Leviathan: Chapter 34 Summary & Analysis

As the basis for all reason is the accepted and known definitions of words, words common to Holy Scripture must also be defined if they are to be understood, which Hobbes will try to do now. He begins with the words “body” and “spirit,” which in scripture are known as “Substances, Corporeall, and Incorporeall.”

“Body” is generally accepted to indicate that which takes up space and is not imagined. A body is something that exists and is real, and it is made up of a substance that is subject to change and can be hot, cold, a certain color, or a certain smell. As “substance” and “body” indicate roughly the same thing, to say a substance or body is “incorporeall” is to destroy both words and render them nonsense. In common language, aerial substances, such as “Spirits,” are not the same as bodies; although, a spirit is present inside a body and gives it life.

In common language, a “Spirit” is often a ghost, or “invisible Body,” and it can also indicate the wisdom or madness of a person. Spirit can also indicate the “Spirit of God,” but Hobbes argues that such a spirit is beyond human understanding. The “Spirit of God” is God himself, and since God himself is inconceivable to human beings, so is his spirit. In Holy Scripture, God is sometimes described as the wind or like breath, as in the Book of Genesis: “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters.” God’s spirt produces motion, which is not possible of an incorporeal substance.  

God’s spirit is also described in Holy Scripture as living inside others, as Joseph says in the Book of Genesis: “Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” And the spirit of God is also said in scripture to affect passions, as it does to Saul in the Book of Judges. “The Spirit of God came upon Saul, and his Anger […] was kindled greatly.”

God’s spirit is also said to give life in scripture. “God made man of the dust of the Earth, and breathed into his nosrills the breath of life, and man was made a living soul.” Or, God’s spirit can give authority. “I will take of the Spirit, which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burthen of the people with thee.” When Christ’s disciples saw him walking on water, they assumed he was a spirit or ghost, but Christ had a body that took up space. A ghost, or spirit, is “no where,” which is to say it is “nothing.”

An angel is generally a “Messenger,” and most often is a “Messenger of God,” who usually manifests in a dream or a vision. While it is not stated in scripture, it is generally thought that angels are spirits (either good or evil), and God raises them supernaturally to indicate his will. However, angels are mentioned in the Old Testament, and they can only be understood as something raised by God to signify his presence. This is seen in the Book of Genesis, when Jacob says: “The Angel of the Lord appeared to mee in my sleep,” and the Angel said: “I am the God of Bethel.”

In the Book of Exodus, the angel appears as a “pillar of cloud” and a “pillar of fire.” The angel is no less a sign of God if it appears as a cloud or a person. Thus, it is an angel’s use, not its shape, which is important. There are many angels in the Old Testament, and nowhere is it stated that an angel is permanent or incorporeal. To those who truly understand the words “Substance” and “Incorporeall” know that such words are contradictions and cannot exist within each other.

The word “INSPRIRATION” requires some explanation as well, since it says in the Book of Genesis that “God inspired into man the breath of life,” but this is surely meant as a metaphor and not that the lungs are actually filled with the breath of God. According to scripture, the “inspiration” of God is God’s power working in a way human beings are incapable of understanding, not actual air or breath.