“God is Spirit”

When we meet a person for the first time, we usually ask his name and where he lives. In such instances, the person usually answers the latter question by naming the city or town in which he resides. However, while he may reply that he resides in Amsterdam, he may be answering the question in Zurich, which means that, at least for the moment, he lives in Zurich. The fact is that we reside in our bodies, wherever we may be, for we are physical creatures and can always be found in a particular place. That is why the twentieth-century philosopher Martin Heidegger spoke of humans as beings who are always somewhere. Our existence is defined by our locality. That is a property of any physical thing.

It is not so with God. In John 4, Jesus engaged in conversation with a woman He met at a well outside the Samaritan city of Sychar. At one point, she mentioned the idea that God must be worshiped in a particular place, such as Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem. But Jesus took issue with that notion. To prove that God can be worshiped anywhere, He told the woman that “ ‘God is Spirit.’ ” In doing so, He was telling the woman that, unlike humans, God is not a physical being. He is not material. He does not have a body. And He cannot be localized in any one place at any one time. Since God is a spiritual being, Jesus said, He is everywhere. Ultimately, His presence cannot be restricted to one place.

It is important to note what Jesus did not mean when He said that God is Spirit. He was not saying that God is an impersonal force. This is clear from the fact that He was not speaking against the practice of worshiping God, only the belief that God could be restricted to a place. Therefore, if God is deserving of worship, He is more than an impersonal power; He is a personal being, one to whom we can relate. What is more, the fact that He is free of physical restraints is a wonderful boon to us as believers, for it means that He is with us wherever we may be. We can worship Him, pray to Him, and cry out to Him anywhere, anytime, for He is always with us. Of course, it is also true that we can never flee from His presence; we live our lives coram Deo, before the face of God. But for those who have been justified, this is not a fearful prospect but a great comfort and blessing.