GOD IS A SPIRIT
JOHN 4:4–30
God is a spirit.
(John 4:24).
What is a spirit? Can our human minds grasp the idea of spirit? We often think of a spirit as something like a vapor or a cloud, which though it does not have the density of matter that a solid object has, still it is a form of matter.
However, when the Bible speaks of God’s being a spirit, it means that God is not “made” of matter, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous. This spiritual “mode of existence” that the Bible sets forth is something that we can’t imagine because we have no real reference point for it. Things in the world we live in are all made of matter in one form or another. At the same time, though, we do have an approximate analogy of spiritual existence in ourselves.
Man as a spirit
We live inside our bodies. If we lose a leg, we don’t cease to exist. The body seems to be a mechanism that I as a person use to get about and to do certain actions and to make responses to forces which stimulate me. But my consciousness of myself as a self is something that goes on in my mind, and the nature of the mind is one of the most elusive realities of all human investigation.
We don’t really know what the relationship is between thought and the brain, between mind and body, but we know that we are conscious of ourselves as selves, and that’s where we live: in our personal consciousness. And it is that dimension of man that defies reduction to pure material dimensions. The message of Christianity is that when your body dies, your personal conscious existence goes on.
God’s spirituality is not the same as man’s
This description of man’s spirituality helps us understand spirit, but where our understanding of God is concerned, it is only a limited analogy. As human beings we are spiritual persons, but we are finite spirits who live in bodies. What the Scriptures tell us about God is that He is an infinite spirit who is not bound by a body. Thus the doctrine of the spirituality of God means on the one hand that He is radically unlike us, and on the other hand that we, as His images, do bear a likeness to Him.
CORAM DEO
How much time do you spend nurturing the needs of the body as opposed to your life in the Spirit? How prepared will you be to give a stewardship account of your spiritual life?
TABLETALK
from ligonier ministries and teaching and encouraging believers • march 1989
THE POWER OF PREACHING
Daily Studies From The Teaching Fellowship Of R. C. Sproul
publisher Ligonier Ministries executive editor Ralph D. Veerman editor Robert F. Ingram
marketing/production W. David Fox; David K. Freeland; Gretchen Suskovic; Melissa Prichard
circulation Gwen Weber writer Sharon Anderson
THE LIGONIER MISSION
To teach biblical truth to adult Christians and to encourage them to achieve a world and life view that will yield mature, obedient godliness, thereby contributing to a reformation of the church and culture.
LIGONIER MINISTRIES BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mr. Bruce Fogerty
President, Worthwhile Productions
Mr. G. Richard Hostetter
Attorney/Partner, Miller & Martin
Mr. Robert C. Legler
President, First Marketing Corporation of Florida
Mr. Stephen H. Levee, Jr.
President, Colony Inc. and Covington Point
Dr. Archie B. Parrish
President, Serve International
Mr. Jim Seneff
President, The CNL Group, Inc.
Dr. R. C. Sproul
Chairman, Ligonier Ministries, Inc.
Mr. John Thompson
Pilot, Delta Airlines
Mr. Ralph D. Veerman
President, Ligonier Ministries, Inc.
Dr. Luder Whitlock
President, Reformed Theological Seminary
Dr. Charles W. Colson
Director Emeritus
Published by Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, Inc., under license granted by Ligonier Ministries, Inc. 1989 by Ligonier Ministries, Inc. This Bible study is based upon teaching material by Dr. R. C. Sproul. All Scripture quotations in this publication are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
On The Cover: The pulpit is the central focal point in Protestant worship. Artwork by Toni Jo Fox.
coram deo • robert ingram
Living All of Life in the Presence of God
The Puritans have been called the “physicians of the soul” largely because of their particular preaching style. It is a phrase full of imagery that captures the Puritan desire to diagnose the ills of a people, culture, and a fallen world, and then through preaching prescribe the healing balm of the Gospel.
Through the development of what they called “plain style preaching” the Puritans caused the transition from ostentatious displays of academic erudition to effectual doctrinal preaching that instructed the mind, inflamed the heart, and called for radical obedience. The power of preaching and the place of the pulpit owes much to this period following the Protestant Reformation.
The men and their articles in this month’s Tabletalk follow in this idea of preachers being “physicians of the soul.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was called “The Doctor,” as much for his pastoral care in preaching as for his prior career in medicine. R. C. captures it so well when in his article he asks, “What’s Going on Here?” This is the meaning of Coram Deo, asking the big questions concerning how I must live my life in the presence of God. What is God’s role for preaching in the life of the church and believer?
In the space we have available, it is our hope this month to elevate and honor the pulpit, inspiring those who stand in it to courageous preaching (Stott) and new perspectives (Knecht). The question we would have you keep in mind as you read each article is “What is God’s intention in the act of preaching?” We must seek to discover this divine intention if we are to live our lives more fully in His presence.
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