The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-12, titled "Questions and Answers--Part 40."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 2001 by John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

Answer

Sure. That’s what we can anthropomorphisms. The reason I use that word is not to give you a long word, but to give you a word to explain. Anthropomorphism is two Greek words, “anthropos morphae.” “Anthropos” is the word for man: anthropology. “Morphae” is the word for body; you talk about an endomorph, an ectomorph, a mesomorph--different shapes of the human body. So, anthropomorphic means that you refer to God in terms of a man’s body or a human body. It is simply a device by which to say something about God, who is otherwise indescribable, inexplicable.

For example, in the Scripture it says, “The arm of the Lord is not shortened and it cannot heal.” Does God have an arm? No. It says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” Does God have eyes? No. He’s a spirit, "The Spirit has not flesh and bones." It talks about his feet, it talks about even his appearance, as if He were a man. Sometimes it talks about God as if He were a bird. It talks about the “everlasting wings” and He “covers you with his feathers.” God is not a man, God is not a chicken, God is not an eagle, God is not a pigeon, God is not a bird, but in order for us to comprehend in our minds something true about God which is otherwise indescribable to us, the Bible writer chooses to speak to us in terms which we understand. So, very often when you read in the Scripture, for example, that “It repenteth God that He made man,” all that is saying to us is that from our vantage point, we understand that that means, God felt bad, so bad about the condition that if He were a man, He would say to himself, “I wish I’d never made them.” But obviously that is not “ipso facto,” how God feels, because if that’s how God felt, He’d know He’d feel that way because He knows everything, and if that’s how He really felt He never would have made them in the first place.

So, you’re simply dealing with an anthropomorphic concept. We, from our viewpoint, will understand when God says, “I’m sorry I ever made them”; we understand that emotional expression because what that means is they are a major disappointment to me. And so we don’t want to make more of that.

Now, in the case of Saul, God permitted an evil spirit into Saul’s situation, but that shouldn’t surprise us. God permits the devil and evil spirits all the time. Remember our discussion of that not long ago? How that, in the case of Job, Satan goes to God and says, “Let me after Job and I’ll destroy his faith,” and God says, “Have at him”; Satan goes to the Lord and says, “Let me get after Peter and I’ll sift him like wheat,” and the Lord says, “Have at him”; and Satan goes to God and says, “Give me Paul and I’ll tear him up,” and Paul starts to be hindered and hindered and hindered by Satan? Sure. God will, for his own eternal purposes and his own glory and the advancement of his kingdom, permit those evil spirits, including Satan himself, to function within the framework of God’s confining sovereignty.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986