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The God Who Is
Chapter 6
GOD IS A PERSON
In order for one to be a "person," all that is necessary is for one to have the elements of personality. Contrary to popular thinking, it is not necessary for one to have a body in order to be a "person." Three things constitute personality: intellect, which is the ability to reason; emotion, which is the ability to express love, hate, etc.; and volition, which is the ability to make decisions.
A dog is not a person because although it can learn simple commands, a dog does not have the ability to reason. It cannot solve problems. And, although a dog has some capacity to express emotion, it does not have the ability to make choices. It is bound by its animal nature.
The Elements of Personality
God is a person. Although He has no body except in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet all the elements of personality are ascribed to Him: intellect, emotion, and volition.
Intellect
I Know—In Exodus chapter 3, in verse 7, we read, "And the LORD said, `I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.'"
When Moses responded, "The LORD said, `I have surely seen the affliction of my people,'" he speaks of God the Father; and when he says that the Lord has seen the affliction of His people, we are to understand that the Lord has knowledge of the treatment of His people. This evidences intellect. And, when He says that He has "come down to deliver them," He has exercised his volition: He will do this thing. Yet His emotion has played a significant part in the decision to deliver them.
We read in Revelation chapter 2, "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, `These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted" (verses 1-3).
Note that the apostle John is quoting the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as God the Son, knows the works, the labors, and the patience of His people. He knows their works and will reward them accordingly.
The apostle Paul teaches us that the Spirit of God, who is also known as the Holy Spirit, is not an influence, but is a person. He too has intellect because He possesses knowledge. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (I Corinthians 2:11). Paul here teaches that apart from the Holy Spirit, who teaches us "all things," men are blind (see John 14:26).
Again, Paul declares, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (I Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit of God is the revealer of the knowledge of God.
God Remembers—The Bible tells us, "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark...." (Genesis 8:1). "And God remembered" because God has the ability to reason.
"`Come now, and let us reason together,' saith the LORD: `though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool'" (Isaiah 1:18).