God's Attitude to the Universe.--The Scriptures are consistent in the
statement, many times made, that God is the source of all things. He
brings all things into being and sustains all by the word of His
power. His is a work of perpetual administration. But God is not
wholly occupied in conducting the affairs of the universe, neither
does it exhaust His possibilities (Psalm 8:1; 148:13). He is greater
than the universe. God, says Dr. Clarke, in his "Outline of Christian
Theology," is like the spirit of a man in his body, which is greater
than his body, able to direct his body, and capable of activities that
far transcend the physical realm. God is a free spirit, personal,
self-directing, unexhausted by His present activities. This statement
affirms both the immanence and the transcendence of God. By the
immanence of God is meant that He is everywhere and always present in
the universe, nowhere absent from it, never separated from its
life. By His transcendence is meant--not as is sometimes
represented--that He is outside and views the universe from beyond and
above, but that He is not shut up in it or limited by it, not required
in His totality to maintain and order it. By both together is meant
that He is a free spirit inhabiting the universe, but surpassing it,
immanent as always in the universe, and transcendent, as always
independent of its limitations and able to act upon it.
God's Attitude to Man.--God has not only placed man at the head of the
animal world, but has endowed him with qualities which make him its
lord and master. God is more than the Creator of man. He is his
Father, Saviour and Friend.
God comes to man in the attitude, of The Supreme Spiritual Being,
approaching a spiritual being who is of priceless value. Jesus Christ
makes this truth very plain. He everywhere teaches the great worth of
the life of a man and that God is seeking to come directly into touch
with this life which is so precious in His sight (John 3:16; Matthew
10:30,31). This life is not the physical but the spiritual which is
the real life of a man. "Not what one has, but what one is, gives the
true measure of a man." He said, "For what shall it profit a man, if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36,37). "Is not the life
more than meat and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25). "In
harmony with this view of the worth of life," Professor Stevens in
"The Theology of the New Testament," says, "Jesus taught that the most
humble and insignificant person, on whom men set no value, is precious
in the sight of God. These little ones, be they children or humble
believers, are not the despised (Matthew 18:10). The least important
person who goes astray from goodness excites the pity and solicitude
of God, and He seeks him and brings him back as the shepherd, leaving
his ninety-nine sheep, goes into the mountains in eager search after
the one that has wandered away" (Luke 15:14).
The hope of everlasting life is bound up with the recognition by man
of the priceless value of the spiritual life and of the necessity of
his coming into harmony (in thought, will and action) with God's plans
for him (John 17:3; Luke 12:16-21; John 1:4; 3:15,34-36; 6:35,47;
14:6).
"GOD IS THE PERSONAL SPIRIT"
"God is Spirit," these words of Christ, uttered to the Samaritan woman
(John 4:24), have reference to the nature of God and show us how we
are to think of Him. He is not limited to a particular place of
worship, but is to be worshipped "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23).
When we speak of a spirit we mean a being who has intelligence and
will; one who thinks, feels and wills. God the great intelligence and
will can enter into communication with man who, while he has a body,
has also a spirit possessing intelligence and a will. We need not
define the difference between God and matter, "if only we give full
weight to this vital and practical difference, that He is one who
thinks and feels and wills. The composition of spirit we may never
understand, but this is the action of spirit and this is
intelligible." God is everywhere represented in the Scriptures as
exercising intelligence and will (Genesis 1:1,2; 6:3; Job 26:7-14;
38:1-41; Psalm 2; 19; 72; Isaiah 61:1; Mark 10:27; 12:27; John 3:34;
Acts 3:26).
God is Personal.--Personality has two characteristics;
self-consciousness and self-direction. When it is said that God is
personal, the meaning is that He knows Himself as God and directs His
own actions. In the Bible He is represented as saying "I" (Exodus
20:2; 3:14) and as directing all things. Personality does not limit
God. He is the one perfect personality. Personality in man exists
only in a more or less imperfect degree. Personality is understood
here not as "bodily," but as belonging to the spirit.