Does the Bible teach that God is a man?
You disagreed with the Word of Faith's teaching that God is a man 6 foot tall
and 200lbs. Isn’t man created in God's image? If that is the case, wouldn't God
have arms, legs, hands, etc.. Just because He is a spirit, does that rule out
having a form of some kind? And if he really does have a form, why then could it
not be around 6' tall?
Answer:
Many scriptures may seem contradictory on the surface unless you keep in mind
that God’s word does not change and what God has previously revealed is not
nullified by what God revealed later in scripture. In other words, God’s word
will never pass away but each passage must be interpreted in light of the whole
of scripture. Scripture interprets scripture. What God says in the New Testament
supplements what God has said in the Old Testament. It does not replace, but
complements.
You must also keep in mind that Jesus is fully God but what you see is not all
that God is. It is true that in Jesus dwells all the Godhead bodily but keep in
mind that God also indwells the heart of every believer. Look at John 14:
23 Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word;
and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
How can the God of the universe make His home with every believer? The Bible
tells us that all things were created through Christ and in Him everything
consists. He not only created the universe, but He also holds together the
universe by His power. Jesus did not come into being as His birth and Word of
Faith teachers claim. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8-9 says:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about
with various and strange doctrines.
Jesus has always been and He is the same today as He has always been. The
incarnation did not change the nature of Jesus Christ. When God became a man, it
was for our benefit so that we could see the attributes of God that He desired
to reveal to us. We beheld His glory, but we did not see all of God’s glory. We
saw what God revealed to us. Look at Romans 1:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to
them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
God’s attributes are invisible (for God is Spirit) but what God has revealed
about Himself is clearly seen. In Christ, God revealed His attributes that could
not be seen without seeing Him walk, relate to others and express His love
towards those walking physically on this earth.
In Christ dwelled the fullness of the Godhead, but His physical body could never
contain all that God is. If Jesus’ physical body is God, then Hebrews would be
making a false claim by saying, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and
forever…”. Consider this along with the passage cited above in John 14, “My
Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him”. How
can the Father and the Son make their home with the individual believer and
still fill the universe? I think we can get a clearer understanding from 1 John
4:
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us
of His Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of
the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in
God.
Also read 1 John 3:
9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he
cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
When we are born of God, His seed remains in us. His seed is the Holy Spirit as
indicated in 1 John 4 and also in this passage from John 14:
16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may
abide with you forever --
17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
We are told that when we belong to Christ, He and the Father make their home
with us and place the Holy Spirit within us. Our physical bodies do not become
limitations for God but rather God becomes the power that works through our
physical bodies to do His will and live our lives spiritually. This body of
flesh is not the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) but it does house the new
creation during our walk on earth.
Jesus may have humbled Himself to take on the form of a bondservant, walk among
us and then die for our sins on the cross, but that physical body is not all
that Jesus is. The physical body of Jesus is how God chose to reveal His
invisible attributes to us, but it is not all that God is. God remains Spirit
and even during Jesus’ walk on earth, it remained true that the universe could
not contain God. The heavens and the earth are in God and God is in them. God
was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19) but Christ
was also in God (John 10:37, John 15:10). In Christ dwells the fullness of the
God head and in God dwells Christ. Don’t loose sight of the fact that Jesus is
fully God, therefore He is Spirit as well. In Him can dwell God fully but that
does not mean that God must fully fit into a physical body.
Finally, you asked that if we are created in God’s image, doesn’t that mean that
God would have arms, legs and our physical attributes?
The answer is, No. God is Spirit and man was created in God’s image with a
spiritual aspect to his nature. We have become dead because of sin but are made
alive in Christ. Because of mankind’s sin, we have all inherited a body of
corruption and a sinful nature that is bent on corruption. Anyone who has ever
had a child knows that we are born into sin. I never taught my kids to be
selfish, to hit, throw fits or misbehave. I use external measures to curb that
behavior but only God can create a new heart within us. Our bodies are not
eternal and are destined to return to the ground. Man’s physical body was
fashioned out of clay – not God’s image. The spirit of life breathed into him
comes from God.
When we are redeemed in Christ, we become alive and again inherit God’s
attributes He intended for us to have from the beginning. Look at 2 Corinthians
5:
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though
we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have
passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus
Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation.
This is a very important passage. Notice that we no longer regard each other
according to the flesh. Why? Because we are new creations – not according to our
arms, legs and physical attributes but according to the new creation we have
become in Christ. We no longer regard Christ according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. When we are born in the Spirit, we are now a child of
God and can truly know God and have a personal relationship with Christ through
the Spirit – not by the flesh. When we are born spiritually, we inherit again
the image of God that was intended from the beginning. Until we are born in the
Spirit, we are not sons, we are not heirs, and we cannot understand the things
of the Spirit.
If you observe the Word of Faith movement, everything is focused on the physical
and all doctrine centers around self-gain. However, if we are in Christ, we no
longer live for ourselves but die to ourselves; we no longer live for physical
things but live now according to the spirit – not storing up treasures on earth
but live in hope of the eternal promises of God and the reward He gives to those
who are faithful. Jesus said, where your treasure is, your heart will be also.
If someone accepts the so-called prosperity doctrine, their heart is in the
wrong place. When someone loves the things of the world, the love of the Father
is not in them (1 John 2:15).
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ
Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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