God is a Spirit

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Corporeality
God a Spirit?
Father: Embodied vs. Spirit
Lecture of Faith #5
Polytheism
Seeing God?
Trinity
Unchanging

Divine foreknowledge
Elohim and Jehovah
Graven images

Creatio ex nihilo
Creation in Col. 1:16
Deification/theosis of man
"No God beside me"
Infinite regress?
Spirit bodies & 1 Cor 15
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This article is a draft. FAIRwiki editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.

Contents

Criticism

Critics object to the LDS position that God has a physical body by quoting John 4:24:

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (Italics in KJV original).

Source(s) of the criticism

  • Contender Ministries, Questions All Mormons Should Ask Themselves. Answers
  • Tower to Truth Ministries, "50 Questions to Ask Mormons," towertotruth.net (accessed 15 November 2007). 50 Answers

Response

See also: FAIR Wiki article Corporeality_of_God

 [needs work]

Note that in the KJV cited above, the word “is” is italicized. This is because the King James translators have inserted it on their own—it is not present in the Greek text from which the translation was made.

Secondly, the reader should be aware that the indefinite article (“a”, as in "a dog" or "a spirit") does not exist in Greek. Thus, the addition of the word "a" in English occurs at the discretion of the translators.[1]

This leaves two Greek words: theos pneuma [θεος πνεμα]—“God spirit”. The JST resolves this translational issue by saying “for unto such hath God promised his spirit”. The word pneuma, which is translated spirit, also means ‘life’ or ‘breath’. The King James Version of Rev. 13:15 renders ‘pneuma’ as life. Thus "God is life," or "God is the breath of life" are potential alternative translations of this verse.

Also, if God is a spirit and we have to worship him in spirit, do mortals have to leave our bodies to worship him?

Thus, the Latter-day Saints believe that man is also spirit (D&C 93:33-34; Num. 16:22; Rom. 8:16) and is, like God, housed in a physical body. We were, after all, created in the "image" of God (Gen. 1:26-27).

It is interesting that in 1_Cor. 2:11, Paul wrote about "the spirit of man and the Spirit of God." Elsewhere he spoke of the resurrection of the body and then noted that it is a "spiritual" body (1_Cor. 15:44-46), though, rising from the grave, it is obviously composed of flesh and bones, as Jesus made clear when he appeared to the apostles after his resurrection ({s||Luke|24|37-39}}).

Paul also told the saints in Rome, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8:9).

One Commentary insists:

That God is spirit is not meant as a definition of God's being—though this is how the Stoics [a branch of Greek philosophy] would have understood it. It is a metaphor of his mode of operation, as life-giving power, and it is no more to be taken literally than 1John 1:5, "God is light," or Deut. 4:24, "Your God is a devouring fire." It is only those who have received this power through Christ who can offer God a real worship.[2]

Conclusion

Adopting the critics' reading of this verse leads to some strange conclusions if we are consistent. Deut. 4:28 says that our God can see, eat and smell. Can an unembodied spirit do that? Ex. 9:3 says that God is a consuming fire, 1John 1:5 says God is light, and 1John 4:4,16 says that God is love. Is He just those things? Clearly not, and the LDS conclude that neither is He just a spirit.

Endnotes

  1. [back]  Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, (Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1995), 271.
  2. [back]  J. N. Sanders, A Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, , edited and completed by B. A. Mastin, (New York, Harper & Row, 1968), 147–148.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

God wiki articles

FAIR web site

God FAIR articles
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Deity FAIR link
  • FAIR Topical Guide: Mormonism as a 'cult' FAIR link
  • Barry Robert Bickmore, "The Doctrine of God and the Nature of Man," in Restoring the Ancient Church: Joseph Smith and Early Christianity (FAIR, 1999), Chapter 3. ISBN 1893036006. FAIR link Direct link
Corporeality
  • Barry R. Bickmore, "Does God Have a Body In Human Form?" FAIR link
  • Roger Cook, "God's 'Glory:' More Evidence for the Anthropomorphic Nature of God in the Bible" FAIR link
Trinitarian issues

External links

God on-line articles
  • Donald Q. Cannon, Larry E. Dahl, and John W. Welch, "The Restoration of Major Doctrines through Joseph Smith: The Godhead, Mankind, and the Creation," Ensign (January 1989): 27–33. off-site
  • Gordon B. Hinckley, "In These Three I Believe," Ensign (July 2006): 3. off-site
  • William O. Nelson, "Is the LDS View of God Consistent with the Bible?," Ensign (July 1987): 56. off-site
Corporeality
  • Jacob Neusner, "Conversation in Nauvoo about the Corporeality of God," Brigham Young University Studies 36:1 (1996–97): 7–30. off-site
  • Daivd L. Paulsen, "The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Resotration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives," Brigham Young University Studies 35:4 (1995–96): 6–94. PDF link
  • David L. Paulsen, "Divine Embodiment: The Earliest Christain Understanding of God," in Noel B. Reynolds (editor), Early Christians in Disarray: Contemporary LDS Perspectives on the Christian Apostasy (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2005), 239–293. ISBN 0934893020. off-site off-site
Infinite regress of Gods?
  • Geoff J. et al., "Yes, God the Father does have a Father," www.newcoolthang.com, blog post and discussion of 25 May 2006. off-site
    This post and subsequent discussion demonstrates a wide range of approaches to the question of whether God the Father has a God "above" Him.
  • Blake T. Ostler, "Review of The Mormon Concept of God: A Philosophical Analysis by Francis J. Beckwith and Stephen E. Parrish," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 99–146. off-site PDF link
LDS doctrine and primary sources
  • Van Hale, "The Doctrinal Impact of the King Follett Discourse," Brigham Young University Studies 18:2 (1978): 209. PDF link
  • Stan Larson, "The King Follett Discourse: A Newly Amalgamated Text"," Brigham Young University Studies 18:2 (1978): 193. PDF link
  • Joseph Smith, Jr., "Sermon in the Grove," (16 June 1844): all versions available off-site
Trinitarian issues
  • Barry R. Bickmore, "Not Completely Worthless (Review of: "Christ," In The Conterfeit Gospel of Momonism)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 275–302. off-site PDF link
  • Ari D. Bruening and David L. Paulsen, "The Development of the Mormon Understanding of God: Early Mormon Modalism and Other Myths (Review of: Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution)," FARMS Review of Books 13/2 (2001): 109–169. off-site PDF link
  • Jeffrey R. Holland, "The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent," Ensign (November 2007): 40–42. off-site (Key source)
  • Russell C. McGregor and Kerry A. Shirts, "Letters to an Anti-Mormon (Review of Letters to a Mormon Elder: Eye Opening Information for Mormons and the Christians Who Talk with Them)," FARMS Review of Books 11/1 (1999): 90–298. off-site PDF link
  • Blake T. Ostler, "Review of The Mormon Concept of God: A Philosophical Analysis by Francis J. Beckwith and Stephen E. Parrish," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 99–146. off-site PDF link
  • David L. Paulsen and R. Dennis Potter, "How Deep the Chasm? A Reply to Owen and Mosser's Review," FARMS Review of Books 11/2 (1999): 221–264. off-site PDF link
  • Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity" (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
  • Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993). off-site FAIR link GospeLink

Printed material

God printed materials
Corporeality
  • Edmond LaB. Cherbonnier, "In Defense of Anthropomorphism," in Reflections on Mormonism: Judaeo-Christian Parallels, ed. Truman G. Madsen (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978), 155–173. ISBN 0884943585.
  • Carl W. Griffin and David L. Paulsen, "Augustine and the Corporeality of God," Harvard Theological Review 95/1 (2002): 97–118.
  • David L. Paulsen, "Early Christian Belief in a Corporeal Deity: Origen and Augustine as Reluctant Witnesses," Harvard Theological Review 83/2 (1990): 105–116.
  • Daniel C. Peterson, "On the Motif of the Weeping God in Moses 7," in Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, ed. Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: FARMS, 2002), 285–317. ISBN 0934893713.
  • Roland J. Teske, "Divine Immutability in Saint Augustine," Modern Schoolman 63 (May 1986): 233.
LDS doctrine and primary sources
  • Blake T. Ostler, Exploring Mormon Thought Vol. 1: The Attributes of God (Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, 2001). ISBN 1589580036. ISBN 978-1589580039.
  • Blake T. Ostler, Exploring Mormon Thought Vol. 2: The Problems With Theism And the Love of God (Salt Lake City, Utah: Greg Kofford Books, 2006). ISBN 1589580958. ISBN 978-1589580954.
Trinitarian issues
  • Timothy W. Bartel, "The Plight of the Relative Trinitarian," Religious Studies 24/2 (June 1988): 129–155.
  • Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity, trans. John A. Baker (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964).
  • Jean Daniélou, Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture, trans. John A. Baker (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1973).
  • E. Feser, "Has Trinitarianism Been Shown to Be Coherent?," Faith and Philosophy 14/1 (January 1997): 87–97.
  • Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, trans. Neil Buchanan, 7 vols. (New York: Dover, 1961).
  • Edwin Hatch, The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church (1914; reprint, Gloucester, Mass.: Smith, 1970).
  • James L. Kugel, The God of Old: Inside the Lost World of the Bible (Free Press, 2003), xi–xii, 5–6, 104–106, 134–135.
  • Clark Pinnock, Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness (Baker Academic, 2001), 33–34.
  • James Shiel, Greek Thought and the Rise of Christianity (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968).
  • Christopher Stead, Philosophy in Christian Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
  • Harry A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Church Fathers, vol. 1, rev. 3rd ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970).
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