The spiritual is that which addresses our Spirit; the essence of our being, our sense of value, our identity, our glory, our ability to Love and be loved and partake/participate in God who is love, value and glory.
We are also told God is Spirit. This is not arbitrary but essential to who God is and to understanding not only God but ourselves. What makes God a person is not his physicality (he is Spirit) and therefore not the essence of our being a person *either. Since God is not physical this can not be the essence of who we are either. We are the way we are because God is the way he is. We are after all, in his image i.e. like God. Or to say it another way, if we wish to understand who we are as spiritual beings, we must understand who God is as Spirit.
The love of God is manifest as the Spirit of God. To say in another way, the essence of the God is love. The Spirit is the Spirit of love.
When the bible says God is Spirit, it is also
saying God is love. Or as Jonathan Edwards says it, **the Word (Christ, the eternal Logos/Word) is the Perfect self understanding/knowledge of God i.e. the light (truth) of God, and the Spirit is the perfect love of God for himself as revealed in his Son i.e. the Spirit is the "heat" or passion of God for Christ who is his perfect self image. Christ is perfect expression of the truth/understanding of God and the Spirit is the perfect expression of the love/emotion/passion of God for himself as manifested in the Son.
When the bible says God is glorious it is also saying God is love. His being Spirit and glorious are primary ways of describing God as a being of love i.e. what makes God all glorious is because he is infinite love within himself as Father, Son and Spirit and out to others i.e. his image bearers.
The union/communion/relationship that exists between the Father and Son is one of love manifested in, by and through the Spirit.
In order for us to partake in this exchange of love within the Trinity we had to be like God i.e. have a spirit or be spiritual. This means we had to have the ability to receive the outpouring overflow of love between the Father and Son in and by the Spirit; to reflect it back to Him and out to others (other image bearers of God).
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*Though we are physical and our physicality is good and not bad, it is not the essence of our being. The body can dead, but we live on.
And the value of the body is confirmed because we, as his children, will be given new bodies once our "earthly" body dies. Nevertheless our body is the vessel that contains or holds the essence of who we are as God's image bearers.
**For a further discussion of these distinctions within the Trinity click here.
For a discussion of how we are empowered by the Spirit click here.
We are also told God is Spirit. This is not arbitrary but essential to who God is and to understanding not only God but ourselves. What makes God a person is not his physicality (he is Spirit) and therefore not the essence of our being a person *either. Since God is not physical this can not be the essence of who we are either. We are the way we are because God is the way he is. We are after all, in his image i.e. like God. Or to say it another way, if we wish to understand who we are as spiritual beings, we must understand who God is as Spirit.
The love of God is manifest as the Spirit of God. To say in another way, the essence of the God is love. The Spirit is the Spirit of love.
When the bible says God is Spirit, it is also
saying God is love. Or as Jonathan Edwards says it, **the Word (Christ, the eternal Logos/Word) is the Perfect self understanding/knowledge of God i.e. the light (truth) of God, and the Spirit is the perfect love of God for himself as revealed in his Son i.e. the Spirit is the "heat" or passion of God for Christ who is his perfect self image. Christ is perfect expression of the truth/understanding of God and the Spirit is the perfect expression of the love/emotion/passion of God for himself as manifested in the Son.
When the bible says God is glorious it is also saying God is love. His being Spirit and glorious are primary ways of describing God as a being of love i.e. what makes God all glorious is because he is infinite love within himself as Father, Son and Spirit and out to others i.e. his image bearers.
The union/communion/relationship that exists between the Father and Son is one of love manifested in, by and through the Spirit.
In order for us to partake in this exchange of love within the Trinity we had to be like God i.e. have a spirit or be spiritual. This means we had to have the ability to receive the outpouring overflow of love between the Father and Son in and by the Spirit; to reflect it back to Him and out to others (other image bearers of God).
______________________________________________________
*Though we are physical and our physicality is good and not bad, it is not the essence of our being. The body can dead, but we live on.
And the value of the body is confirmed because we, as his children, will be given new bodies once our "earthly" body dies. Nevertheless our body is the vessel that contains or holds the essence of who we are as God's image bearers.
**For a further discussion of these distinctions within the Trinity click here.
For a discussion of how we are empowered by the Spirit click here.
