Jesus said God is a spirit. How can Latter-day Saints say the Father has a body?
They quote this
This is the verse. Context: Gerizim vs Jerusalem, not a metaphysics class.
King James Version
Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father… God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
NRSVUE
Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem… God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
The Bible answers
A spirit hath not flesh and bones. The risen Jesus does. If John 4 bans bodies, Easter is in trouble.
King James Version
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.
NRSVUE
Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.
Also restored
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22
We already have a personage of spirit: the Holy Ghost. John 4 is how you worship, not a CT scan of the Father.
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.
Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.
Anthropomorphic God in Israel’s scriptures
Exodus 33, Ezekiel 1, and Daniel 7 do not read like a simple unembodied monad. Second Temple Jews could hold God’s holiness and God’s form together.
John 4 is location-polemic. It is not a repeal of the rest of the Bible’s God who walks, sits, and shows His back.
FAIR
FAIR Latter-day Saints
If John 4:24 bans a body, Luke 24:39 bans the risen Christ’s body, and that is not a Christian option. ‘Spirit’ here is how you worship — in spirit and truth — not a CT scan of the Father. Latter-day Saints also believe the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit. We can read the verse without amputating Easter.
The Samaritan well is about true worship. It is not a proof-text against the Incarnation’s logic applied to the Father.
Faithful voices only. Most of these are independent — not official Church productions unless marked as such.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Be the first to tell us if this case is strong.
