Chapter 02: A God with a Physical Body

Imagine for a moment that God is sitting in heaven right now, in a massive throne room, with a body that looks somewhat like yours—only much, much bigger. He has hands that He can fold, feet that He can prop up, eyes that blink, and hair that… well, does God’s hair need combing? This might sound like the beginning of a children’s story, but it’s actually what Finis Jennings Dake taught millions of Christians to believe about the Creator of the universe.

When my friend Sarah first showed me her grandmother’s worn Dake Bible, she pointed to a note that had troubled her for years. “Look at this,” she said, her finger tracing the words in the margin of Genesis 1:26. “It says God has a body with actual hands and feet. But my pastor says God is spirit. Who’s right?” That conversation launched me into a deep study of one of Dake’s most dangerous teachings—that God the Father has a physical body complete with organs, limbs, and measurable dimensions.

This teaching might seem harmless at first. After all, doesn’t the Bible talk about God’s hands, eyes, and face? Don’t we read about God walking in the Garden of Eden? The problem is that Dake took these descriptions literally, missing the fact that the Bible uses human language to help us understand a God who is far beyond our comprehension. The result? Dake shrunk the infinite Creator down to the size of a super-powered human, destroying essential truths about who God really is.

What Exactly Did Dake Teach About God’s Body?

Let’s be absolutely clear about what Dake taught, because some people try to soften or explain away his actual words. Dake didn’t just say God was personal or that God could take on a form when needed. He taught that God the Father permanently has a body with specific parts and dimensions, just like humans and angels have bodies. “If God did not mean all He said about Himself in over 20,000 scriptures then why did He say such things? They certainly do not add to a true understanding of Him if the passages do not mean what they say.”¹⁷

Notice what Dake is saying here. He’s not using metaphorical language or speaking symbolically. He literally believed that God the Father has:

• A body that serves as a “house” for His soul and spirit
• Physical dimensions and boundaries
• A specific location (usually in heaven)
• The need to move from place to place
• All the body parts humans have—head, hair, face, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, and internal organs

Dake went even further, cataloging every mention of God’s “body parts” in Scripture as proof. He wrote extensive lists: “God’s head (Daniel 7:9), His hair (Daniel 7:9), His face (Exodus 33:20), His eyes (2 Chronicles 16:9), His ears (Psalm 34:15), His nose (Psalm 18:8), His mouth (Numbers 12:8), His lips (Job 11:5), His tongue (Isaiah 30:27), His hands (Psalm 8:3), His fingers (Exodus 31:18), His arms (Isaiah 51:9), His feet (Nahum 1:3), His heart (Genesis 6:6), His bowels (Isaiah 63:15), and His back parts (Exodus 33:23).”³ In fact, Dake compiled what he called “63 Facts About God”¹⁸ listing every supposed body part, including shape (John 5:37), form (Philippians 2:5-7), and claiming that “man in reality is simply a miniature of God in attributes and powers.”¹⁹ Dake elaborated: “God goes from place to place in a body just like anyone else (Gen. 3:8; 11:5; 18:1-22, 33; 19:24; 32:24-32; 35:13; Zech. 14:5; Tit. 2:13). He is omni-present, but not omni-body, that is, His presence can be felt everywhere but His body cannot.”³²

This wasn’t a minor side teaching for Dake. It was fundamental to his entire theological system. If God has a body, then:

• God cannot be everywhere at once (omnipresent)
• God must be located in one place at a time
• God becomes limited by physical constraints
• God is essentially a bigger, more powerful version of us

Why This Teaching Destroys the Biblical God

You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? So Dake thought God has a body. How bad can that be?” The answer is: catastrophically bad. This single error undermines virtually everything the Bible teaches about God’s nature and character. Let me explain why.

Problem #1: A God With a Body Cannot Be Everywhere

The Bible clearly teaches that God is omnipresent—present everywhere at the same time. David wrote in Psalm 139:7-10:

This beautiful promise becomes impossible if God has a body. A body, by its very nature, can only be in one place at a time. Even Dake admitted this problem. He wrote: “God is NOT omnipresent in body but in Spirit through the Holy Spirit.”⁵ Think about what this means:

• When you pray, is God really there with you, or is His body far away in heaven?
• When you’re going through your darkest hour, is God actually present, or just watching from a distance?
• Can God truly be with millions of believers simultaneously, or must He divide His attention?

Dake was forced to redefine omnipresence entirely, stating: “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all present where there are beings with whom they have dealings; but they are not omnibody, that is, their bodies are not omnipresent. All three go from place to place bodily as other beings in the universe do.”²¹ He explicitly taught that “Omnipresence then, is different from omnibody, and is governed by relationship and knowledge of God.”²² Dake even wrote: “Spirit beings, including God, Himself, cannot be omnipresent in body, for their bodies are of ordinary size and must be at one place at a time, in the same way that bodies of men are always localized, being in one place at a time.”³⁴

Problem #2: A God With a Body Cannot Be Infinite

The Bible teaches that God is infinite—without limits or boundaries. First Kings 8:27 records Solomon’s prayer at the temple dedication:

Solomon understood that even the highest heavens cannot contain God because He is infinite. But every body, by definition, has boundaries. It starts somewhere and ends somewhere else. It has a top and a bottom, a left side and a right side. If God has a body—even a “spirit body” as Dake claimed—then He has limits. He might be very big, but He’s not infinite. Dake’s own note on 1 Kings 8:27 admits this limitation: “God’s body cannot be everywhere present; but His presence can be in all places at the same time. This is governed by relationship with others, not substance.”²³

Think about it this way: If God has a body, we could theoretically measure Him. He might be a trillion miles tall, but that’s still a finite number. Infinity isn’t just “really, really big”—it means absolutely unlimited. A God with a body is a limited God, no matter how large that body might be. Dake wrote: “God is a person who is Spirit, infinite, eternal, immutable, self-existent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, invisible, perfect, impartial, immortal, absolutely holy and just, full of knowledge and wisdom, in whom all things have their source, support and end.”³⁵ Yet he immediately contradicted this by limiting God to a body.

Problem #3: A God With a Body Makes the Incarnation Meaningless

One of the most amazing truths of Christianity is the Incarnation—God becoming man in Jesus Christ. John 1:14 declares with wonder:

The early Christians were amazed that God would humble Himself to take on human flesh. But if God already had a body, what’s so special about the Incarnation? It would just be one bodied being taking on a different kind of body—like changing clothes rather than the cosmic miracle the Bible presents.

Philippians 2:6-7 says Christ “thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” If the Father already has a body, why would taking human form be an act of humility? The Incarnation only makes sense if God the Father is pure spirit and the Son’s taking of flesh was truly unprecedented.

What the Bible Actually Says: God Is Spirit

Now let’s look at what Scripture actually teaches about God’s nature. The clearest statement comes from Jesus Himself in John 4:24:

Jesus didn’t say God HAS a spirit or that God is IN a spirit body. He said God IS spirit. The context makes this even clearer. Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman about worship, and she asked whether people should worship in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim. Jesus responded that true worship isn’t about physical location because God Himself isn’t confined to physical location—He is spirit.

But how did Dake deal with this clear statement? He performed interpretive gymnastics that would make a circus acrobat jealous:

Notice what Dake does here. Jesus simply said “God is spirit.” Dake adds “being with a spirit body”—concepts found nowhere in the text. He’s not interpreting Scripture; he’s rewriting it to fit his preconceived ideas. In his extensive note on John 4:24, Dake writes: “He is a person with a personal spirit body, a personal soul, and a personal spirit, like that of angels, and like that of man except His body is of spirit substance instead of flesh and bones.”²⁴

More Biblical Evidence That God Has No Body

The Bible consistently affirms that God is incorporeal (without a body). Let’s examine key passages:

1 Timothy 1:17 – “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”

If God has a visible body, how can He be invisible? The word “invisible” in Greek (aoratos) means “unseen” or “that which cannot be seen.” A body, by definition, is visible—it has form and shape that can be seen.

Colossians 1:15 – Speaking of Christ, Paul writes that He is “the image of the invisible God.”

Again, if God the Father has a visible body, this description makes no sense.

Deuteronomy 4:15-16 – “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female.”

God specifically reminds Israel that when He revealed Himself at Mount Sinai, they saw NO form. If God has a body with a form, why didn’t they see it? And why would making an image be wrong if God Himself has an image?

Luke 24:39 – After His resurrection, Jesus tells His disciples: “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.”

Jesus explicitly states that spirits don’t have bodies with flesh and bones. Since God is spirit (John 4:24), He doesn’t have a body. Yet Dake contradicts this: “When Jesus said, ‘a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have’ (Luke 24:39), He certainly did not want to leave the impression that spirit bodies were not real and tangible. He simply taught that spirit bodies were not composed of earthly flesh and bone.”³⁶

Understanding Anthropomorphisms: Why the Bible Describes God in Human Terms

If God doesn’t have a body, why does the Bible talk about His hands, eyes, and feet? The answer is simple but profound: God uses human language to help us understand Him. These descriptions are called anthropomorphisms—a big word that simply means describing God in human terms so we can grasp spiritual truths. Dake himself inadvertently admitted this when he wrote that “God can be like man in bodily form and still be as magnificent as we have always thought Him to be.”²⁵ But this misses the point—these are accommodations to our understanding, not literal descriptions.

Think about how we use similar language every day:

• We talk about the “hands of time” but time doesn’t have actual hands
• We say the “eye of the storm” but storms don’t have eyes
• We refer to the “arm of the law” but laws don’t have arms
• We speak of the “foot of the mountain” but mountains don’t have feet

Nobody takes these expressions literally because we understand they’re figures of speech. The same is true when the Bible uses human language to describe God’s actions. Yet Dake insisted: “If all the expressions about God having bodily parts are mere figures of speech and human expressions, as is contended by Bible teachers, trying to convey some idea of God, then it may well be asked, what kind of ideas about God do such expressions convey?”³⁷ He further argued: “It must be remembered there cannot be figures of speech of anything that is not real.”³⁸

The church has understood this throughout history. John Calvin, the great Reformer, explained it this way: “When [Scripture] attributes hands, feet, mouth, eyes, and heart to God, we must not imagine that He is corporeal… These expressions are accommodations to our capacity.”⁷

How Church History Has Always Rejected This Error

Dake’s teaching that God has a body isn’t a new insight or fresh revelation. It’s an ancient heresy that the church has repeatedly rejected throughout history. Understanding this historical context helps us see why this error is so dangerous.

The Early Church Fathers

From the beginning, Christian teachers have affirmed that God is spirit without a body:

Origen (185-254 AD) wrote: “God is incomprehensible and immeasurable… God is not a body, nor is He in a body.”⁸

Augustine (354-430 AD) stated: “God is not contained in any place… He is everywhere present in His entirety.”⁹ Augustine specifically fought against monks who believed God had a body, calling this view heretical.

John of Damascus (675-749 AD) explained: “The Deity is simple and uncompound. But that which is composed of many and diverse elements is compound… This is impious in the extreme.”¹⁰

The Protestant Reformers

The Protestant Reformers unanimously affirmed God’s spiritual nature:

Martin Luther declared: “God is not a corporeal substance, but a Spirit.”¹¹

John Calvin wrote extensively about anthropomorphisms, explaining that when Scripture describes God’s body parts, “These expressions are accommodations to our capacity… God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are accustomed to do with little children.”¹²

The Westminster Confession (1646), one of the most important Protestant statements of faith, explicitly states: “There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.”¹³

The Devastating Connection to Mormonism

One of the most troubling aspects of Dake’s teaching is how closely it resembles Mormon doctrine. This isn’t coincidental—both arise from the same misunderstanding of biblical language.

What Mormons Teach

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) explicitly teaches that God the Father has a physical body. Their Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 states:

Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founder, went even further: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens!”¹⁴

The Disturbing Parallels

Compare Mormon teaching with what Dake wrote. The similarities are striking:

Mormon Teaching	Dake’s Teaching
God has a tangible body	“Spirit bodies are just as real and tangible with bodily parts as ours”
The Father has a body distinct from the Son’s	“God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each has His own personal spirit body”
God is an exalted man	Humans are “in the God class” of beings
Multiple gods exist	“Three separate and distinct persons” each with their own body

Evangelical Christians have long recognized Mormonism as a non-Christian religion precisely because of teachings like God having a body. When Dake teaches essentially the same doctrine, he’s leading people toward the same theological destination—outside biblical Christianity. Dake explicitly taught: “All three persons in the Deity are Divine, God, Lord, etc… The Bible does not say that God is one person constituted of three persons. This could never be, but God can be three distinct persons as separate and distinct as any three persons we know of in this life.”³⁹

How Dake’s Physical God Affects Every Other Doctrine

Dake’s error about God having a body doesn’t exist in isolation. Like a pebble thrown into a pond, it creates ripples that affect every area of theology. Let’s trace some of these connections.

Connection to Dake’s Tritheism (Three Gods)

Once Dake claimed God has a body, his slide into teaching three separate Gods became almost inevitable. Think about it: If the Father has a body, and the Son has a body (after the incarnation), and the Holy Spirit has a body (as Dake also taught), then you have three separate bodied beings. Bodies, by definition, separate one being from another. You can’t have three bodies and one being—you necessarily have three beings.

Dake explicitly embraced this conclusion, writing: “The doctrine of the Trinity is simply stated as one in unity, not in number. There are three separate and distinct persons, each having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit.”¹⁵ He further explained: “What we mean by Divine Trinity is that there are three separate and distinct persons in the Godhead, each one having His own personal spirit body, personal soul, and personal spirit in the same sense each human being, angel, or any other being has his own body, soul, and spirit.”²⁶ Dake stated plainly: “If there are three separate distinct beings in the Deity or Godhead, this would be sufficient to warrant the conclusion that each of them have separate bodies, souls, and spirits, like all other separate and distinct beings.”⁴⁰

This isn’t the Trinity—it’s tritheism (three Gods), which is polytheism. The foundation of biblical faith—that there is one God—crumbles when God is given a body. Dake even states: “The doctrine of the Trinity can be clearly seen, being understood by the visible things that are made, even to His eternal power and Godhead (Rom. 1:20).”²⁷ He uses this to argue that since humans have bodies, God must have a body too. He wrote: “For there are THREE that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these THREE are ONE. And there are THREE that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and these THREE agree in ONE.”⁴¹

Connection to Limited Omniscience

If God has a body located in heaven, serious questions arise about His knowledge. Can He see what’s happening everywhere if His eyes are in one location? Dake’s solution was to limit God’s direct knowledge while claiming He knows everything through the Holy Spirit. But this creates a divided knowledge in the Godhead—the Father doesn’t directly know everything but depends on the Spirit for information.

This explains why Dake could write things like: “The fact that God came down from heaven to earth on different occasions proves He moves from place to place.”¹⁶ In Dake’s system, God must travel to earth to see what’s happening because His bodily eyes can’t see it from heaven. Dake wrote: “God gets to know things concerning the free moral actions of men as others do (Gen. 6:5-7; 11:5-7; 18:21; 22:12; 2 Chron. 16:9; Zech. 4:10; Job 12:22; 24:23; Ps. 7:9; 44:21; Ps. 139:1-6; Prov. 24:12; Jer. 17:10; Ezek. 11:5; Rom. 8:27; 1 Thess. 2:4).”⁴²

Connection to the “Little Gods” Doctrine

If God has a body like we do, differing only in degree rather than in kind, then humans can potentially become like God. This is exactly what Dake taught—that humans are “in the God class” and can exercise God-like authority. This teaching has infected much of the Word of Faith movement, leading to the dangerous “little gods” doctrine that tells Christians they can speak reality into existence just like God. Dake wrote: “Man was made a miniature of God in soul and spirit faculties and with bodily parts like those of God. The only difference between the faculties of God and those of man is that those of God are infinite and those of man are finite.”⁴³

Real-Life Consequences: How This Error Damages Faith

Theological errors aren’t just abstract problems—they have real consequences in people’s lives. Dake’s teaching about God having a body has caused genuine spiritual damage to countless believers.

How It Undermines Prayer

When people believe God has a body in heaven, prayer becomes problematic:

• The “Busy Signal” Fear: If God has a body, can He really hear millions of prayers at once? Many influenced by Dake worry their prayers might not be heard if God is “busy” with others.
• The Distance Problem: Prayer feels like long-distance communication rather than speaking to Someone immediately present.
• The Attention Anxiety: People wonder if they need to pray louder or longer to get God’s attention from heaven.

How It Distorts Worship

Worship is fundamentally about recognizing and responding to who God truly is. When God is reduced to a super-powered being with a body, worship becomes distorted:

• Instead of worshiping the infinite, transcendent Creator, people worship what amounts to a cosmic superhero
• The awe and reverence appropriate to the true God gets replaced with casual familiarity
• People might try to visualize God’s body, creating mental idols

How It Weakens Evangelism

Try explaining to a thoughtful unbeliever that God has a body with hands and feet but is still omnipresent and infinite. The logical contradictions become immediately apparent. Instead of presenting the awesome, transcendent Creator revealed in Scripture, Christians influenced by Dake describe what sounds like a Greek god or comic book character.

Answering Common Defenses of Dake’s Teaching

When confronted with the problems in Dake’s teaching, some people try to defend or soften his position. Let’s address the most common defenses:

Defense 1: “Dake Just Meant God Is Personal”

Some claim Dake was simply affirming that God is personal, not impersonal force.

Response: This defense ignores Dake’s actual words. He didn’t say God is “personal”—he said God has “a personal spirit body” with specific parts. He lists these parts in detail: hands, feet, eyes, mouth, etc. He explicitly denies that God is omnipresent “in body.” This isn’t metaphorical language about personality but literal claims about physical form. Dake made it clear: “All such statements [that God has no body] are unscriptural in the extreme and are contradicted by thousands of plain passages about God.”²⁸ He also wrote: “He has eaten with men, as many as seventy-four at a time, who saw Him with their natural eyes and conversed with Him as literally as other persons at banquets (Gen. 18:1-22; Exodus 24:9-13). He has wrestled bodily with man (Gen. 32:24-32).”⁴⁴

Defense 2: “The Bible Describes God’s Body Parts”

Defenders point out that Scripture frequently mentions God’s hands, eyes, face, etc.

Response: Yes, the Bible uses anthropomorphic language, but it also explicitly tells us God is spirit (John 4:24) and has “no form” (Deuteronomy 4:15). We must interpret the anthropomorphisms in light of clear statements about God’s spiritual nature. The Bible also says God has wings (Psalm 91:4) and that Christ has a sword coming from His mouth (Revelation 19:15). Should we take these literally too? Dake’s fundamental error was not recognizing figurative language. He asked: “Why would God, in hundreds of places, refer to Himself as having bodily parts, soul passions, and spirit faculties if He does not have them?”²⁹ The answer is simple—to communicate divine truths in human language. Dake argued: “All figures of speech emphasize and make as real or more real the ideas they express than if literal language were used. There can be no true figure of speech to convey an idea unless the idea conveyed is real; so if God’s bodily parts are mere figures they are true figures of the real bodily parts of God.”⁴⁵

Defense 3: “This Is a Secondary Issue”

Some argue that disagreement about God’s form is a minor matter.

Response: This is not a secondary issue—it strikes at the heart of who God is. If God has a body:

• He cannot be omnipresent (everywhere present)
• He cannot be infinite (without limits)
• He cannot be invisible as Scripture says
• The Trinity becomes three Gods
• The Incarnation loses its meaning
• Prayer, worship, and evangelism are all affected

This is about the very nature of God—the foundation of everything else in Christianity. Dake himself recognized the importance, stating: “The Bible does not say that God is one person constituted of three persons. This could never be, but God can be three distinct persons as separate and distinct as any three persons we know of in this life. This is comprehensible, but the other is not, for there can be no such thing as three persons in one person.”⁴⁶

The Biblical Truth: God Is Pure Spirit

Having examined Dake’s errors, let’s return to positive biblical truth about God’s nature. What does Scripture actually teach? How should we understand the God we worship?

God Is the Creator of All Physical Reality

Genesis 1:1 declares, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” All physical reality—all matter, space, and time—was created by God. He cannot be part of what He created. He transcends the physical universe as its Creator, not existing within it as a physical being.

This is why Solomon could pray, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee” (1 Kings 8:27). If God had a body, He could be contained. Solomon knew God transcends all spatial limitations.

God Is Omnipresent

Because God is spirit, He can be truly present everywhere simultaneously. Jeremiah 23:23-24 declares:

God doesn’t just see everywhere—He fills heaven and earth with His presence. This is only possible because He is spirit, not confined to a body. Yet Dake contradicts this, teaching: “Like the presence of someone being felt by another who is thousands of miles away, so it is with the presence of God among men.”³⁰ This reduces God’s omnipresence to mere influence or awareness, not actual presence. He explained: “God dwells in Heaven and persons on Earth that know Him and are in union with Him in spirit can feel His presence in their lives regardless of where they are on the Earth or under the Earth.”⁴⁷

God Is Infinite

The Psalmist declared, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3). The word “unsearchable” means infinite, beyond measurement. A God with a body could be measured, even if the measurements were astronomical. Only a spiritual God can be truly infinite.

God Is Transcendent Yet Immanent

God is both transcendent (wholly beyond creation) and immanent (intimately present within creation). Isaiah 57:15 captures both truths:

God is the “high and lofty One” who “inhabiteth eternity”—completely transcendent. Yet He also dwells “with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit”—fully immanent. Only a God who is spirit can be both.

Practical Applications: Living in Light of God’s True Nature

Understanding that God is spirit rather than having a body isn’t just theological theory—it profoundly affects how we live as Christians. Let’s explore the practical implications.

For Your Prayer Life

Knowing God is omnipresent spirit transforms prayer:

For Your Worship

Understanding God’s spiritual nature revolutionizes worship:

• Worship in Spirit and Truth: Jesus said true worshipers worship “in spirit and truth” because “God is spirit” (John 4:24). Worship isn’t primarily about physical location or bodily postures but spiritual engagement.
• No Images Needed: The prohibition against images makes sense—God has no form to represent. We worship without visual aids, engaging God directly through faith.
• Corporate Presence: When believers gather, God is fully present with the assembly, not watching from a distance. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

For Times of Suffering

When you’re going through dark times, God’s spiritual omnipresence provides real comfort:

For Your Witness

When sharing your faith, you can present the true God of Scripture:

• Not a super-powered being with limitations, but the infinite Creator of all reality
• Not a distant deity in heaven, but One who is immediately present and accessible
• Not a God confined to space and time, but the eternal Spirit who transcends all limitations
• Not three Gods with three bodies, but one God in three persons—the great mystery of the Trinity

A Pastor’s Guide: Helping Those Influenced by Dake

If you’re a pastor or teacher, you may encounter people who have been influenced by Dake’s teaching about God having a body. Here’s how to help them with patience and clarity:

The Bottom Line: Why This Matters So Much

As we conclude this examination of Dake’s teaching about God having a body, let’s be absolutely clear about why this matters. This isn’t about winning theological debates or showing off our knowledge. It’s about knowing and worshiping the true God revealed in Scripture.

When we get God’s nature wrong, everything else goes wrong:

• Our prayers become uncertain
• Our worship becomes distorted
• Our comfort in suffering evaporates
• Our witness becomes confused
• Our theology becomes incoherent
• Our faith becomes vulnerable to collapse

But when we understand that God is pure spirit—infinite, omnipresent, transcendent yet immanent—our faith stands on solid ground. We can pray with confidence, worship with awe, find comfort in trials, share our faith clearly, and build our theology on truth. Dake’s error is fundamental—he taught that “It is logical not to question the plain, simple statements of Scripture about God and His body; it is logical to understand them in the same literal way that we understand like statements about angels, men, and other beings.”³¹ But this literalism destroys the biblical God and replaces Him with a limited, located being. He wrote: “The vague way men think and speak of God as being a universal Spirit that fills all space and all solid matter, and that He is impersonal, intangible, unreal, and without a body, soul, and spirit, with parts, passions, feelings, appetites, desires, will, mind, or intellect, is the height of ignorance.”⁴⁸ Yet this is precisely what Scripture teaches when properly understood.

Moving Forward: From Error to Truth

If you’ve been influenced by Dake’s teaching about God having a body, don’t despair. Many sincere Christians have been misled by this error, but truth can set you free. Here are practical steps forward:

1. Return to Scripture: Read the passages we’ve examined with fresh eyes, letting the Bible speak for itself rather than through Dake’s interpretive lens.
2. Study Church History: Learn what Christians have believed throughout the ages. You’ll find that Dake’s view has always been considered heretical.
3. Rebuild Your Theology: This may take time, but it’s worth it. Build your understanding of God on biblical truth rather than human speculation.
4. Experience God’s Presence: Now that you know God is omnipresent spirit, practice His presence. He’s not far away—He’s right there with you.
5. Share the Truth: Help others who may be confused by this error. Share this chapter with them. Help them find freedom in biblical truth.

Remember, the goal isn’t just to reject error but to embrace truth. The true God—infinite, omnipresent, spiritual—is infinitely greater and more wonderful than Dake’s limited, bodied deity. When we worship God as He truly is, our faith becomes unshakeable because it rests on eternal truth rather than human imagination.

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Sources and Citations

¹ Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Genesis 1:26, page 1.

² Dake, Finis Jennings. God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1949. Page 51.

³ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Compilation from various notes throughout.

⁴ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on John 4:24, page 111 NT.

⁵ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on Jeremiah 23:24, page 779 OT.

⁶ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on John 4:24, page 111 NT.

⁷ Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Book I, Chapter 13, Section 1. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.

⁸ Origen. De Principiis. Book I, Chapter 1. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885.

⁹ Augustine. Letter 187. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1887.

¹⁰ John of Damascus. Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book I, Chapter 9. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 9. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1899.

¹¹ Luther, Martin. Table Talk. Translated by William Hazlitt. London: H.G. Bohn, 1857.

¹² Calvin, Institutes. Book I, Chapter 13, Section 1.

¹³ Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 2, Section 1. 1646.

¹⁴ Smith, Joseph. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Selected by Joseph Fielding Smith. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976. Page 345.

¹⁵ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on Deuteronomy 6:4, page 219 OT.

¹⁶ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on Genesis 11:5, page 9 OT.

¹⁷ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, Appendix on “God’s Body.”

¹⁸ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, “63 Facts About God.”

¹⁹ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, Appendix on “God’s Body.”

²⁰ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on John 4:24, page 169 NT.

²¹ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 1035 OT, “Omnipresent” entry.

²² Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 1035 OT, “Omnipresent” entry.

²³ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on 1 Kings 8:27, page 632 OT.

²⁴ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Note on John 4:24, page 169 NT.

²⁵ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, Appendix on “God’s Body.”

²⁶ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 489 NT, “89 Proofs of A Divine Trinity.”

²⁷ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 489 NT, “89 Proofs of A Divine Trinity.”

²⁸ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 489 NT, note on 1 John 5:7.

²⁹ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, Appendix on “God’s Body.”

³⁰ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 1035 OT, “Omnipresent” entry.

³¹ Dake, Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Page 412 OT, Appendix on “God’s Body.”

³² Dake, Finis Jennings. God’s Plan for Man. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1949. Page 57.

³³ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 56.

³⁴ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 60.

³⁵ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 56.

³⁶ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 52.

³⁷ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 59.

³⁸ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 59.

³⁹ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 56.

⁴⁰ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 448.

⁴¹ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 65.

⁴² Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 62.

⁴³ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 60.

⁴⁴ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 57.

⁴⁵ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 54.

⁴⁶ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 54.

⁴⁷ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 61.

⁴⁸ Dake, God’s Plan for Man. Page 60.

Additional sources from Dake’s works referenced throughout: Revelation Expounded (1950), The Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ (1952), and various notes from the Dake Annotated Reference Bible (1963 edition).

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