- Oct 16, 2004
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Since the church has, for 2,000 years, indoctrinated us to read a passage in one way, and in one way only, it is virtually impossible to extricate ourselves from that perspective as to entertain a different one. But if we're going to try to be objective interpreters, we should make such an effort, now and then. Let's give it a try, shall we?I
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
When I think of a wind as a set of lightweight sparse particles, I tend to think of the term gas. The point is that every language has terminology "buckets" for phenomena. Thus for example, I would tend to fit the term wind into a category/bucket called "gas". Of course some languages offer a broader choice of words than others. What term do you suppose the ancient Hebrews used for a phenomenon fitting the following description:
"A physical substance that is normally invisible."
How should such substance be classified? Under what bucket? I submit to you that the term favored in the ancient Hebrew mindset was ruach (breath/wind). Note, however, that the same description applies to the inner man of any human being, and to the Third Person as well. All of these can be described the same way:
"A physical substance that is normally invisible."
and thus all of them classify as breath/wind. They all fit into that bucket/category. This is powerfully reinforced at Gen 2:7:
"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
Charles Hodge admitted of this verse that God is here seen to infuse Adam's soul into him. And it's depicted in terms of wind/breath! Thus it appears that the divine Breath (Pneuma) is here seen respirationally pushing a created pneuma into Adam's body. This implies a physical soul, because only a physical soul could be pushed.
Anyway that's the ancient Hebrew mindset, reinforced by Scripture. To summarize, all souls classify as breath/wind. Souls are of type breath/wind (similar to saying they are of type "gas"). Thus the verse:
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth"
is a poor translation. It doesn't comport well with Gen 2:7. Here's a better translation:
"God is wind [i.e. He is of type breath/wind], and they that worship him must worship him in Wind and in truth."
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