God is spiritual, and has made it so we are also spiritual in nature. There are benefits to people who seek to develop a spiritual nature, which seems to be the thoughts of these concluding verses on this subtopic. Even people who might be considered pagan, or those who either don’t believe in God or recognize that he exists, still can recognize that people have that dual nature of both physical and spirituality. Ancient philosophers of nongodly cultures had their sayings and proverbs, meant to build up a person’s moral character. Even today we have sciences like psychology and psychiatry that try to understand mental conditions, and how to improve the lives of our fellow humans.
The point? A person doesn’t have to be religious in any way, shape, or form to recognize things of untangible spiritual nature.
Continuing the look at the Attributes of God, and letting Torrey’s choice of scripture guide us:
Torrey’s Topics:
Concerning God, His Being, Attributes
I. Concerning God.
A. His Being.
1. Attributes
b. Spirituality, God is a Spirit.
Joh 4:24;
Spiritual is the God,
and the worship of him is in spirit,
and truly need to worship.
I left this in a very literal translation, but in English, a more flowing way of saying it might be:
God is a spirit. And in worshipping him, a spiritual and truthful attitude is required for worship.
God is defined as being a spirit god. How do you worship a spirit god? spiritually. To worship spiritually is the only true worship of such a god. Any actions we might do, like kneeling, standing, or whatever, are useful to us if it helps us focus our spiritual energy on worship. Any physical objects, like prayer cloths, beads, soft comfy pews, or whatever, are nice as long as they help us focus on our spiritual worship. They don’t have any supernatural power other than aiding in spiritual things. And of course, if our minds are cluttered by outside distractions, we have not truly worshipped.
Ac 17:28;
For in him we live and we move and we are.
and in this same way some, according to you,
poets say, ‘and for his offspring we are
A very literal rendition of the Greek language. In English it might be better said as:
For in him we live, and we move, and we exist.
Along these same lines, some, according to your poets say,
‘and for his offspring we are
God’s spirit gives life and the ability to move around. Even the pagan poets and philosophers knew, and made claimed that men wer the offspring of gods. It is plain that there is a larger power and we are not it.
Heb 12:9;
then in fact, our fleshly fathers have trained us. and we returned respect.
shouldn’t much more subjection be given to the father of spirits and live?
We have fathers and leaders who train us in various ways in dealing with earthly matters, and respect is returned. We have a spiritual father who wants to train us in spiritual matters. Spiritual discipline can raise our quality of life to a higher plane, shouldn’t more respect and obedience be shown for recieving that training?
Ro 8:9,15,16;
9 also you are not of the flesh, conntrarywise of the spirit.
If that is so, the spirit of God resides in you.
Also if anyone has not the spirit of Christ
That same is not of him.
Humans have both fleshly elements, and spiritual elements. The goal is to strive to develop our spiritual nature. To live for God, or for Christ, is to accept his spirit. You do and act in the way that Christ would. You are not truely his until you carry that mark of his spirit.
15,16 For you don’t recieve a spirit of slavery again into fear,
contrarywise recieving spiritual adoption in which we scream out abba to the father
The spirit himself testifies with the spirit in us that we ar the children of God.
The first part of this passage might read better as:
For you don’t recieve a spirit of slavery, to return into fear. Contrarywise you’re recieving a spiritual adoption, in which we scream out, “abba,” to the father.
We can enslave ourselves to many things. Faith in God shouldn’t be a burden of slavery. To serve God is anything but fearful. Notice the “ing” ending on the word “recieving”. We are actively, continuously the recipients of a spiritual adoption. An adopted child is just as much a child as a natural born one. Most definitely not in the category of a slave. we can cry out, scream, like a small child cries out for his dad. Need protection? Need help? Are you just excited to see him? It’s OK, let out a happy scream when you get the chance to call on him. He’s your dad, you’re his kid. Our adoption is complete God picked us, Christ paid for us, the Spirit claims us and sticks up for us. The spirit validates our adoption. The spirit of God and of Christ wants to be the ruling force in our lives, but it is not enslaving or something to be dreaded.
1Co 2:11;
For, does any man know the things of a man except the spirit?
And so the things of God, nobody knows except the spirit of God.
Nobody can know the thoughts of another man, only that man really knows. Gods thoughts are higher, even though we can call him dad, he still exists on a higher level than we know about.
2Co 3:17
Also the lord is of the spirit
where the lord’s spirit is, there is freedom.
The lord is spirit. Where is the spirit? any place God decides to pour it out. If you want some just ask. And where ever the spirit is, there is freedom, not bondage. If you need to be a slave to something, be a slave to something that sets you free. Enjoy your spiritual liberation.