What Does God Look Like?

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. 
Were it not so, 
the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22

My daughter has been attending a Christian music camp over the past several weeks. As soon as others in her group at the camp found out that she is a Latter-day Saint, the nightly Bible studies they held got a little more exciting, as you might imagine. As her father, I double as my daughter’s doctrinal and scriptural consultant, which means I have had the opportunity to get involved in scriptural discussions (let’s be honest though, they really are debates or Bible bashes) about some of the topics commonly known to be points of debate between traditional Christian churches (Protestant, Catholic, and non-denominational) and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Naturally, the topic that has come up most frequently in their discussions has to do with the very nature of God and his relationship with the people on this planet. Understanding who God is and making a relationship between him and an individual is essential to the ability to worship. I’ve been inclined to write about God’s attributes as part of my personal scripture study in the past.

In this article, I am going to explain what God looks like, and by natural extension I’ll describe who God is, including what we know about His nature and attributes. My resources for describing what God looks like and who He is include:

• The Bible – specifically the King James Version
• Revelation from modern prophets
• My own personal experience

Among the 8 billion people on the planet there are plenty of religious systems, many of which are dedicated to better understanding God (some are clearly not). Within those systems there is a wide spectrum of ideas on what type supernatural Being governs over this planet and those who reside on it.

Here is a summary of what each of the most common religions in the world believe about what God looks like:

Christianity

In most of Christianity, God is considered to be a spiritual being who is not confined to a physical form. However, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God (but who is also considered to be God himself), is often depicted in human form. The Holy Spirit is often symbolized as a dove or tongues of fire.

Islam

In Islam, God (Allah) is considered beyond human comprehension and is not represented in any physical form. In fact, creating images or depictions of God is considered idolatrous in Islamic tradition. This principle, known as aniconism, is based on the belief in the transcendence of God and the avoidance of idolatry (Shirk).

Hinduism

In Hinduism, God or the divine reality (Brahman) is considered ultimately formless and beyond human comprehension. However, this divine reality is often represented through a myriad of deities, each with its own physical form and symbolism. For example, Lord Shiva is often depicted with a third eye and holding a trident, while Lord Vishnu is depicted with four arms holding various objects like a conch and a lotus.

Buddhism

Buddhism does not centrally focus on the concept of God in the way that many other religions do. The Buddha is not considered a god but an enlightened being, and he is often represented in human form in statues and paintings. However, some forms of Buddhism, like Mahayana and Vajrayana, have a pantheon of bodhisattvas and deities, each depicted in various forms and with different iconographies.

The world’s major religions have some similarities in their respective beliefs about God’s physical appearance, but there is clearly a lot of ambiguity among each of them regarding whether God has any form at all, and, if he does, what form is there. Those who have formed the belief systems of these religions have often attempted to relate their supreme beings to humans in believing that there is some human-like 

What The Bible Teaches About God’s Physical Appearance

The Bible is very clear about what God looks like. You don’t have to go farther than the first chapter of the Bible to find out that God looks like us, and we look like him.

In the account of the Creation in Genesis 1:26-27, we read this:

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

There are a few things we learn about God from these verses. 

The first is the use of the word “us” in the discussion. Clearly there is more than one entity involved in this discussion. There is a conversation occurring between two divine personages.

The second concept clearly laid out in these verses is that mankind, men and women, are created in the image of God, after his likeness. It is clear, then, that we look like Them, and They look like us. The reason I use the plural in referring to God is to emphasize that there are physically separate and distinct personages who comprise the Godhead.

From modern revelation we receive some clarity about God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, the three personages who make up the one God that we worship.

Joseph Smith, one of many prophets who have documented having personal, physical interactions with God, explains the physical form of the three members of the Godhead this way, in Doctrine and Covenants 130:22

22 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. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

Based upon this verse and many other evidences, it is clear that who we call God is actually three three distinct physical Personages. Two of them – Jesus (also known as Jehova) and Elohim (typically referred to as the Father) have perfected bodies of flesh and bones, similar to what each human will have when we are resurrected. The third member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, has a physical form like a man, but does not have flesh. Instead, he is made out of spirit matter.

Nicene Creed: Uninspired, Confusing, Wrong

One of the difficult issues that mainstream Christians have in arguing their concept of God and describing his appearance is that the Bible doesn’t back up what has been traditionally understood in Catholic and Protestant tradition as the definition of God, dating back to revisions that have been made since just after the New Testament apostles were killed and the church established by Jesus Christ no longer existed.

In fact, as explained by Jeffery R Holland in his conference talk The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent, a well-respected Bible reference (Harper’s Bible Dictionary) makes the assertion that “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].”

That point is made clear through the many instances in the New Testament that verify the distinction between God and Jesus, including at Jesus’ baptism by John, wherein the Father’s voice came from heaven to endorse the event and to recognize that Jesus was His “beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The martyr Stephen later saw a vision of heaven, wherein Jesus was “standing on the right hand of God.”

Although there are other examples in scripture that show the distinction between the Father and the Son, it’s hard to get clearer than the two I just referenced.

What Does It Mean to Be One?

Many Christians refer to the instances when Jesus said that he and his Father are one as a way of solidifying the position that somehow the Father and the Son are somehow mergeable. However, Jesus’ intercessory prayer in John 17 puts that idea to rest. In that prayer, Jesus prays that his followers would become one as He and his Father are also one.

Reading those verses gives plenty of context to understand that Jesus didn’t want his disciples to be merged into something akin to the Trinity.

John 17:20-22

20) Neither pray I for these alone, but fo rhythm also which shall believe on me through their word;

21) That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22) And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

The oneness of Jesus and his Father refers to their oneness in purpose, in perfection, in unification. Being one in this context does not refer to their physical being.

Why God is Referred to as Father

To understand the entire Godhead, it is helpful to understand the Being to whom we are ultimately most beholden. God the Father is the father of our spirits. He, along with his wife (as revealed by modern prophets) who we know little about except that the family unit in this life models heaven and the eternities, created our spirits prior to the creation of this earth. The Father is often referred to as Elohim.

The scriptures refer to God the Father as they do because he is literally our Father. The scriptures are also very clear about the potential that each of us has to become just like him, equal in knowledge, power, and status to him.

Jesus Christ, the God known as Jehovah in the Old Testament, is the Firstborn spirit son of Elohim, and he is a spiritual sibling to all who live on earth. Prior to the creation of this earth, Jehovah was already equal in knowledge, power, and authority to his and our spirit Father. Jesus Christ has the unique ability to fully represent the interests of the Father

Who Has Seen God?

Understanding God’s appearance becomes easier when we understand that there are people who have seen him.

Who has seen God? Lots of prophets have, including Abraham, Jacob (Israel), Moses, and Isaiah in the Old Testament, each of whom testified that they had seen and/or spoken with Jehovah. In the New Testament, the disciples knew and walked with the mortal Messiah. After his resurrection, the Savior appeared to those same people as an immortal being.

In these latter-days, prior to the 2nd Coming of the Lord, Joseph Smith was called as a prophet beginning with his vision of God the Father and the Son, an event that overcame centuries of confusion about the nature of God.