Bible Synapse
Does God have a body?
Hard question · Who God is · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The risen Jesus tells his frightened disciples to handle him, “for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have”.
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Adam and Eve “heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day”.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
Moses may not see God’s face, but will see his “back parts” when his glory has passed by.
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Ezekiel sees on the throne “the likeness as the appearance of a man”: “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord”.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
The objection
Jesus says that “God is a Spirit”, and that a spirit has no flesh and bones. Yet the Old Testament speaks of God walking in the garden, of his face, hand and back, and of prophets who saw him in the form of a man. Either God has a body or he does not.
The answer
God in his own being is spirit, without a body. Jesus says so plainly (John 4:24), and the rest of the Bible agrees: God is “invisible” (Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17), and at Sinai Israel “saw no manner of similitude”, so that they would make no image of him (Deuteronomy 4:15–16). Barnes sums up John 4:24: God is without a body, not material or made of parts.
The passages that speak of God’s face, hand, back or walking are of two kinds. Most are figures of speech that describe God in human terms so that we can understand him, as when Deuteronomy 23:14 says that God “walketh in the midst of thy camp”, meaning that he was present with Israel. Others describe visions and appearances, in which God showed himself in a visible form for a time. The prophets are careful to say that what they saw was not God’s own being. Ezekiel piles up qualifications: “the likeness as the appearance of a man”, and “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord” (Ezekiel 1:26, 28). Moses saw only the after-glow of God’s passing glory (Exodus 33:22–23). Genesis 3:8 may describe such an appearance, or may simply describe God’s presence in human terms.
Luke 24:39 points to something new. Jesus was not denying that God is spirit; he was showing frightened disciples that he was not a ghost. Christians believe that the eternal Son, who is fully God, took a real human nature, body and soul (John 1:14), and rose in that body. So God the Son has a body as man, while the divine nature that Father, Son and Spirit share remains spirit.
Other answers Christians give
Appearances of the Son
Many early Christian writers, such as Justin Martyr, held that when God appeared in human form in the Old Testament, as to Abraham at Mamre (Genesis 18), it was the Son, who would later take flesh. Others hold that these were appearances of God through an angel. Either way, the appearance was a form God took, not his own nature.
From the classic commentators
By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on John 4:24 (1832), at Bible Hub
Sources
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: John 4 (1832), at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: John 4, at Bible Hub
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on Ezekiel 1 (1857–78), at Bible Hub