In the Shadow of the Past, Gandalf gets angry at Bilbo and tells him, "Then you shall see Gandalf the Grey uncloaked." Do you think he was speaking of revealing his Maiar nature? But Men and Elves and Dwarves have all seen Maia, and taken no harm. One Elf,
Thingol, was even married to one. Was this supposed to be an idle threat or was it a reference to that part of Genesis where God told ...