I heard many Catholics say that God has no form. Is this correct?

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004

Answers

Hi Henri,

Do you know what they meant by form? Did they mean no material form? Did they mean God is spirit?

-- Andy S ("aszmere@earthlink.net"), June 03, 2004.

I believe what Andy said is the answer you are looking for. Spirits have no form. God is Spirit. Of course, the second Person of the Trinity took on human form, but even then He had form only as man, not form as spirit.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 03, 2004.

When God and His angels came to Abraham, there were three persons walking. Abraham saw them. Clearly, they have human body. Abraham's cooked and they ate. How can God be formless?

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

First, who says that the three men who came to Abraham were "God and His angels"? They may have been angels, or simply human messengers sent by God - the passage doesn't say - but they were not God. The passage says that God spoke from heaven while the three men were with Abraham. It also says the three men departed while Abraham remained in the presence of the Lord.

Secondly, we know that angels have appeared to men "in human form". Which may mean one of two things. (1) The angels, who are pure spirits, actually entered into human bodies God had provided for them. However this interpretation raises lots of tough questions about God's creation of "partial human beings", subsequent disposal of the bodies, etc. More likely, (2) the angels appeared in the form of a vision. John clearly "saw" many things which were not physically present to Him, and recorded them in the Book of Revelation. "Appearances" of angels to human beings are most likely in this same category.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 03, 2004.

The whole acocunt can be read in Genesis chapter 18.

below

Genesis 18

1. And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2. And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13. And the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 16. And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20. And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord. 23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26. And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33. And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

-- ZAROVE (ZAROFF3@JUNO.COM), June 03, 2004.

Zarove thank you for the bible chapter.

One of the three men is God. Abraham called him "Lord". No doubt about that. God does take the will of three human and put angel spirits in them.

Another proof of God has body is when Jacob and God wrestled.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

I want to correct my previous statement..I meant "God does not take the will of human and put angel spirits in human body".

If you can proof that God has no body in the bible, I'll believe!

-- henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

henri,

If you can prove from the Bible that everything has to be proven from the Bible, then I'll prove it from the Bible.

Also, note verse 22 above, which states that Abraham was still with the Lord after the three men, whoever they were, had departed.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 03, 2004.

God can be anywhere at the same time.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

I forgot to say that there were only two men reached the city where Lot and his family live. Do you see three men visit Lot?

Verse 22 says the men, not three men. God could remain behind with Abraham and only his two angels left.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

Here is the verse 22-23.

The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD . [1] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

See here...God remained behind and Abraham approached him. If you continue to read, the Lord and Abraham continued to talk. Therefore, two men left alone!

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

Here is an interesting verse.

Genesis 18:33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Clearly, God remained behind with Abraham.

Read Genesis 19:1. It will says that only two angels came to the city.

If God has no body like us, the bible would not be correct.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 03, 2004.

But, why does it matter if God has a form or not? He's God. He can do whatever he wants, when ever he wants. Could God take human form? Yes because he did. How do we know that the person Abraham was talking to wasn't Jesus? Jesus is God, but Abraham might not have recognized that fact. He might have thought of Jesus as the Father and not the son.

But again, why does this matter to have faith in God. Believing is seeing, seeing isn't believing.

-- Scott (papasquat10@hotmail.com), June 03, 2004.

Scott,

many believe Jesus took the human body when He became flesh. I am not saying that person was not Jesus. If Jesus was talking to Abraham and He has human body, should the Father be the same? Should the Holy Spirit be the same?

If my memory is correct, Jesus did say something that no one has ever see the Father. Therefore, Jesus must be the one who can to Abraham, to wrestle with Jacab and to Moses. Jesus is the one who came to Adam and Eve when they sinned.

God created us in His image. Look into the mirror and you see your image. If you want to create a robot in your image, would you give that robot an animal body?

Anyway, I have enough for this. Thank you all for sharing.

-- Henri (kxhenri@yahoo.com), June 04, 2004.

Check this link out: It will answer your question about the god of the OT, and why he had a form and why Jesus said no man has seen God at any time.

http://www.webcom.com/gnosis/naghamm/apocjn.html

-- Donna Skinner (skinner2@localnet.com), March 10, 2005.

Thanks, Donna, but the only church that Jesus founded rejected that "nag hammadi" gnostic, heretical stuff more than 1,500 years ago. We cannot rely on it to tell us anything about God's attributes.

-- (leo@slatterie.com), March 10, 2005.