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John 4:24
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Physicalism, sometimes also called materialism, denotes the belief that only physical or material entities exist and that everything can be explained by reference to physical or material causes. Such a philosophy is widely accepted by many modern scientists, but it is directly contrary to Scripture, which teaches that not everything that exists is material or physical. In truth, the Bible teaches that angels are immaterial spirits (Heb. 1:14) and that humans are composite beings, each man, woman, and child possessing both a physical body and an immaterial soul or spirit (1 Cor. 5:5). Moreover, Scripture itself teaches that God is spirit, as we see in today’s passage (John 4:24).
Jesus’ statement to the Samaritan woman in John 4:24 reflects the truth of the spirituality of God. Spirituality is an attribute of our Creator—that is, the divine nature is immaterial. Like many of God’s other attributes, the spirituality of God is explicitly taught in Scripture, but it is also a necessary consequence of our Lord’s other attributes. For instance, divine infinity means that God has no limits or boundaries, but physical entities by definition have such limits. Physical bodies, for instance, extend only so far before reaching a limit. A physical or material substance, therefore, cannot be infinite. That property can belong only to an immaterial entity; therefore, since God is infinite, His nature must be spiritual.
When we consider God’s spirituality, we note that there is a type of commonality between created spirits and His uncreated spirit in that both are immaterial. We must also note, however, that because of the distinction between Creator and creature, God’s spirituality is different from the spirituality of angels and human beings. For instance, created spirits lack infinity and they can change, but God is infinite and unchangeable (Ps. 145:3; Mal. 3:6).
As noted above, spirituality applies to the divine nature, which means that when we say that God is spirit, we are not referring exclusively to the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are spirit, though the Son of God since the incarnation also has a human nature and thus a material body according to His humanity. As infinite spirit, the Holy Trinity is incomprehensible; we can know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit truly but not completely. This should drive us to humility and to seek to understand Him only according to how He has revealed Himself and not according to our vain imaginations.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Our communion with God is often called “spiritual” because it involves the fellowship of our spirits with the One who is by nature spirit. This means that we continue in fellowship with Him after the death of our physical bodies because we do not require physical senses to commune with our Creator. We will, of course, have resurrected physical bodies one day, but between our deaths and the resurrection, our souls commune with God in heaven.
For further study
- Isaiah 31:3
- 2 Corinthians 3:18
The bible in a year
- Deuteronomy 23–25
- Mark 14:51–72
- Deuteronomy 26–28
- Mark 15