Transcendence -> Invisibility
This week we’re studying the transcendence of God. To be transcendent means that (as Tom will explain Wed night) God is “beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience; surpassing the ordinary; exceptional; existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe.” Additionally, because God is transcendent, outside of physical experience, He can also be considered invisible.
It is God’s invisibility that I want to focus on (existing apart from and not subject to the physical world…or transcendent). Let’s start with scripture:
1 Timothy 1:17:
17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, describes God as “invisible”. God is not a material God. He is spirit and does not have flesh and bones as it states in Luke 24:39:
39“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
(Aside: I know you might be thinking, well Jesus was flesh and bone. However, He came to the world as both God and man. This certainly requires some deeper thought and study, of which Tom will discuss Wed night.)
So God is spirit and spirit does not have a material state in this physical world. To say God is spirit is true as it states in John 4:24:
24“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Now, here in John 4:24 of which Trev preached on several months ago we see a unique relationship. That first “and” conjunction is a “connecting conjunction” relating God as spirit (the invisible God) with how we are called to worship our God who is spirit and invisible. Isn’t it so interesting how God can use a simple word like “and” to relate two seemingly unrelated concepts, such as invisibility and worship?
God’s Invisibility -> Our Worship
I want to look more into this connection between God’s invisibility (transcendence) and our act of worship.
(Another aside: A few translations such as the NIV translate John 4:24 as:
24“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and truth.
but there is no article “the” in the original Greek. And in this context it is a stretch to think Jesus is talking of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit has not yet been poured out. So this reference to the Holy Spirit would not be understood by the people at this time in history. But this argument deserves a more thorough discussion, which is beyond the scope of this article. However, do understand that later NT writings state that we do worship with the indwelling Holy Spirit, but that is a separate text from this one.)
As God is spirit, so are we to worship Him in our spirit. Worship is Biblically defined as the reverential response of creation to the all-encompassing magnificence of God. But how do we worship He who is invisible? Most other cults and religions have an image of their god (Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.). Christianity does not have an image that we worship. Not to say that in past history others have not tried to fashion an image to worship…remember the golden calf that was fashioned to be worshiped at the foot of Mt. Sinai?
If we look at the first of the 10 commandments in Exodus 20:3–6:
3“You shall have no other gods before Me.
4“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The invisible God commands that no images or likenesses of what is in Heaven are to be made. Why? Because, this image would confine an infinite God to something more finite, something less of who God really is. So it is better to not make any images of God so that we may truly grasp that He is beyond our grasp…majestic, eternal, awesome!
Now let’s focus a bit more on how we are to worship. John 4:24 says that we “must worship in spirit and truth”. The word for “must” is a verb and exists in the Greek. This word “must” stresses the importance of how we are to worship in relation to who God is…that He is spirit. John tells us exactly how we are to worship, in spirit and in truth.
The “truth” part is pretty straight forward. We are to worship how God has told us to worship in His word, which is truth itself. The Book of Acts and the Pauline epistles are ripe with examples, commands, and encouragements on how to worship in a God pleasing manner. Not only can we understand how God wants us to worship but we also see that Who we worship is truth as in John 14:6:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
We cannot come to worship the Godhead if we fail to worship God in truth.
But what about worshiping in spirit? We get a clue if we look at the preceding context in John 4:21:
21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
We won’t need a physical temple in which we have to go and experience with our senses. No, we now can worship the invisible, transcendent God in our spirit as Paul did as he says in Romans 1:9:
9For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
Essentially, we have a much stronger connection to God (who is spirit) through our own spirit. We can worship Him not only at all times but with a deep sense of knowing Him as we have this strong connection to Him.
So to put it more succinctly, to worship in spirit and truth means that we must each put together our mind and our heart in worship. This combination is vital to our spiritual act of worship…the mind to understand, reason, and know how God wants us to worship Him and the heart for a more deep, willful, connected, and yes, even emotional worship.
Remember Mark 12:30:
30and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’