Anthropomorphism – The giving/ascribing of human form/characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, natural phenomenon, or deity.
This is an interesting word/expression. If you look closely, another word will probably come to mind: Anthropology (the study of humankind, such as cultures and societies). To ‘anthropomorphize’ is basically to transform/change something’s normal attributes/characteristics by giving it human ones, or simpler yet, it is to explain something that isn’t human in human terms.
Bear with me here; this is not an English lesson. I bring this up because of its relevance to our topic.
Speaking of things and objects in a human-like way sometimes has its uses. I can ascribe loyalty to my dog Freckles—I do not actually own a dog; this is purely an example for the purpose of this post—to show our relationship and how it acts towards me; or I can describe the weather as being sad or angry to show its severity. Doing this definitely makes conversations easier by describing things in terms that are more expressive and easy to understand and relate to by our listeners.
Now, when we think of God’s personality, we tend to marvel. We think of things like God’s love, God’s anger, God’s patience, God being grieved; when we wonder about God’s heart, we tend to ‘anthropomorphize’ Him by ascribing to Him ‘human’ emotions. This type of musing helps us consider that God isn’t an unfeeling tyrant somewhere in the sky who pays no thought to the constant flux of feelings we go through every single day. And rightly so.
However, I would pose to you that it is not that God exhibits human emotions, but rather we exhibit imperfect traits of the Divine. We were made in His image, and He has blessed us with faculties of thought and feeling that none other of His created creatures were granted the privilege to bear.
We are creative, because He created. We are wise, because He is the True Wise One. We love, because He is love, and He first loved us. All that we are originated from Him, and every imperfect expression of His perfection in us comes from the broken image we bear as a result of sin.
But all is not lost; as we come to Him and behold with unveiled faces the grace and glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed and restored, and we begin to love as we ought, think as we ought, feel as we ought. We begin to put on the ‘new self’, which is [re]created in the very likeness of God—in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:23-24).
Isn’t it an interesting thought though; the closer we get to God, the closer we get to being human, in its truest sense.
Then again, maybe this whole post has all been a venture into semantics?
