Thursday, March 19, 2020 -
John 1:24 quotes Jesus telling the woman at the well in Samaria that “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Yet three places in Genesis (Gen. 1:26, 27; 5:3) we are told man is made in God’s image. It is true man has a spirit, and we know from this passage in John that God is a spirit, and that the triune God consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Does this then mean that God also has a physical body or at least a physical presence that can be beheld since man is made in the image of God? Or is Genesis only referring to the spiritual element of man being in God’s image? Of course, one part of the triune God did appear as man incarnate in the flesh – the Son! But does the Father, Elohim, possess physical attributes as well?
While some references to God’s physical features or attributes in Scripture could be interpreted as a figure of speech, one really has to question whether the voluminous mention of the physical attributes of God can solely be just figures of speech. After all, the creation story found in Genesis, where we are told man is made in God’s image, deals with the physical aspect of the universe and all physical things contained in its creation. Furthermore, the word “image” is normally used in context with physical attributes, not spiritual, or unseen attributes.
These physical attributes include His hands (Ex. 33:22; Is. 40:12; Jer. 18:6; Mk. 16:19; Lk. 23:46; Ps. 9:16; 10:12, 14; 16:11; 17:14; 20:6; 21:8; 31:15; 98:1), His eyes (2 Chr. 16:9; Rev. 2:18; Ps. 11:4; 17:2; 18:24; 31:22), His fingers (Ex. 8:19), His lips (Ps. 17:4), His ears (Ps. 10:17; 17:6; 18:6; 31:2; 33:18; 34:15), His mouth (Matt. 4:4; Ps. 18:8), His temple (Ps. 18:6), His legs and feet (Gen. 3:8; Ps. 18:9), His heart (Ps. 33:9), His face (Ex. 33:11; Num. 6:25; Ps. 10:11; 13:1; 24:6; 27:8; 31:16; 67:1), His eyelids (Ps. 11:4), His nostrils (Ps. 18:8, 15), His arms (Job 40:7; Deut. 33:27; Ps. 98:1), and His voice (Ps. 18:13; Ps. 29:3-5, 8-9). These Scriptures are certainly not complete as I only spent about an hour searching for them. One day soon this mystery will be solved, and we will see God.