God Is A Spirit - Oh Really!

It is widely believed by other Christians that God is a spirit essence without shape for form that fills the immensity of space and is everywhere present. This doctrine, which has very little scriptural support, was devised by councils in the early days of apostasy following the death of the apostles and prophets. Most protestant scholars today refuse to base any doctrine on only one scripture, but this is apparently what most of Christianity has done. One passage of the Gospel of John in the King Games Bible is cited in support of this doctrine. It states "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit of truth". [John 4:24] The fact is that this verse has been mistranslated. This passage should read: "They hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. For unto such hath God promised his Spirit. And they who worship him, must worship in spirit of truth". [JST John 4:24-26]

Eugene Seaich has pointed out that:

The original Greek says only that "God is spirit" (pneumae ho theos), i.e. spiritual in nature, the noun being anathrous (without the definite article). As Raymond E. Brown - undoubtedly the world's leading scholarly authority on John's Gospel - explains, "This is not an essential definition of God, but a description of God's dealings with men, it means that God is spirit toward men because he gives the spirit (xiv 16) which begets them anew". [Anchor Bible, John, p. 172] There are in fact two other such descriptions in John's writing, "God is light" [1 John 1:5], and "God is love" [1 John 4:8], though no one has argued that God is a light or a species of love!. In short, one must worship the Father through the Spirit which he has given to the Church [John 14:16], there being no hint of suggestion that he is himself "a spirit" [Eugene Seaich, Ancient Texts and Mormonism, p. 26]

The Greek word "pneuma" which is translated as spirit in John 4:24 also means "life" or "breath". The King James Version of Revelation 13:15, for example renders the word "pneuma" as life. Thus "God is life" or "God is breath of life" are alternative translations of this verse. John 6:63 also uses the Breath word "pneuma": the words that I speak unto you a, they are [pneuma]" Although most version render this as "spirit" the following phrase "and they are life" clarifies the meaning as does the context. [see John 4:10, 14; 6:35, 40, 47-48, 51] Words are not "spirit" in the sense we normally think of spirit, but are a spiritual source of eternal life when believed. In the same way, God is not "a spirit" but a spiritual source of eternal life to those who worship him in spirit and truth. To believe otherwise is to believe the absurd notion that we must in some way leave our bodies to worship him since "they that worship him must in some way leave our bodies to worship him in spirit". [John 4:24]

Some has also cited Alma 22:9-10 as proof that God is a spirit, but as with John 4:24 the context does not justify this meaning. This verses speak of God as the "Great Spirit", which was apparently a title for God among the Lamanites. Aaron, who know that a lesson on the nature of God could come later, was merely using a term for deity that the King of the Lamanites was familiar with. Joseph Smith also used the title "Great Spirit" as a title for God when teaching the American Indians. [History of the Church, 5:480] Both Joseph Smith and Aaron used the same teaching technique used by Paul on Mars Hill [Acts 17:22-28] to teach the gospel to men unfamiliar with the true God. Note that Aaron also teaches, as Paul, that we were created in God's image [Alma 22:12; Acts 17:28-29] and that Christ was God's Son. [Alma 21:7; Acts 17:31]

Although there is a real sense in which God may be said to be a Spirit [Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 319, and Doctrines of the Restoration, p. 31], man must also be considered a spirit in the same sense. [Job 32:8; Eccl. 12:7; 1 Cor 6:17; Philemon 25; D&C 93:33] Spirits are not an immaterial vaporous essence that fills the immensity of space, but personages with form like our tangible bodies. [see 1 Nephi 11:11; Ether 3:16; D&C 77:2; LDS Bible Dictionary p. 776]

Latter-day Saints believe that the real essence of man is his spirit, and although it might be proper to say that man is a spirit, it would be more correct to say man is a soul since the spirit and the body together are "soul of man". [D&C 88:15] Although we often think of the mortal body as the tangible substance and the spirit as the intangible being with in the body, the spirit is substance also. Our spirit bodies are made of a more refined substance that cannot be handled or felt in the physical realm. [D&C 129:1-7; 131:7-8]

Jesus taught the apostles after the resurrection that they could verify that he was both spirit and body "for a spirit hath not flesh and bones" as he had. By touching the wounds in his hands and feet, they confirmed that he was not only the spirit of the crucified Lord but a bodily resurrected being with "flesh and bones". [Luke 24:36-39; John 20:27] We believe as Paul taught that a resurrected being rises a "spiritual body" [1 Cor 15:44; D&C 88:27] having both a spirit and body "restored to their proper and perfect frame". [Alma 40:23] When we realize that Jesus did only that which had seen his Father do [Jon 5:19; Teachings, p. 312], it is reasonable to conclude that the Father also has a glorified body of flesh and bones.

Modern revelation provides a final clear witness that God has a glorified and immortal body in which is housed his spirit. Joseph Smith instructed us that, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones and 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". [D&C 130:22] This knowledge is called the greatest truth of eternity by Bruce R. McConkie [Doctrines of the Restoration, p. 48] for it confirms that we are truly created in the image of God and are his spirit offspring. [Acts 17:28-29] As such we have the potential to become like him [1 John 3:2] in the eternities and thereby gain eternal life [John 17:3; 1 John 5:20; see also Doctrines of the Restoration, pp. 31, 34

Some Say Temples Are No Longer Needed - What Are The Facts?

Jacob, the Old Testament prophet, equated the "house of God" to "the gate of heaven". [Gen 28:17] Modern revelation affirms that in a very real sense, the highest kingdom of heaven can only be obtained through the ordinances of the temple. [D & C 131:1-2] Although most Christians today recognize the importance of the temple to ancient Israel, they seem to ignore references to temple worship in the New Testament church. They reason that temples were only for blood sacrifices and that when Christ became the final sacrificial "Lamb of God" , blood sacrifices and the need for temples were "done away". [see 2 Cor. 3:14; Heb 9:1-28; 10:1-20]

Those who hold that temples are no longer required ignore the biblical teachings that the Lord will return suddenly at the last day "to his temple" [Mal 3:1-2] and that the anti-Christ will reveal himself "in the temple of God". [2 Thes 2:4] We are also told by John the Revelator that those who "wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb" will serve God "day and night in his temple". [Rev 7:14-15] We might ask them who will build this temple and why will it be used "day and night" if the work is no longer needed?

We should also note that Christ and his disciples often taught and worshiped in the temple. Christ, according to all four gospels, "taught daily in the temple" [Matt 26:55; Mar 14:49; Luke 2:46; 19:47; 21:37-38; John 7:28; 8:20; 18:20] and would not allow men to defile it. [Matt 21:12-15; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:14-17] There he taught his gospel [Luke 20:1] and healed the blind and the lame. [Matt 21:12-15; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:14-17] After the resurrection, we find the disciples "continuing daily in the temple" [Acts 2:46] "praising and blessing God". [Luke 24:53] We also find the apostles teaching and healing at the temple as Christ had done. [Acts 3:1-26] Significantly, Paul was praying in the temple and was there visited by the Lord in his glory. [Acts 22:17-18] Later in his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul asks, "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? [1 Cor 9:13] How can we live of the things of the temple if there is no temple? If we trust our Bibles, the temple remained the center of Christian worship even after Christ's death. [NOTE: for additional information on early Christian temple rites see Eugene Seaich, Ancient Texts and Mormonism, pp 56-58 and Darrick Evenson, The Gainsayers pp. 79-92]]

The importance of temples and temple work will increase as we enter the millennial period of the earth's history. Bruce R. McConkie has stated:

"Salvation cannot be gained except thought baptism of water and of the Spirit, nor can exaltation be achieved except through temple endowments and the sealing of families together for eternity. These saving and exalting ordinances are performed vicariously in the temples for the worthy dead who did not have the opportunity to receive them in this life. We are commanded to go to with our might, collect all the accurate genealogical data we can, and perform these saving and exalting ordinances for our worthy ancestors. Obviously, due to the frailties, incapacities, and errors of mortal men, and because the records of the past ages are often scanty and inaccurate, this great work cannot be completed for every worthy soul without assistance from on high. The millennial era is the time, primarily, when this assistance will be given by resurrected beings,. Genealogical records unknown to us will then become available. Errors committed by us in sealings or other ordinances will be rectified and all things will be arranged in proper order. Temple work will be the great work of the millennium". [Mormon Doctrine, pp 500-01; see also Doctrines of Salvation, 2:251-52]

After the millennium there will come a day when temples will no longer be required, [Rev 21:22] but that day will not come until the end of the earth [Rev21:1] when God will dwell with his people. [Rev 21:3] Until that day the Lord's people have been commanded to build houses to his holy name [D & C 124:39] that we, therein, might receive his ordinances and the revelation pertaining to this dispensation. [D & C 124:40-41]