# Does God the Father Have a Body of Flesh and Bones? > Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 says the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s. John 4:24 says God is a Spirit. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/does-god-have-a-body - Religions: Latter-day Saints - Denominations: none - Beliefs: none - Tags: latter-day-saints, godhead - Updated: 2026-10-17 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) [Doctrine and Covenants 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) says the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s, and the Son also, and that the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones but is a personage of Spirit. [John 4:24](/bible/john/4/24) says God is a Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The body the Gospels describe is the risen Son’s. Jesus is God. ## Key Points - [Doctrine and Covenants 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) [(1)](#ref-1) gives the Father and the Son each a body of flesh and bones, and says the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us if he had such a body. - [Gospel Topics, God the Father](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/god-the-father?lang=eng) [(8)](#ref-8) calls the Father the Supreme Being, perfect and all-powerful, and quotes Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 for his body. It says the later creeds lost the earliest Christian view of an embodied God. - [John 4:24](/bible/john/4/24) [(2)](#ref-2) says God is a Spirit. [1 Kings 8:27](/bible/1-kings/8/27) [(4)](#ref-4) says heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. - [Luke 24:39](/bible/luke/24/39) [(3)](#ref-3) is the risen Jesus. A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as the disciples see that he has. That sentence is about the Son after the resurrection. - [John 1:14](/bible/john/1/14) [(5)](#ref-5) says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. [Colossians 2:9](/bible/colossians/2/9) [(6)](#ref-6) says in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. - [Numbers 23:19](/bible/numbers/23/19) [(7)](#ref-7) says God is not a man, that he should lie. That line is about God’s truth. The page for the incarnation objection is [Numbers 23:19: “God Is Not a Man.” Does This Rule Out the Incarnation?](/islam/god-is-not-a-man-numbers-23-19). ## What Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 Says Section 130 is a record of items of instruction Joseph Smith gave at Ramus, Illinois, on 2 April 1843. Verse 22 is the sentence on bodies. [Doctrine and Covenants 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) [(1)](#ref-1): > 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. The verse makes three claims. The Father’s body is flesh and bones, as tangible as a man’s. The Son’s body is flesh and bones in the same way. The Holy Ghost is a person, and he has no body of flesh and bones, because a body of that kind would keep him from dwelling in the saints. Latter-day Saint teaching treats the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost as three beings united in purpose. [The Godhead in Latter-day Saint Teaching](/latter-day-saints/the-godhead-in-latter-day-saint-teaching) sets that teaching beside the creed of 381, which says the Son is of one substance with the Father. The King Follett sermon and the Lorenzo Snow couplet go on to say that God was once as man now is. That further claim is [Do Mormons Believe God Was Once a Man?](/latter-day-saints/do-mormons-believe-god-was-once-a-man). Verse 22, by itself, is the claim that the Father has a tangible body. ## How Gospel Topics Describes the Father The church’s current topic page puts the body in its first paragraph, next to the attributes. [Gospel Topics, God the Father](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/god-the-father?lang=eng) [(8)](#ref-8): > God the Father is the Supreme Being in whom we believe, whom we worship, and to whom we pray. He is the ultimate Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. He is perfect, has all power, and knows all things. He “has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s.” The [same page](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/god-the-father?lang=eng) [(8)](#ref-8) gives the church’s reason for the difference from other churches. It says early Christian views of God were more personal and less abstract than the views of the later creeds, and that a merger of Christian doctrine with Greek philosophy began in the second century, after the loss of apostolic authority. Latter-day Saints, the page says, regard that merger as a grave error, and they hold that God the Father is an embodied being. The page also calls every person a literal spirit child of God, begotten in the premortal life. So in Latter-day Saint teaching the Father’s body is not a side detail. It is tied to the claim of a restored, pre-creedal view of God and to the teaching that humans are his offspring. ## Is God a Spirit? [John 4:24](/bible/john/4/24) [(2)](#ref-2) is Jesus speaking to the woman at the well. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The sentence is about the kind of worship the Father seeks, from a woman who has asked whether worship belongs on one mountain or in Jerusalem. It is also a sentence about what God is. He is a Spirit. [1 Kings 8:27](/bible/1-kings/8/27) [(4)](#ref-4) is Solomon at the dedication of the temple. Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, and still less the house Solomon has built. The prayer is about the LORD’s presence. Neither the house nor heaven can contain him. Scripture also speaks of God’s hand, his eyes, his arm, and his face. Those sentences are about his action, his knowledge, and his presence. [Isaiah 59:1](/bible/isaiah/59/1) says the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, and his ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear. The line is about his power to save and to hear. It is not a measurement of limbs. Latter-day Saint teaching reads [Doctrine and Covenants 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) as a body one could touch. John 4:24 and 1 Kings 8:27 speak of a God who is Spirit and whom heaven cannot contain. ## Does Jesus Have a Body in Heaven? [Luke 24:39](/bible/luke/24/39) [(3)](#ref-3) is the risen Jesus with the disciples. He tells them to behold his hands and his feet, and to handle him and see. A spirit does not have flesh and bones, as they see that he has. He then eats before them. The sentence answers the fear that they are seeing a ghost. The one who was crucified is present, with a body they can touch. That body is the Son’s body after the resurrection, the flesh the Word took in [John 1:14](/bible/john/1/14) [(5)](#ref-5). [Philippians 2:6–8](/bible/philippians/2) says he was in the form of God and took the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. In [Colossians 2:9](/bible/colossians/2/9) [(6)](#ref-6), the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. The incarnation is the Son taking flesh. The Father did not acquire a body he had lacked. The Son who is God took our nature, died, and was raised. Thomas calls that risen Jesus Lord and God in [John 20:28](/bible/john/20/28). [Doctrine and Covenants 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) puts the Father’s body and the Son’s body in the same clause: flesh and bones as tangible as man’s. Luke 24:39 is the Son, speaking of the body the disciples can see. The two sentences are not the same claim. One is the church’s revelation that the Father has a tangible body. The other is the Gospel’s account of the risen Son. ## What About Numbers 23:19? [Numbers 23:19](/bible/numbers/23/19) [(7)](#ref-7) says God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent. Balaam is telling Balak that God will not unsay the blessing he has put on Israel. The line is about truth and about a mind that does not reverse itself the way a man does. It is not a lesson in anatomy. Christians still refuse the comparison the King Follett sermon makes, that the Father was once a man. The page that reads Numbers 23:19 as an objection to the incarnation is the Islam and Judaism question linked above. The Son became man. God did not become a liar. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What Does Doctrine and Covenants 130 Say About God Dwelling in the Heart? Verse 3 of the [same section](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=3) [(1)](#ref-1) reads [John 14:23](/bible/john/14/23) as a personal appearance of the Father and the Son. It calls the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man’s heart “an old sectarian notion, and is false.” Verse 22 then explains how the Holy Ghost, who has no body, can dwell in us. ### Can the Father Fill Heaven If He Has a Body? Christians answer from [1 Kings 8:27](/bible/1-kings/8/27) and [Jeremiah 23:24](/bible/jeremiah/23/24) that God fills heaven and earth. Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 affirms the Father’s tangible body and gives indwelling to the Holy Ghost, who has none. The two answers rest on different accounts of what the Father is. ## Keep Reading - [The Godhead in Latter-day Saint Teaching](/latter-day-saints/the-godhead-in-latter-day-saint-teaching) - [Do Mormons Believe God Was Once a Man?](/latter-day-saints/do-mormons-believe-god-was-once-a-man) - [Do Latter-day Saints Believe in a Heavenly Mother?](/latter-day-saints/heavenly-mother) - [What Is the Incarnation?](/christianity/what-is-the-incarnation) - [The Trinity](/christianity/the-trinity) - [Is Jesus God?](/christianity/is-jesus-god) ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### John 4:24 King James Version. > God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ### 1 Kings 8:27 King James Version. > But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded? ### Luke 24:39 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. ### John 1:14 King James Version. > And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ### Colossians 2:9 King James Version. > For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ### Numbers 23:19 King James Version. > God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? ### Isaiah 59:1 King James Version. > Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: ### Philippians 2:6–8 King James Version. > [2:6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [2:7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [2:8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ### John 20:28 King James Version. > And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God. ### John 14:23 King James Version. > Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. ### Jeremiah 23:24 King James Version. > Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Doctrine and Covenants, 130:22](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/130?lang=eng&id=22) (The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit.) 2. [Gospel of John, 4:24](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/4/24). King James Version 3. [Gospel of Luke, 24:39](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/luke/24/39). King James Version 4. First Book of Kings, 8:27 5. [Gospel of John, 1:14](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/1/14). King James Version 6. [Letter to the Colossians, 2:9](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/colossians/2/9). King James Version 7. [Book of Numbers, 23:19](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/numbers/23/19). King James Version 8. [Gospel Topics, God the Father, Opening paragraph and The Father of Our Spirits](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/god-the-father?lang=eng) (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Father is the Supreme Being, perfect and all-powerful, with a body of flesh and bones; the topic says creedal Christianity merged doctrine with Greek philosophy.) ## See Also - [Are Jesus and Satan Brothers?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/are-jesus-and-satan-brothers) — Gospel Topics calls Satan a spirit son of God who rebelled. A 1986 Ensign answer calls Jesus and Lucifer spirit brothers. John 1:3 says all things were made by the Word. - [Do Latter-day Saints Believe in a Heavenly Mother?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/heavenly-mother) — The church’s Mother in Heaven essay teaches a Heavenly Mother, and members do not pray to her. Isaiah 44:6 says there is no God beside the LORD. - [Do Mormons Believe God Was Once a Man?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/do-mormons-believe-god-was-once-a-man) — The Lorenzo Snow couplet says, “As man now is, God once was.” The King Follett sermon says God was once as we are now, and is an exalted man. Isaiah 43:10 says no God was formed before or after the LORD. - [Do Mormons Believe in the Trinity?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/the-godhead-in-latter-day-saint-teaching) — No. Latter-day Saints teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings, one in purpose. That is not the Nicene confession of one God in three persons. - [Do Mormons Believe They Will Become Gods?](https://apologetics.wiki/latter-day-saints/do-mormons-believe-they-will-become-gods) — Gospel Principles says exaltation is the kind of life God lives. The King Follett sermon says God was once as we are now, and that the faithful must learn to be gods. Isaiah 43:10 says no God was formed after the LORD.