‘Behold, the Lamb of God’s
ide o amnos tou
theou
College Study
26th teaching
2.25.2013
The ‘Negative’ Doctrines:
“God’s Immateriality”
Turn to John 4:1-26.
The focal point of that passage for us tonight is v.24, where Jesus Christ says that God
is Spirit. When you hear the word spirit,
what do you think of? Ghosts? Wind? Light?
The Greek word for Spirit
that John used in writing down the words of Christ, was the Greek word pneuma. “God is Spirit…” God is pneuma.
Thayer’s Lexicon defines pneuma in three ways:
a. the third person of the
triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
b. the spirit, i.e. the vital
principal by which the body is animated
c. a spirit, i.e. a simple
essence, devoid of all or at least all … matter, and possessed of the power of
knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting
So the Greek word pneuma
means either the Holy Spirit, the spirit of a human being, or a
simple/indivisible spiritual being that can act, know and desire and decide.
This last one, I believe, is the definition Jesus specifically applies to the
Father. God is an indivisible, spiritual Being. By definition of being a
Spirit, God is just like the spirit or the soul within us: immaterial. Specifically,
God being a Spirit refers to His transcendence and immateriality.
Coincidentally, that just so happens to be the title of
tonight’s study: “God’s immateriality”.
Now this is an important attribute of God, in defining who
He is. Each of the three major monotheistic religions today (Christianity,
Judaism and Islam) each claim that God is immaterial spirit (with the exception
of Christianity being the only one which claims that God was made flesh). The
doctrine of God’s immateriality is one which differentiates Him from the pagan
gods.
After all, Christianity arose in a time and in a world
which was just full of religion. It’s not like the Roman Empire and the Middle
East didn’t have enough gods that Christianity needed to fill a gap. No,
remember when Paul walked through Athens in Acts 17? He said “‘Men of
Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious…” What an
understatement.
Many cities in that time, Athens included, were choked with
statues and temples and idols of all the many thousands of gods and goddesses
of the Greek and Roman pantheons. Not to mention all the other foreign gods
which traders brought in to the empire from other countries.
But one thing which differentiates the true God of the
Bible from the gods of the pagans, from Zeus and Aphrodite, Poseidon, Hades and
Mars and Mercury, from Odin and Loki of Norse mythology, from Osiris and Horus
of Egypt, from Baal and Ashtoreth, from Amaterasu of Japan, the dragons of
Chinese myths and Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs… one thing which separates the
real God from all these players, is that the God of the Bible is invisible and
immaterial.
He cannot be portrayed in pictures and artifacts and
statues for the purposes of worship. The pagans would often identify their
deities with the elements, the Sun or the Moon or the Night or the Earth, but
God is not identified with these material things. Ever wonder why all these
religions have a god for earth and water and sky, thunder, war and all these
elements? They all got it wrong. God does not reside in a star, or dwell on top
of Mount Olympus. He is not the embodiment of an element. God is not the sky or
the earth or the rocks or the sea. God is immaterial.
When the Bible uses terminology such as God having hands or
eyes or wings, we understand these to be analogical and metaphorical attributes
of the non-physical, immaterial God. Let’s have that understood right away.
So tonight, with our topic at hand, let us learn about this
great way in which the Bible differentiates Himself from all these fakes, all
these other gods: in the fact that He is immaterial; because the modern world
is very much like the ancient world. We really haven’t come that far. There are
still thousands upon thousands of gods and goddesses in the world today. There
are pantheons of cults, hosts of heresies and armies of false religions.
Tatian the Assyrian was a 2nd century Christian
writer who wrote: “God is a Spirit, not pervading matter, but the Maker of
material spirits, and of the forms that are in matter; He is invisible,
impalpable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. Him
we know from [the world’s] creation, and apprehend His invisible power by His
works. I refuse to adore that workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The
sun and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own servants? How can
I speak of sticks and stones as gods?”
We have the great privilege of raising the banner of truth,
to show the world that the one true God is unlike the gods of this world. One
great way to do that, again, is to show that God is Spirit, immaterial. In
effect, the goal of our study is to say that God matters because He is not matter.
Let
us hit three points tonight:
1.
The
Definition and Implications of Immateriality
2.
The
bases for Immateriality in Scripture and Logic
3.
Challenges
against Immateriality
1.
The Definition and Implications
of Immateriality
Immateriality is one of the ‘negative’ doctrines of God.
Again, what do we mean by ‘negative’? So immaterial, then, is saying that God
is not material; from the Medieval Latin word immaterialis meaning spiritual, not consisting of matter.
God as Spirit does not consist of matter. But if we’re
saying God is not matter, what is matter? Matter, says Wikipedia: is generally
considered to be a substance (often a particle) that has rest mass and
(usually) also volume. The volume is determined by the three-dimensional space
it occupies, while the mass is defined by the usual ways that mass is measured.
Matter is also a general term for the substance of which all observable
physical objects consist.
Now lest you begin to accuse me teaching physics instead of
the Bible tonight, let me assure you that this is not my point. You won’t be
the victims of a physics-class tonight. Besides, I’m no physics professor.
We only need a basic idea of what matter is for our
discussion of immateriality. Let’s consider three characteristics of matter and
what they imply in regards to immateriality:
Firstly, matter,
as we’ve just learned through Wikipedia, has mass and volume. In other words,
it occupies space. Matter takes up space. Matter is spatial. A cat, for
example, is made up of matter (particles, molecules, cells, atoms, chemicals)
and the cat occupies space and has mass, particularly a lot of mass if you feed
the cat well.
On the flip side then, if God is immaterial, what does this
mean? It means that while matter is spatial, God is non-spatial. Matter takes
up and occupies space. God does not. Only one particle can exist in one space
at one time. No two particles can occupy the same location. But God as
immaterial is non-spatial and therefore He can be everywhere, or rather
everywhere can be in Him. Matter occupies space in His presence but His
presence occupies no space in the universe. So immaterial means God is
non-spatial.
Secondly, matter
is limited. There’s a point at which every body of matter ends. Anything that
has volume can be measure and anything that can be measured has limits,
boundaries. Our bodies have limits, my apartment has limits, my desk has
limits, our cells have limits, molecules have limits… even light particles have
limitations in speed. But if God is immaterial, then necessarily He has no
spatial limits. God has no volume, no mass, no way to be measured. He is
measurably unlimited.
Thirdly, matter
is subject to changes. All matter can be classified into one of four basic
states: Solid, Liquid, Gas and Plasma. Which kind of matter are we most
familiar with in three different states? Water. Water can be a liquid at
moderate temperatures, or it can be frozen into a solid, or it can be heated
into a gas, into steam. Matter is subject to changes of form based on pressure
and temperature. But if God is immaterial, then He, unlike matter, is not
subject to change. Nothing can freeze
God or heat Him into plasma. God is not subject to anything but Himself. Is
there a hint of God’s unchanging Being in immateriality? I think so. The fact
that God is immaterial, means that He cannot be changed in ways that relate to
the change of matter.
Rabbi Mosheh Ben Maimon, also known as Maimonides, was a
medieval Jewish philosopher, considered to be one of the greatest scholars of
the Torah from the Middle Ages. He had this to say:
“…since God has no body, nothing can occur to Him belonging
to the occurrences of bodies, so that He might be divided and separated
from another.”
What a smart cookie! He had his thinking cap on. He
realized that if God is immaterial, then He cannot suffer the same occurrences
such as effect matter.
*I feel there is so much more to learn here in the contrast
between the nature of physical matter and immaterial God… but time presses.
So in summary, matter is spatial, limited and subject to
change. The immaterial God, then, is non-spatial, unlimited and unchangeable.
As the 16th century German monk Martin Luther said: “We deny that
God is such an extended, long, broad, thick, high, low Being. We rather contend
that God is a supernatural, unfathomable Being, who at one and the same time is
in every little kernel of grain and also in and above and outside all
creatures. To think of any limitations here, as the false spirit dreams, is out
of order.”
One more note on immateriality. Sometimes this doctrine is
termed God’s Incorporeality. For example, on certain lists of God’s attributes,
such as Wikipedia’s list, you will not find an entry for Immateriality.
Wikipedia excludes Immateriality but includes Incorporeality.
So what’s the difference? As we’ve seen, Immateriality
means not-material. Incorporeality
means without a body. For example, in
ancient Greece, they considered air to be incorporeal as opposed to the solid
ground. Air doesn’t have form but the earth does.
Remember our medieval friend, Maimonides? He had this to
say about God’s Incorporeality: he said of God, “We believe that this Oneness
is neither a body nor a bodily force, nor is He subject to any bodily
characteristics -- movement, rest, or dwelling -- be they inherent or by
chance. Therefore the Sages repudiated [the possibility of any] cohesion or
separation [concerning Him], as they said: "Above there is no sitting,
standing, division… All the corporeal terms used in the Scriptures to describe
Him -- such as walking, standing, sitting, speaking etc. -- are metaphorical.
As the Sages have said: "The Torah speaks in the language of man." …This
is the third Principle, as affirmed by the verse (Deuteronomy 4:15) "You
have not seen any image," that is to say, you cannot conceive of Him as
having any form because, as stated, He is neither a body nor a bodily force.”
Now there’s great similarity between the two ideas, but
still a difference.
God is Spirit as we’ve seen from Scripture. But
Christianity’s great paradox is the Incarnation, the one great mystery, that
the spiritual, immaterial God because material and because corporeal. Christ
took on flesh and took on a body. Hebrews
10:5 says “Therefore, when He came
into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body
You have prepared for Me…” John 1:1,14,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.”
Christianity may share the doctrine of God’s immateriality
in common with Islam and Judaism, but only Christianity dares to have the
audacity to claim that an Immaterial God became
material. The Incarnation throws a wrench into the cogs! It screws it all up.
Christianity would be a neat, little comprehensible religion without the
Incarnation, but it is not. There is the great paradox of it all: Incorporeal
God took on flesh, Impassible God took on the ability to suffer, Immaterial God
took clothed Himself with matter.
2.
The bases for Immateriality in
Scripture and Logic
The doctrine of God’s immateriality is pretty easily seen
in both the Bible and our brains. Both Scripture and Logic denote that God is
Spirit and immaterial, based upon what we know of God through His
self-revelation.
John 1:18 says “No one has seen God at any time.”
In fact, the Scriptures declare that God is invisible. The
invisibility of God is an attribute all throughout the Bible. Let’s look a
couple of these verses up: I Timothy
1:17, Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 11:27.
The doctrine of God’s Invisibility is for another day.
Let’s consider also the logical implication of Genesis 1:1, “In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. If God made matter, then
it follows that He is beyond matter, since He was before the creation of matter
in the universe. Isaiah 66:1-2, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My
footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of
My rest? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?”
God says.
Therefore, His creativity implies His immateriality.
Also, we long ago established God’s Pure Actuality. What
does that doctrine mean again, what does it mean to say that God is purely
actual? It means His existence purely IS, without possibility of change. As
we’ve already seen, matter changes, but because God is purely actual, God does
not change. And if matter changes but God does not change, then God is not made
of matter. Right? Right.
3.
Challenges to Immateriality
As we’ve already learned, God Himself provided a challenge
to Immateriality. He became material. He took on flesh. This is not so much of
a challenge to immateriality, if you understand that God can do what He wants
to anyway.
Another challenge may be the concept of a Theophany.
Theophany comes from the Greek word theophaneia,
which means “appearance of God”. Throughout the Old Testament, God apparently
appeared to human beings in the form of a human being, an apparently physical but at
least visible form.
One example is in the story of Jacob. In Genesis 32:24-30, Jacob is stressed out
because he is about to be unwillingly reunited with his brother, who he once
cheated out of his inheritance. For all Jacob knows, Esau is coming to kill him
with a small, private army. The night before their meeting, Jacob wrestled with
a Man who Scripture identifies as God. This is a Theophany, an appearance of
God, not in the flesh, since this is not the incarnation, but in a visible and
apparently tangible form.
Appearances such as these happened in the Garden of Eden, since
God walked there in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve. Elsewhere, God was
on His way to judge Sodom when He appeared to Abraham. The concept of a
Theophany is another subject that deserves greater study, perhaps for another
time. It’s enough to say that it happened. God appeared to men, but not in such
a way that it negated the Scripture which says no one has seen God at any time.
We might simply understand the Theophany as a manifestation
or projection of God, for lack of better terms. Think kind of like a hologram
perhaps. This isn’t God, it’s just a picture of Him.
*One important problem that many atheists will have with
the idea of an immaterial God is a question of the difference between matter
and spirit. It’s been asked before: how can an immaterial God interact with a
material universe. If God is immaterial, how does He effect a material object
or anything material for that matter?
Picture in your mind a car traveling 70 mph. Coming towards
it is another car traveling at the same speed. What happens when they contact?
A reaction. A car crash. The two material objects effected each other
dramatically.
But what if you have a car traveling 70 mph, and an
intangible, immaterial spirit traveling the same speed? What happens if they
contact? They don’t. Your mind probably already imagined the spirit passing
through the car, since you’ve seen so many movies and tv shows in which ghosts
and spirits pass through material objects.
It was Sir Isaac Newton who nailed down the details of the
laws of gravitation. Gravity is an immaterial force that effects material
objects. Is God’s mechanism of interaction with the material universe something
like gravity?
Let’s watch a short video on the subject. A lot of this is
some heady stuff by some very intelligent individuals, but let’s try and grasp
what we can. This is an interview with Alvin Plantinga. He is a professor at
the University of Notre Dame, known for his work in religious philosophy,
metaphysics and Christian apologetics.
This interview is based upon the question at hand: how can
an immaterial God interact with the material universe.
*Interesting! How does God interact within the universe? As
an exterior agent outside of it. And God can act within the universe in the
form of miracles and He can act through physical agents: you and I. You ever
wonder why you never seem to see God’s hand move in your life? You every wonder
why you never get to see a miracle? Maybe it’s because God wants you to be His
hand and you to work His miracle, only you’re not aware of it.
I don’t listen to Casting Crowns, but they wrote a song I
remember hearing on the radio, it goes: “But if we are the body, Why aren't His
arms reaching? Why aren't His hands healing? Why aren't His words teaching? And
if we are the body, Why aren't His feet going? Why is His love not showing them
there is a way?”
God may be immaterial, but He is apparently immensely
interested in our material world, and in the material creatures which occupy
it. And how is an immaterial God to interact with the universe? Through chosen
material tools: you and me.
I don’t understand the intricacies of quantum physics, but
I do know that this book gives us a great commission to fulfill. And I believe
it can be fulfilled not ONLY in times that we segregate specifically for street
witnessing, but also in your everyday life.
Take our original Scripture from John 4. Jesus simply met a woman at a well.
You and I run across a lot of people, daily. We often meet
our own “woman at a well”. The neighbor next door. That guy at the gas station.
The lady behind the counter. The cashier. The bank teller. The supermarket
employee. The coworker. The class-mate. The acquaintance.
Again, we have the great privilege of saying to the lost
millions: there is a God, and He is not just a rock or a stone, He’s
immaterial, He’s greater than the gods of this world, He’s better than the
idols of America: lust, greed, money, power, authority, wealth, entertainment,
celebrities, relationships and pleasure.
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