THE PERSONALITY OF GOD by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 12, 1878

THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT.

(Continued.) *

GOD IS A REAL PERSON.—CONCLUDED.

ANOTHER convincing proof that God is a real person, having a form and parts, is the fact that man is said to have been made in the image of God.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: . . . so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen. 1:26, 27. If man was made in the image and likeness of God, then we know how God looks, what shape he has; he is in the shape of man. A poor evasion is attempted here, by asserting that it is the spirit of man that is in the image of God. But the text says no such thing. It says, “Let us make man in our image.” Then we are told how this was done: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.” Gen. 2:7. Of what did God form man? It is directly said that he was formed of the dust of the ground. Very well; then that which was formed of the dust of the ground is in the image of God. Gen. 9:6 confirms this fact: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man.”

If a man killed a beast, was he to die for that? No; but if he shed the blood of a man he must die. The reason is stated: “For in the image of God made he man,” i. e., he has killed and destroyed that which is made in the image of God. Now the question is, What has he killed? Not an immortal spirit or soul, but the body, that which had blood, that which was in the image of God. Hence it is the body which is in the image of God.

The words image and likeness are thus defined by Webster:— “Image, n. 1. A representation or similitude of any person or thing formed of a material substance; as, an image wrought out of stone, wood, or wax. 2. A statue.” Its meaning is plain. It is a representation of something else in the same form. “Likeness, n. Resemblance in form; similitude. The picture is a good likeness of the original. 2. Resemblance; form; external appearance. 3. One that resembles another; a copy; a counterpart.” Plainly, then, an image or likeness is that which is in the form of, and looks like, that which it is to represent. Man is in the image and likeness of God; hence God has a body in form like that of a man.

Let us now turn to the Bible, and find the meaning of the word image as it is there used. It will be found that every time it refers to something that has a form, a real substance, a shape.

“Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it; for I am the Lord your God.” Lev. 26:1. “And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed.” 1 Sam. 19:13. “And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God.” 2 Chron. 33:7. “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.” Dan. 2:31. “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits.” Dan. 3:1. “And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription?” Matt. 22:20. “Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshiper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?” Acts 19:35. “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” Rom. 11:4. “Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.” Rev. 13:14. “Wherefore ye shall make images of your emeralds, and images of your mice that mar the land.” 1 Sam. 6:5. “For when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion.” Eze. 23:14. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” Ex. 20:4.

All these texts abundantly show that in Bible language an image is something that has a real form and shape. Man is made in the image of God—the man that was made of the dust, too. Gen. 2:7.

“God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Rom. 8:3.

Here it is definitely stated what part of man constitutes the likeness. “Sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” It is his flesh, then, in which the likeness consists. Phil. 2:5–8 is absolutely decisive upon this point. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God.” Here we stop to ask how Christ could be in the form of God, if God had no form. But Jesus was in the form of God; hence the argument is conclusive that God has a form. “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant [man], and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,” etc. Here it is declared that Christ was in the form of God, in the form of a servant, in the likeness of man, in the fashion of man. We know that this was his body; for Christ was both in the form of God, and in the form of man. Then God and man both have the same form.

Of Jesus Paul says, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Heb. 1:3. It is the person of God, then, of which Jesus was the image. Then God has a person. Now what is the meaning of the word person? It seems that on so simple a word as this there could be no mistake. It does not and cannot mean an immaterial, intangible, shapeless, formless essence. It always means an intelligent being, having a body, shape, and form.

Again we appeal to the word of God. Let us carefully read a few plain scriptures where the word person is used; and it will be seen that it always means an individual with an organized shape and form.

“Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.” Gen. 14:21. “And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there.” Num. 19:18. And he “slew his brethren the sons of Jerub-baal, being threescore and ten persons.” Judges 9:5. “I have seen a son of Jesse, . . . a comely person.” 1 Sam. 16:18. “And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.” 1 Sam. 22:18. “Wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed.” 2 Sam. 4:11. “That thou go to battle in thine own person.” 2 Sam. 17:11. “Likewise the fool and the brutish person perish.” Ps. 49:10. “There was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Ps. 105:37. “A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit.” Prov. 28:17. “And every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had left.” Jer. 43:6. “He carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons.” Jer. 52:29. “Thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.” Eze. 16:5. “And they shall come at no dead person.” Eze. 44:25. “For thou regardest not the person of men.” Matt. 22:16. “I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” Matt. 27:24. “Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” 1 Cor. 5:13. “But saved Noah the eighth person.” 2 Pet. 2:5.

By these passages we find what the Bible means by the word person. It never means a being without body, parts, or passions. Now the Bible, after using the word person hundreds of times in the sense indicated above, says that God is a person. We believe it, and are willing to leave it there.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

However plain any doctrine may be, some will raise objections to it. So objections are urged against the doctrine of the real personality of God; but they are very few and readily answered.

1. God fills Heaven and earth. “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill Heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Jer. 23:23, 24.

“Now,” says one, “if God fills Heaven and earth, he must be everywhere, in one place as much as in another. And beside that, he cannot be a material being, having a body and form; for if he were, his body, filling Heaven and earth, would exclude all other bodies.” It is strange that sensible men will raise so foolish an objection as this. Let us try their view of it. They say that God is an immaterial spirit and fills Heaven and earth. Very well; then this must exclude all other spirits; for just as truly as no two material bodies can occupy the same place at once, no two spirits can occupy the same place at the same time. They reason that if God were a material being and filled Heaven and earth, then he would exclude all other material beings from the universe. And their conclusion is right. So we reason just as legitimately that if God, as a spirit, absolutely and in the full sense of the word filled Heaven and earth, then he would exclude all other spirits, and there would be neither angels nor wicked spirits anywhere in the universe! But both of these conclusions we know to be untrue. What, then, is the truth? Simply this: That when the Lord says, I fill Heaven and earth, it is to be understood in a certain qualified sense, as explained by other scriptures. We must not make a single strong metaphor like this contradict the many direct declarations that God has a form, shape, body, and local habitation; that he sits upon a throne, and is in Heaven and not upon the earth. When God says he fills Heaven and earth, other scriptures explain this to mean that Heaven and earth, and all parts of the universe, are open and naked before the eyes of God, and that nothing is hid from his sight; that he sees everything just as clearly and distinctly as though it were in his immediate presence. The very text itself indicates this. Read it again carefully. “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord.” There is the point. No man can hide himself anywhere so that God cannot see him. With this thought the Lord adds, “Do not I fill Heaven and earth?” But how? absolutely, personally? No; for this is not true either in fact or in the teachings of the Bible. Read a few other scriptures. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13. Here we have an explanation of what this means. All things are open and naked before the eyes of God. “Great in counsel, and mighty in work; for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jer. 32:19. This states the same fact again: The eyes of the Lord “are open upon all the ways of the sons of men.”

Ps. 139:1–12 is a beautiful expression of this whole subject: “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”

How beautifully the psalmist expresses the thought that God sees and knows all his ways, understands every word he speaks, knows his thoughts afar off; that neither in Heaven, in earth, nor in hell can he hide himself from God. The deepest darkness is as light as the day to God. God sees him everywhere and all the time. In this sense, and this only, is God everywhere present. Reader, is God personally present in the room where you now are? You know he is not. If he were you would not live a moment. Read what the Bible says of the wonderful majesty, the burning glory, the devouring fire which surround the immediate presence of the Almighty. Could you stand in such a presence? Whatever the creeds may say, in our very souls we know better.

2. God is a spirit. “God is a spirit;

and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24.

There, says the objector, if God is a spirit he cannot be a material person, having a form and body. Who says that a spirit is not a person, and has no form, no body, no substance? That is all assumption. It assumes the very thing to be proved. We maintain that a living spirit is just as much a person as a man is, and has shape, body, and form. This we can readily prove. Angels are called spirits. “Are they not all ministering spirits?” Heb. 1:14. Yet these angels are real persons, as you know by the whole tenor of the Bible. Angels came to Abraham, sat in his tent, and ate of his bread. Gen. 18. Angels went to Lot, took hold of his hand, ate at his table. Gen. 19. Angels have bodies, wings, faces, hands, and feet. Isa. 6:1–4. They have frequently been seen, and conversations have been held with them. An angel came to Daniel. Gabriel came to Mary and to Elizabeth. One came to Peter in prison. John fell at the feet of an angel to worship him. Are they not persons? Do they not have form and shape? or are they simply an essence, filling the universe, being in no place in particular? Every Bible student knows better.

(To be continued.)