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Difference between revisions of "Question: Is the doctrine that God the Father and Jesus Christ have physical bodies not Biblical?"
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| − | == | + | ==Question: Is the doctrine that God the Father and Jesus Christ have physical bodies not Biblical?== |
| − | + | ===The absence of God's body is thus only present in John 4:24 if one approaches it with that preconception=== | |
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| − | ===John 4:24=== | ||
In [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/john/4/24#24 John 4:24] Jesus says: | In [http://scriptures.lds.org/en/john/4/24#24 John 4:24] Jesus says: | ||
| − | + | <blockquote> | |
| + | 24 God is ''a Spirit'': and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. | ||
| + | </blockquote> | ||
It is sometimes claimed that this verse proves that God is non-corporeal: i.e., a spirit, and nothing but a spirit. | It is sometimes claimed that this verse proves that God is non-corporeal: i.e., a spirit, and nothing but a spirit. | ||
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However, there is no indefinite article in Greek (the indefinite article in English is "a," as in "a spirit." The ''New International Version'' (NIV) translation of the same verse reads: | However, there is no indefinite article in Greek (the indefinite article in English is "a," as in "a spirit." The ''New International Version'' (NIV) translation of the same verse reads: | ||
| − | + | <blockquote> | |
| + | God is ''spirit'', and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth. | ||
| + | </blockquote> | ||
One non-LDS work noted of this verse: | One non-LDS work noted of this verse: | ||
| − | + | <blockquote> | |
| − | + | That God ''is spirit'' is not meant as a definition of God's being—though this is how the Stoics 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 I John i. 5, "God is light", or Deut. iv. 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.<ref>{{book|author=Joseph Newbould Sanders|title=A Commentary on the Gospel according to John, ed. B. A. Mastin|place=New York|publisher=Harper & Row|date=1968|start=148|end=149|isbn=9780913573556}} {{eo}}</ref> | |
| − | + | </blockquote> | |
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| − | + | The absence of God's body is thus only present in this scripture if one approaches it with that preconception. There is nothing which requires such a reading, and much that does not. | |
| + | Even the presumption that ''spirit'' means being immaterial is not scriptural, and is the product of later thinking: "in Scripture...there is no indication that by spirit and soul were meant any such principles as form or immateriality."<ref>{{book1|author=Harry A. Wolfson|title=Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam|place=Cambridge|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1948|start=2:95|isbn=9780674021143}}</ref> | ||
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| − | + | {{endnotes sources}} | |
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| − | [[ | + | <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE --> |
| + | [[es:Pregunta: ¿Es la doctrina que Dios el Padre y Jesucristo tienen cada uno un cuerpo físico no apoyado por la Santa Biblia?]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Questions]] | ||
Latest revision as of 15:25, 13 April 2024
Question: Is the doctrine that God the Father and Jesus Christ have physical bodies not Biblical?
The absence of God's body is thus only present in John 4:24 if one approaches it with that preconception
In John 4:24 Jesus says:
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
It is sometimes claimed that this verse proves that God is non-corporeal: i.e., a spirit, and nothing but a spirit.
However, there is no indefinite article in Greek (the indefinite article in English is "a," as in "a spirit." The New International Version (NIV) translation of the same verse reads:
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.
One non-LDS work noted of this verse:
That God is spirit is not meant as a definition of God's being—though this is how the Stoics 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 I John i. 5, "God is light", or Deut. iv. 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.[1]
The absence of God's body is thus only present in this scripture if one approaches it with that preconception. There is nothing which requires such a reading, and much that does not.
Even the presumption that spirit means being immaterial is not scriptural, and is the product of later thinking: "in Scripture...there is no indication that by spirit and soul were meant any such principles as form or immateriality."[2]
Notes
- ↑ Joseph Newbould Sanders, A Commentary on the Gospel according to John, ed. B. A. Mastin (New York: Harper & Row, 1968), 148–149. ISBN 9780913573556 (emphasis in original)
- ↑ Harry A. Wolfson, Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1948), 2:95. ISBN 9780674021143.