THE PERSONALITY OF GOD.
By L. D. Santee
THE faith of good men has, in all ages, clung lovingly to the personality of God. Said Chas. H. Spurgeon, "No heart can rest without a personal God." Gladstone, when asked, "What is the greatest hope for the future?" answered, "A living hope in a personal God." Says Professor Garbett ("Infidelity," p. 91), "It is clear that anything that does not possess personality, must be inferior to ourselves." We approach this subject reverently, and yet with confidence, for "those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut. 29 : 29. Perhaps one of the most insidious enemies that the Christian religion has to meet, is that belief that considers God as the "life principle in nature." It does not create the prejudice of avowed infidelity, and yet its effects are the same. It is a sort of pantheism. Pantheism, as defined by Webster, is "the universe, as a whole, is God. The doctrine that there is no God but the combined forces and laws which are manifested in the existing universe." Many will discourse of "God, or nature." I wonder if they ever stop to think that all forces and laws are immaterial, inorganic, and, therefore, necessarily unconscious, insensible, and unintelligent. Such is the God that is only a principle. It has neither consciousness, sensibilities, nor intelligence. In sharp contrast with this is the God of the Bible. It is3emphatic in declaring that God is a living personal being. In the Scriptures He is called "the living God" (not the life principle) thirty times. In the study of His Word, I read of His head, hair, throne, garment, feet, hands, voice, eyes, ears, face, mouth, heart, form, and person, and in every one of these texts I find the evidence of a personal God. Well has Bishop Balgarnie remarked, "We are driven to the conclusion that there was a form of God from all eternity, and that man was created in the 'image and likeness of that form divine.'"—Homiletic Review, p. 301. Paul, when speaking of Christ, says He was "the express image of His [God's] person." Heb. 1:3. How could this be true if God is not a person? The Imperial Dictionary: "person: bodily form." It is said of Jesus that He was "in the form of God." Phil. 2:6. I wish the thought to remain with us, that, without organization, there is no intelligence; without brain, there is no mind. When the record states that "God created man in His own image" (Gen. 1:27), it establishes the personality of God, just as really as that of man. His dwelling-place is also plainly stated. In 1 Kings 8 I read the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple. In verse 30 he petitions, "And hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place; and when Thou hearest, forgive." Again, in Deut. 26:15, Moses prays, "Look down from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel." One more testimony on this point. The prophet says, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left." 1 Kings 22:19. The Saviour taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father which art in heaven." From our study thus far, it is easy to conclude that God is a real, personal being, dwelling in heaven. It is also stated that "Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Col. 3:1. God gave the sun, and its heat and light ripened the world's harvests. The heathen, in their darkness, believed that the sun was a god, and the system of sun-worship began. I read in Acts 17:25, "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." We don't want to make the mistake that the heathen did, and conclude that the life is God; for, like the sun, it is but one of His gifts. His attributes are often spoken of in connection with Himself. Hence, "God is spirit;" "God is love;" "Our God is a consuming fire," etc. We have some of the same attributes, but in an inferior degree. Were He inorganic, and therefore unconscious, we might well ask, as did the heathen, "Where is their God?" Ps. 79:10. We wish to notice, before concluding this article, His omnipresence. How is it possible for a personal being to be everywhere present? The question is easy, for the Bible answers it. Says David, "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?" Ps. 139:7. As the rays of the sun give light over all the earth, so God, by His Spirit, can manifest His power in all parts of His universe without being personally present. Christ speaks of the Spirit of truth that "proceedeth from the Father." John 15:26. By this agency, God can dwell in every heart. Christ, tho His personality is undoubted, can fulfil His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28:20. May God give us a living faith in the One that has fashioned us in His likeness.