`The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God' (1 Tim. 1:17).

`Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; Whom no man hath seen,

nor can see' (1 Tim. 6:16).

The distinction between spirit and flesh is maintained in Scripture, whether the word `spirit' is used of God

Himself or of others:

`The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak' (Matt. 26:41).

`A spirit hath not flesh and bones' (Luke 24:39).

`That

which

is

of

is

flesh;

and that which is born (hath been begotten) of the Spirit is spirit' (John 3:6).

`It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing' (John 6:63).

`Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit' (Rom. 8:4).

`Their horses are flesh, and not spirit' (Isa. 31:3).

The passages we have given are sufficient for our purpose; the reader will discover many more. The revelation of

John 4:24 renders it imperative that in our conception of God we should rigorously exclude all the limitations of

size, shape, time and space, which are essential to the world of flesh and blood. We cannot discover God by

searching or reasoning, because we have no knowledge of the conditions of spirit life upon which to base our

arguments. We depend entirely upon revelation. What God has told us of Himself, we may know; what He has left

unrecorded is entirely beyond us, and the attempt to supplement divine revelation by human philosophy will be

As we have already pointed out, it cannot be denied that no one person can be in two distinct places at the same

time. This is universally true in the realm of flesh and blood, but it clearly becomes untrue when carried over into

the realm of the spirit, for Scripture makes it plain that God is omnipresent. We should be careful therefore, not to

reason in the things of God with the limited logic of human experience. The tendency to do this however, is almost

universal among theologians :

`If God be a God of love, then ... '

`If God be almighty, then ... '

But in every case where the bounds of revelation are overstepped, and the light of philosophy substituted for the

lamp of revealed truth, the argument leads its followers into mischievous error.

At this stage something should be said concerning the many passages of Scripture that ascribe to God the organs

and the feelings of a man. To the invisible God are ascribed hands, arms, eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth and feet. To

God, Who is not a man that He should repent, is ascribed a whole range of human feelings - repentance, sorrow,

jealousy, joy, zeal and pity. We read of His instituting enquiries as though He would learn, of remembering, of

forgetting, of being reminded, of laughing, and of hissing. Many things connected with place are attributed to God -

Scripture speaks of Him as sitting on a throne and dwelling in a sanctuary. Circumstances associated with time,

with battle, with building, with inheriting, with writing and with raiment, are all attributed to God. Not only so, but

God is represented by irrational creatures - the lion, the lamb and the dove; roaring and bellowing also are attributed

to Him, and wings and feathers. The reader will remember many further instances, from which it becomes clear that

we are dealing here with the figure of speech known as anthropopathy, anthropomorphism, or condescension. If

God be Spirit, then unless He condescends to be interpreted to man in human terms, He will for ever remain

unrevealed and unknown.

An illustration may perhaps be drawn from the well-known properties of `wireless' waves. Through every room

in every house in the kingdom, wireless waves are beating, yet the occupants are entirely oblivious of their presence,

and unmoved by their message. The human ear responds to the sound waves of the air, but needs the mediation of

the wireless receiving set to translate the etherial waves, of which it is quite unconscious, into the lower earthly

waves which it can detect. In everyday language, we may say that we have heard a lecturer speaking `over the

wireless', but in reality we have only heard wireless waves interpreted into sound waves. In the same way, the Bible

speaks of God's face, voice and hands, but this is only the interpretation of unseen spiritual equivalents that have no