For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
John 4:24 (NLT)
There are many references in the Bible to God’s “body parts”:
Job 33:26a (NIV) then that person can pray to God and find favor with Him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy
Psalm 24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face, God of Jacob.
Psalm 27:9a Do not hide Your face from me
Psalm 80:7 Restore us, God Almighty; make Your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
Jeremiah 44:11b (ESV) Behold, I will set My face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah.
God’s face doesn’t get all the “body” references. In Scripture we see references to His arm (Job 30:9, Isaiah 40:10), His hand (Exodus 33:22-23), His eyes (Genesis 6:8) and ears (Psalm 34:15). These are just a few of the verses that reference these parts. And of course we can’t forget that we are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).
So, does God have a physical body?
As I am writing this, I realize I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I’ve said before, I am not a Bible scholar, but I will do my best to unpack this as I understand it. Why is this Important? It helps me to conceptualize the Trinity (another big topic).
God does have a physical body – His name is Jesus. Jesus, while being fully God, set aside some of God’s attributes to live on earth as a man. Jesus couldn’t be omnipresent (everywhere at once) for example. Jesus also became tired and dealt with other physical limitations.
God the Father is a Spirit being. He has no limitations and is infinite. No one has seen God – except Jesus. Jesus Himself taught this in John 6:46.
So, why all the body imagery in the Bible?
It’s there for us. We physical beings are not capable of wrapping our minds around the fullness of God. I am glad that we will have glorified bodies when Jesus returns, and some of these mysteries will be made clear, but in the meantime we need to be able to connect with our all-powerful Father. So, in His word, the Bible, God allowed Himself to be described as if He does have physicality.
While God is constantly involved in His creation, His creation has some difficulty recognizing and relating to Him. God poured Himself into Jesus in order to interact with His creation on a level creation could relate to, bringing glory to God.
Jesus then pours Himself, through the work of the Holy Spirit, into believers to interact with an unbelieving world. If you are a believer, that is your purpose: to interact with the world in a way that points to and glorifies Jesus.
God is Spirit, but that does not take away from the truth that He exists and rules heaven and earth. We walk by faith, not sight. For members of the body of Christ, not “seeing” is believing.