerful that he created the universe out of nothing:Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.(-- out of nothing!)
The sun = size of 1,000,000 earths Interior: 29,000,000 degrees (F)All the energy produced on earth in history= energy produced by sun in 1 sec.
The sun is 1 star.
Our Milky Way Galaxy:= 400,000,000,000 stars
How many galaxies?
The sun is 1 star.Our Milky Way Galaxy:400,000,000,000 + stars
How many galaxies? current estimate 125,000,000,000 galaxies!
Psa. 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made...by the breath of his mouth all their host ...
Do you think that God's being as spirit is a less real or less desirable kind of existence?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."God is spirit" indicates that his being is the most excellent kind of existence!
Then what does it mean to say that God is spirit?
What is "spirit"? Mostly, we can say what it is not:God's spirituality means that God exists as a 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
.-- Are you glad that God is spirit?
How then should we think of God when we pray?
How then should we think of God when we pray? Not as having any human form, or any other material form.Just as being present.And very, very powerful.And all-knowing. And wise. And loving. And just. And eternal.God has given us a spiritual nature that is something like his own nature. (John 4:24, Rom. 8:16)
2) Invisibility
a) God's invisibility means that God's total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us through visible, created things. (John 1:18, 6:46; 1Tim. 1:17,6:16)
b) Then what about these verses? (Exo. 33:11, 33:20-23)2 God shows us something of himself (or some representation of himself) through visible, created things.(Gen. 32:28-30; Exo. 13:21-22; John 14:9; Col. 1:15)
.c) We look forward to the "beatific vision" (Latin beatus, "blessed" + facere "to make") (Rev. 22:3-4; 1John 3:2; Matt. Psa. 16:11)
Questions:
1. Do you like it that God is invisible? Do you think this is a good thing?(note that all visible things are finite)
2. What do you think it will be like to see God face to face? How will he look at you?
Below is the link to the mp3 file.
http://scottsdalebible.com/assets/audio/christian-essentials/20060305WGrudem.mp3
