Spirit

"God is Spirit," Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24)^[1] Paul adds that God "dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see." (1 Timothy 6:16)^[2] These two statements define the nature of God: he is Spirit, invisible, dwelling in light no mortal can approach.

Yet this invisible Spirit is not remote. The Psalmist marvels at God's complete knowledge of all human affairs: "He fashions their hearts alike; he considers all their works." (Psalm 33:15)^[3] Because God's Spirit fills all things, nothing in creation escapes his awareness. Even the smallest bird's death does not occur apart from the Father's knowledge. (Matthew 10:29)^[4]

Psalm 139 presses the point further: wherever a person might go — to the heights of heaven or the depths of Sheol, to the farthest sea — God's Spirit is already there. (Psalm 139:7–10)^[5] His omnipresence is not an abstract doctrine but a personal reality: he sees, he knows, he acts.

Paul stated this plainly to the philosophers of Athens: "In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:27–28)^[6] Creation does not merely originate from God; it is continuously sustained by his Spirit. Job saw the same truth: "By his Spirit he adorned the heavens." (Job 26:13)^[7]

Paul's summary statement draws the distinction that governs all right understanding of God: "There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live." (1 Corinthians 8:6)^[8] The Father is Spirit — the ultimate source and sustainer of all. The Son is the one through whom that Spirit-power was perfectly revealed and through whom all will ultimately be restored.