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God is a Spirit — John 4:24


God is a spirit – John 4:24

Question — John 4:24 states that God is a spirit, and thus He has no body as stated in Doctrine and Covenants 130:22.

Answer —

  • John 4:22 — Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman, and the Samaritans did not know what or who they worshipped.
  • 2 Kings 17:28-34 — Samaritans were idol-worshippers.
  • John 4:24 — ‘…worship in spirit and in truth’; we worship ‘in spirit’ even though we possess physical bodies.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 — a resurrected body is a ‘spiritual’ body.
  • John 4:24 (God is a spirit), Hebrews 12:29 (God is a consuming fire), 1 John 1:5 (God is light), 1 John 4:8 (God is love).  Yes, He is all these things and much more, but these phrases are representative or descriptive of some of His many traits.  One phrase, standing alone, does not fully describe Him.
  • John 4:24 (Joseph Smith translation) — For unto such has God promised His spirit.
  • Ether 3:16 — This body is the body of my spirit!
  • Doctrine and Covenants 93:33 — Man is spirit!  (See ‘personification’ in Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie.
  • Doctrine and Covenants 88:15 — The spirit and the body are the soul of man!

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