Spirit And Truth

Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός Ἐπεὶ ἀόρατος ὁ Θεος, ἀκολουθεῖ δὲ τῶν ἀοράτων τὸ ἀσώματον· ἀσώματος ἆρα ὁ Θεὸς ὦν, ἀόρατός ἐστιν, εἰ δὲ τοῦτο λεγόμενος πνεῦμα, οὐ κεκινημένος ἀὴρ εἴη· οὐ γὰρ ὅτι παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἄνεμον δηλοῖ τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀνάγκη καὶ ἐπὶ Θεοῦ τοῦτο σημαίνεσθαι. Ὥσπωερ τοίνυν φῶς λεγόμενον, ἐπεὶ μὴ ὅψιν, ἀλλὰ νόησιν φωτίζει, οὐ σῶμα ἀλλὰ νοερόν ἐστι φῶς· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγάπη καλούμενον οὐ διάθεσις ὑπάρχει, ἀλλ' οὐσία ἀγαπῶσα ἄ δημιουργεῖ, καὶ ὦν προνοεῖται· οὕτως πνεῦμα προσαγορευόμενος οὐκ ἄνεμον ἀλλ' ἀσώματον καὶ ζωοποιὸν παρίστησιν οὐσίαν. Πᾶς δὲ ὁ μαθὼν ὅτι πνεῦμα ὁ Θεὸς, πνευματικὼς λατρεύων αὐτῷ, πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, οὐκέτι τυπικῶς, προσκυνεῖ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν. Πρὸς ἀντιδιαστολὴν δὲ τοῦ γράμματος τὸ, ἐν πνεύματι, φησί· τοῦ δὲ τύπου, τὸ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ. Ταῦτα γὰρ, ἕως καιρὸς χρειώδης ἤν· τῆς ἀληθείας δὲ ἐλθούσης, ἤτοι τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, πάντα πέπαυται. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ἰωαννην Εὐαγγελιον Source: Migne PG 39.1645b-c

God is a spirit... 1 Because God is unseen, it follows this invisibility is on account of incorporality, and so as God is incorporeal, so is He unseen. And this being called a spirit is not as some movement of the air, for it is not that because a wind is a spirit to men, so it is necessary that with God there is the same meaning. As, then, God is called light, 2 yet not of the eye, but because He illuminates the mind, thus not as a corporeal light but an intellectual light, so when he is called love 3 it is not because of passion, but as a loving substance which creates and cares. Thus God is named a spirit not as some sort of wind but to denote an incorporeal and vivifying substance. All who understand that God is a spirit, revere Him spiritually, 'in spirit and truth,' 1 and no longer does a man adore the God of all things by types. For the distinction from mere words he says: 'in spirit', and from types, 'in truth'. Which things of old were allowed until the time was right, but with the coming of Christ, indeed the presence of Christ, they passed away. Didymus the Blind, On The Gospel Of St John, Fragment 1 Jn 4.24 2 Jn 1.5 3 1 Jn 4.8