[Antidotum Errorum Praecipuorum; (Amstelredami: Petrus Petraeus, 1612)]
Table of Contents:
Verily, God is not a body. For if God were a body, He would consist of three dimensions: length, breadth, and depth. Yet God consisteth not of these; therefore, He is not a body.
If God were a body, He would be composed of matter and form. But God is not composed of matter and form, for whatsoever consisteth of matter and form is good and perfect through its form, and thus by participation. God is not good and perfect by participation; therefore, He cannot consist of matter and form, and consequently cannot be a body.
Every body is a creature. If, therefore, God were a body, He would be a creature, created by a Creator. This would mean He is not God, but rather created by God.
No body can be the most noble among beings, for a living body is more excellent and noble than a non-living one. Yet a body liveth not as a body, but through another, as our bodies live through the soul. But God is the most noble being among all beings; therefore, He cannot be a body.
No body moveth unless it be first moved by another. God moveth, yet is not moved by another, for God is the first and immovable being; therefore, He cannot be a body.
No body is devoid of extensive magnitude and parts. God is devoid of extensive magnitude and parts; therefore, He cannot be a body.
Every body is visible, palpable, or both. God is neither visible nor palpable; therefore, He is not a body.
No body can exist both within the world and beyond it, and be substantially present in all created beings. God existeth in the world and beyond it, as it is written in Jeremiah 23: “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” And He is substantially present in all created beings, as declared in Acts 17:27-28: “He is not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Therefore, God cannot be a body.
God is a spirit, for whatsoever is the most simple act, devoid of all real composition, is a spirit. God is such an act; therefore, He is a spirit.
The first and most noble being is a spirit, and this is God; therefore, He is a spirit.
Every substance that is invisible and impalpable by its nature is a spirit. God is such; therefore, He is a spirit.
This truth is taught in John 4:24: “God is a Spirit.” Likewise, in 2 Corinthians 3:17: “Now the Lord is that Spirit.”