Question:  Dear Greg,

            I am in a Bible study called Christian Foundations and the book we are studying says that God the Father is about the same size as Jesus (about 6 feet).  I didn’t agree — I didn’t think that God could be measured.  What do you think?

            Adam

Answer:  Dear Adam,

            You are correct.  The Bible reveals that God cannot be measured.  The error that the book you are studying has made is to fail to realize that God is beyond space and time.  The Bible reveals God to be omnipresent — that is, he does not occupy one space or time at the exclusion of others.  He is not restricted to space and time.  He is everywhere at the same time.  See Psalm 139:7-10 and Jeremiah 23:23.

            There are passages that speak of God’s hand not being shortened, of God taking us up in his arms, etc.  But these passages are not speaking of literal features of God — they are what are called anthropomorphic references to God — attributing human features to the divine.

            The only way for God to reveal himself to humans, and give humans some limited understanding of who and what he is would be to accommodate himself to us.  He has to stoop to our limited ability to comprehend—a limitation he knows well because he created it.  He therefore uses language to describe himself that is often symbolic and not specific and literal, for no human language is capable of perfectly defining God.  That is the case when we read passages that speak of God having human form.  The exception would be the incarnation — when God in the person of Jesus came to us to save us.  At that time he did something he never had — while remaining God he added a human body, becoming Jesus.  But, as far as I know, no records exist of the exact height of Jesus.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht