Chapter 05: God Has a Body? The Heresy of Divine Corporeality

Of all the terrible mistakes that Finis Jennings Dake taught, perhaps none is more shocking than his claim that God the Father has a physical body. This isn’t just a small error or a different opinion. This teaching changes everything about who God is. It turns the infinite God who is everywhere into a limited being who can only be in one place at a time. When Dake taught that God has “a personal spirit body” with real body parts like hands and feet, he wasn’t giving us new understanding of the Bible. He was bringing back an old false teaching that the church rejected long ago. This error affects everything we believe about God, creation, salvation, worship, and how we can know God.

Dake, Finis Jennings. Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, 1963. Note on Genesis 1:26, page 1. [All other references to the Dake Bible are from this same edition unless we say otherwise.]

What Dake Actually Taught About God Having a Body

To understand how wrong Dake’s teaching is, we need to look at exactly what he said. These aren’t little hints or unclear suggestions. Dake made very clear statements that God has a body with specific parts. What makes this especially dangerous is that Dake presented these ideas as if they were obvious facts from the Bible, not controversial ideas that most Christians reject.

In his note on Genesis 1:26 in the Dake Annotated Reference Bible, Dake makes this shocking statement:

This isn’t symbolic or poetic language. Dake literally believed and taught that God the Father has all these body parts. He believed God has actual hands, actual feet, an actual mouth, and so on. But he goes even further in his book God’s Plan for Man:

Look carefully at what Dake is saying here. He’s not just saying God has a body. He’s saying God’s body works exactly like other bodies do. It’s a “house” for the soul and spirit to live in. This makes God just like created beings – humans and angels – instead of being completely different from His creation. According to Dake, the only difference between God and us is that God is more powerful, not that He’s a totally different kind of being.

Dake even created a list he called “63 Facts About God”¹ where he specifically listed all these body parts:

How Far Dake Went With This Teaching

As we look at more of Dake’s writings, his descriptions of God’s body become more and more detailed. He doesn’t just say God has a body – he describes what God can and can’t do because of having a body. Let’s look at more quotes from his Bible notes:

Where God’s Body Is Located:

“God is NOT omnipresent in body but in Spirit through the Holy Spirit” (Note on Jeremiah 23:24). Here Dake directly says that God the Father is NOT everywhere. He says God’s body can only be in one place, wherever that body happens to be.

In his extended definition of “Omnipresent” in the Dake Bible, Dake wrote: “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.”²

God Has to Move From Place to Place:

When talking about Genesis 11:5, where the Bible says “the LORD came down to see the city,” Dake writes: “The fact that God came down from heaven to earth on different occasions proves He moves from place to place and is not omnipresent in body, but in Spirit through the Holy Spirit.”

In his list of “44 Appearances of God,” Dake specifically states about Genesis 11:5: “It is clear from Gen. 11:5 that God appeared on earth at the time of the tower of Babel, for it says, ‘the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.'”³

Think about what this means. Dake is saying that when God wants to see what’s happening on earth, He has to travel from heaven to earth. He can’t be in both places at once because His body can only be in one location.

Dake was even more explicit in God’s Plan for Man, stating: “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.”²¹

All of God’s Body Parts:

Dake made long lists of every time the Bible mentions any part of God. He treated these as real descriptions of God’s actual body parts. Here’s what he listed: “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).”

In God’s Plan for Man, Dake provided an even more comprehensive list, stating that God “has back parts; so must have front parts (Exodus 33:23). He has a heart (Gen. 6:6; 8:21); hands and fingers (Exodus 31:18; Ps. 8:3-6; Rev. 5:1, 6-7); nostrils (Ps. 18:8, 15); mouth (Num. 12:8); lips and tongue (Isa. 30:27); feet (Ezek. 1:27; Exodus 24:10); eyes, eyelids, sight (Ps. 11:4; 18:24; 33:18); voice (Ps. 29; Rev. 10:3-4; Gen. 1); breath (Gen. 2:7); ears (Ps. 18:6); countenance (Ps. 11:7); hair, head, face, arms (Dan. 7:9-14; 10:5-19; Rev. 5:1, 6-7; 22:4-6); loins (Ezek. 1:26-28; 8:1-4); bodily presence (Gen. 3:8; 18:1-22; Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Ex. 24:10-11); and many other bodily parts as is required of Him to be a person with a body.”²²

Dake argued that if God didn’t have these body parts, “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? Would it be necessary for Him to tell us He has such in order to reveal that He does not have them?”⁴

What Dake didn’t understand is that these are called anthropomorphisms. That’s a big word that means describing God in human terms to help us understand what He’s doing or feeling. It’s like when we say “the long arm of the law” – we don’t mean the law has actual arms. We mean the law can reach far to catch criminals.

Dake’s Strange Idea of a “Spirit Body”

One of the strangest things Dake taught was his idea of a “spirit body.” He was trying to have it both ways. He wanted to say God has a body (which the Bible doesn’t teach) while also admitting that the Bible calls God a spirit. So he invented this idea of a “spirit body” that’s supposed to be different from a physical body but still has parts and takes up space.

Here’s what Dake wrote about John 4:24, where Jesus says “God is spirit”:

Dake further explained: “The 284 passages on spirits in Scripture prove that spirit bodies are just as real and capable of operation in the material worlds as are flesh beings. There is no such thing as a world of creations made up of invisible substance.”⁵

Remarkably, Dake even claimed that “God will live among men in visible form forever (Rev. 21:3-7; 22:4-5)”⁶ and that God and angels eat: “God and angels eat even in heaven, so why not on earth? (Ps. 78:25; Lk. 22:16, 18, 30; 24:30, 43; Acts 10:41; Heb. 13:2; Ex. 24:11).”⁷

Going even further, Dake insisted that “God wears clothes (Dan. 7:9-14; 10:5-19); eats (Gen. 18:1-22; Exodus 24:11); rests, not because he gets tired, but because he ceases activity or completes a work (Gen. 2:1-4; Heb. 4:4); dwells in a mansion and in a city located on a material planet called Heaven (John 14:1-3; Heb. 11:10-16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:1-27); sits on a throne (Isa. 6; Rev. 4:1-5; 22:3-5); walks (Gen. 3:8; 18.1-22, 33); rides upon cherubs, the wind, clouds, and chariots drawn by cherubims (Ps. 18:10; 68:17; 104:2; Ezek. 1:1-28); and does do and can do anything that any other person can do bodily that is right and good.”²³

This doesn’t make sense. Dake wants to say God has a body (which goes against John 4:24) while pretending to agree that God is spirit. But if something has “tangible parts” and takes up space and has a location, it’s a body – period. It doesn’t matter what it’s made of. The whole idea of having a “body” means being limited to one place, which is exactly what the Bible says God is NOT.

Why Jesus’ Words “God is Spirit” Prove Dake Wrong

The most important verse that shows Dake is wrong is John 4:24, where Jesus says: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” This one verse completely destroys Dake’s whole idea about God having a body. Let’s look at why this verse is so important.

What Was Happening When Jesus Said This

Jesus was talking to a woman from Samaria at a well. The woman asked Jesus about the right place to worship God. The Samaritans thought you should worship on Mount Gerizim, but the Jews said you should worship in Jerusalem. Jesus’ answer went way beyond just picking one mountain or the other:

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24).

Jesus was making a very important point: You don’t have to be in a specific place to worship God because God Himself isn’t stuck in one place. God is spirit, not a being with a body who can only be in one location at a time. If God had a body in heaven, then it would make sense that we’d need to go to a special place to be closer to Him. But since God is spirit, He’s already everywhere, so we can worship Him anywhere.

What “God is Spirit” Really Means

When Jesus says “God is spirit,” He’s telling us what God is made of – or rather, what God is NOT made of. God is not made of matter. He doesn’t have a physical form. He doesn’t have parts. He can’t be measured. He doesn’t take up space. He’s not limited to being in one place.

Think about it this way: Your thoughts are not physical things. You can’t weigh a thought or measure how long it is. You can’t put a thought in a box. But your thoughts are still real. God is like that, but infinitely more. He’s real, but He’s not physical. He doesn’t have a body that limits Him.

Dake tried to get around this by saying Jesus just meant God isn’t a human being. Look at how he tries to explain it away:

But Dake contradicted himself again when he wrote: “No man, therefore, can say with Scriptural authority, that God consists of a kind of invisible substance which cannot be seen or touched by man. In fact, God will live among men in visible form for ever (Rev. 21:3-7; 22:4-5).”⁸

But look at what Dake is doing:

1. He’s adding to the Bible. Jesus simply said “God is spirit.” Dake adds “being with a spirit body” – ideas that aren’t in the verse at all.
2. He’s contradicting what the verse clearly says. When Jesus says God is spirit (not physical), Dake says God has a body (which is physical by definition).
3. He’s making up categories that don’t exist. The Bible never talks about “spirit bodies” the way Dake describes them – as real forms with parts that take up space.
4. He’s missing the whole point. Jesus is explaining why worship isn’t limited to physical places – because God isn’t limited to physical existence.

What Other Bible Verses Say

The Bible consistently tells us that God is spiritual, not physical. Let’s look at some key verses:

Colossians 1:15 calls Christ “the image of the invisible God.” If God the Father has a body that could be seen, how is He invisible? Dake’s teaching makes this verse meaningless.

1 Timothy 1:17 says: “Now to the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” Again, God is called invisible. A being with a body isn’t invisible – even if that body is made of “spirit” as Dake claims.

Luke 24:39 has Jesus saying after His resurrection: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Jesus is making a clear distinction – spirits don’t have bodies with parts. But Dake says God, who is spirit, has a body with parts. This contradicts Jesus’ own words.

Exodus 33:20 records God telling Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” If God has a physical face that could be seen, why does seeing it cause death? The answer is that God’s “face” is a way of talking about being in God’s immediate presence, not about God having an actual face with eyes, nose, and mouth.

Deuteronomy 4:15-16 gives us a very important warning: “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female.”

God specifically reminds Israel that they saw “no form” when He revealed Himself. 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?

Understanding Anthropomorphisms Correctly

The key to understanding why the Bible talks about God’s “hands” or “eyes” is to understand anthropomorphisms. That’s a big word, but the idea is simple. It means describing God in human terms to help us understand Him better. This isn’t lying or being inaccurate. It’s God coming down to our level so we can understand Him.

What Are Anthropomorphisms?

The word anthropomorphism comes from two Greek words: “anthropos” (which means human) and “morphe” (which means form). So it means giving human form or human characteristics to something that isn’t human.

We use anthropomorphisms all the time in everyday language:

• We say “the hands of a clock” but clocks don’t have actual hands
• We say “the foot of the mountain” but mountains don’t have feet
• We say “the eye of the storm” but storms don’t have eyes
• We say “time flies” but time doesn’t have wings
• We say “the car died” but cars aren’t alive to begin with

Nobody thinks we’re lying when we use these expressions. Everyone understands we’re using familiar human terms to describe non-human things.

Why God Uses Anthropomorphisms

God uses anthropomorphisms in the Bible for the same reason – to help us understand Him. God is so far beyond us that if He described Himself as He truly is, we couldn’t understand it at all. So He describes Himself in terms we can grasp.

When the Bible says God has “hands,” it’s telling us God can act and do things. When it says God has “eyes,” it means God sees and knows everything. When it says God has “ears,” it means God hears our prayers. These are ways of describing God’s actions and attributes in terms we can understand.

Think about trying to explain color to someone who has been blind from birth. You might say “red is warm like fire” or “blue is cool like water.” You’re using things they can experience (temperature) to help them understand something they can’t experience (color). That’s what God does with anthropomorphisms – He uses things we understand (body parts) to help us grasp things about Him that are beyond our experience.

Examples of Anthropomorphisms in the Bible

Let’s look at some specific examples to see how this works:

“The eyes of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 16:9) – This doesn’t mean God has physical eyeballs. It means God sees everything. He’s aware of everything happening everywhere all at once.

“The hand of the Lord” (Exodus 9:3) – This doesn’t mean God has a physical hand with five fingers. It means God’s power and ability to act. When God delivers Israel with “a mighty hand,” it means He powerfully acted to save them.

“God’s nostrils” (Psalm 18:8) – The verse says “smoke went up from his nostrils.” This isn’t saying God has a nose that smoke comes out of. It’s a dramatic way of describing God’s anger, like we might say someone is “steaming mad.”

“The finger of God” (Exodus 31:18) – When it says the Ten Commandments were written with “the finger of God,” it doesn’t mean God has fingers. It means God Himself directly created them, not through any human agency.

“God’s back parts” (Exodus 33:23) – When God says Moses will see His “back parts” but not His face, this is accommodating language. God is saying Moses will see the aftereffects of God’s presence, not God’s full glory. God doesn’t have a front and back like we do.

How We Know These Are Anthropomorphisms

How can we be sure these descriptions are anthropomorphisms and not literal body parts? Several reasons:

1. The Bible explicitly says God has no form. Deuteronomy 4:15 clearly states the Israelites saw “no form” when God appeared to them. If these descriptions were literal, this statement would be false.

2. The Bible says God is spirit. John 4:24 plainly states “God is spirit.” Spirits don’t have bodies with parts (Luke 24:39).

3. The descriptions are inconsistent if taken literally. The Bible also says God has wings (Psalm 91:4) and that He’s a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). If we take all these literally, God would be a bird-like creature made of fire with human body parts. That’s obviously not what the Bible teaches.

4. The Bible says God is invisible. Multiple verses call God invisible (Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17). You can’t be invisible if you have a visible body.

5. The descriptions are often clearly metaphorical. When Psalm 94:9 asks, “He who planted the ear, does he not hear?” it’s not saying God literally planted ears like a gardener plants seeds. It’s saying the One who gave us the ability to hear certainly can hear Himself.

The Terrible Consequences of Believing God Has a Body

Dake’s teaching that God has a body isn’t just a small mistake. It has huge consequences that affect everything we believe about God and our faith. Let’s look at what happens when we accept this false teaching.

God Becomes Limited and Small

If God has a body, He immediately becomes limited in ways the Bible says He’s not:

Dake himself admitted these limitations when he wrote: “This plainly teaches that God, as well as men and angels, is limited to one place as far as the body is concerned.”⁹ And: “Omnipresence then, is different from omnibody, and is governed by relationship and knowledge of God. 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.”¹⁰

Dake elaborated on this limitation by explaining: “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. God, angels, and other spirit beings go from place to place bodily as men do; but their presence can be any place in the universe—wherever there are other persons who also have the sense of presence enough to feel the presence of others regardless of bodily distance between them.”²⁴

Prayer Becomes a Problem

If God has a body that’s located in one place (heaven), huge problems arise for prayer:

Can God hear everyone at once? Millions of people pray at the same time all around the world. If God has a body with ears in heaven, how can He hear prayers from Earth? Sound doesn’t travel through space. Even if it did, it would take years for our prayers to reach heaven if heaven is far away.

Is God too busy for my prayer? If God has to process prayers one at a time (like we do when people talk to us), then He might be too busy with other people’s prayers to hear mine. Maybe important people’s prayers get answered first?

How close is God when I pray? Jesus promised “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). But if God has a body in heaven, He can’t really be with us when we gather. He’d be far away, just listening from a distance.

I’ve talked to people influenced by Dake’s teaching who actually worried about these things. One young man told me he tried to pray late at night because he figured fewer people would be praying then, so God would be more likely to hear him. That’s what happens when you teach that God has a body!

Worship Becomes Confused

Worship is recognizing and responding to who God truly is. If we think God has a body, our worship gets all mixed up:

We worship a creature instead of the Creator. A being with a body is a creature, even if it’s the most powerful creature. Only a truly spiritual, infinite God is fundamentally different from creation. Romans 1:25 warns against those who “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”

We lose the awe and wonder. If God has a body we could theoretically see and measure, He becomes comprehensible. The mystery disappears. But the Bible presents God as beyond our understanding. Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

We might try to make images. If God has a body with a specific appearance, why not make statues or pictures to help us worship? But God forbids this (Exodus 20:4). The reason is that God has no form to represent.

The Gospel Gets Ruined

The most serious problem is what Dake’s teaching does to the gospel message:

The Incarnation becomes meaningless. The Bible presents the incarnation – God becoming man in Jesus – as an incredible miracle. John 1:14 says with wonder, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But if God already has a body, what’s so special about taking on human form? It would just be changing from one kind of body to another, like changing clothes.

The Trinity gets destroyed. If the Father has a body, and the Son has a body, and the Holy Spirit has a body (as Dake taught), then you have three separate beings, not one God. This is polytheism (belief in multiple gods), not Christianity. The Bible clearly teaches there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Indeed, Dake explicitly taught: “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.”¹¹

Salvation becomes uncertain. If God is limited to one location, how can He be personally involved in saving each person? How can the Holy Spirit dwell in millions of believers at once if He has a body? The promise that God will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) becomes empty if God’s body is somewhere else.

The Philosophical Problems With God Having a Body

It’s not just the Bible that shows God can’t have a body. When we think carefully about what God is supposed to be, we can see that having a body is logically impossible for God. Philosophy (careful thinking about big questions) helps us understand why God must be spiritual, not physical.

The Problem of Space

Here’s a question Dake never answered: If God has a body, where was that body before God created space? A body needs space to exist in. It needs a “where” to be. But before creation, there was no space, no universe, no “where” for God’s body to be.

Did God create space and then put His body in it? That would mean God existed without a body first, then got a body later. But Dake says God has always had a body.

Did space always exist alongside God? Then space is eternal like God, which means God didn’t create everything. The Bible says God created all things (John 1:3).

Is God’s body somehow its own space? That doesn’t make sense. A body is something that occupies space, not space itself.

This problem has no solution if God has a body. But if God is spirit, there’s no problem. A spiritual God doesn’t need space to exist in – He creates space for everything else to exist in.

The Problem of Parts

Anything with a body has parts – at minimum, different locations within that body. Dake lists many parts of God’s supposed body: hands, feet, eyes, mouth, etc. But having parts creates huge problems for God:

Parts can be separated. Anything with parts can, at least in principle, be taken apart. But God can’t be destroyed or taken apart. He’s eternal and unchangeable.

Parts mean composition. If God has parts, He’s composed of those parts put together. But then what put them together? There would need to be something more basic than God that God is made of. But God is supposed to be the most basic reality.

Parts mean dependence. If God has parts, He depends on those parts. He needs His eyes to see, His hands to act, etc. But God doesn’t depend on anything – everything depends on Him.

Parts mean God is not simple. Classical theology teaches that God is “simple” – not made of parts but absolutely unified. This is important because anything made of parts can be divided, but God is indivisible.

The Problem of Infinity

The Bible teaches that God is infinite – without limits. Psalm 147:5 says His understanding is infinite. Job 11:7-9 describes God as higher than heaven, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea – poetic ways of saying God has no limits.

But every body is finite – it has limits. It starts here and stops there. It’s this tall, this wide, this deep. Even if God’s body were incredibly huge, it would still have boundaries. You could theoretically measure it. You could say “God is X feet tall” (even if X is a huge number).

An infinite God cannot have a finite body. The two concepts contradict each other. It’s like asking for a square circle or a married bachelor – the words contradict each other.

The Problem of Necessity vs. Contingency

This is a bit complex, but it’s important. Philosophers distinguish between necessary beings (which must exist) and contingent beings (which might not have existed). God is supposed to be necessary – He can’t not exist. He has always existed and always will.

But bodies are contingent. Any particular body might not have existed. It has the shape it has, but it could have had a different shape. It’s made of whatever it’s made of, but it could have been made of something else. Bodies are the kinds of things that can change, decay, be destroyed.

A necessary God cannot have a contingent body. God’s existence can’t depend on something that might not have existed or might change or be destroyed.

Looking at Dake’s “Proofs” That God Has a Body

Even though the Bible and philosophy clearly show God doesn’t have a body, Dake thought he had proof that God does have a body. Let’s examine his main arguments and see why they don’t work.

Dake’s Argument from Genesis 1:26 – The Image of God

Dake’s favorite verse to prove God has a body is Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.'” Dake argued that since humans have bodies and we’re made in God’s image, God must have a body too.

Dake wrote: “What on earth was created in the image and likeness of God? Man (Gen. 1:26-28). Do God’s image and likeness consist only of moral and spiritual powers? If so, it can be concluded that man is only a moral and spiritual being. Is God bodiless? If so, we can conclude that man is also bodiless.”¹²

In God’s Plan for Man, Dake provided an extensive linguistic analysis, claiming: “The Hebrew word for image is tselem, meaning shape, shadow, resemblance, figure, bodily form, as proved in all passages where it is used (Gen. 5:3; 9:6; Exodus 20:4; Lev. 26:1; Ps. 73:20; 106:19; Isa. 40:19-20; 44:9-17; 45:20; 48:5; Jer. 10:14; 51:17). The Hebrew word for likeness is demooth, meaning model, shape, fashion, similitude, and bodily resemblance, as proved in Gen. 5:1, 3; Isa. 40:18; Ezek. 1:5, 10, 13, 16, 22, 26, 28; 10:1, 10, 21-22.”²⁵

Dake further insisted: “Paul said that man was ‘the image and glory of God’ (1 Cor. 11:7). The Greek word for image here is eikon, meaning likeness, profile, statue, and bodily resemblance, as proved in places where it is used (Matt. 22:20; Acts 19:35; Rom. 1:23; 8:29; 11:4; 1 Cor. 15:49; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 10:1; Rev. 13:14-15; 14:9-11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4).”²⁶

This argument fails for several reasons:

1. The Bible tells us what the image means, and it’s not physical:

• Ephesians 4:24 says the image is “righteousness and holiness”
• Colossians 3:10 says it’s about “knowledge”
• Genesis 1:26-28 connects it to having dominion (authority) over creation

The image of God is about our spiritual qualities – our ability to think, choose right from wrong, love, create, and rule over creation. It’s not about having hands and feet.

2. God specifically says He has no form: Deuteronomy 4:15-16 reminds Israel that when God appeared to them, they saw “no form.” If humans physically look like God, why didn’t Israel see that form? Why does God warn against making images if He has an image?

3. The image can be renewed without changing our bodies: Colossians 3:10 talks about being “renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.” This renewal doesn’t change our physical appearance. If the image were physical, spiritual renewal couldn’t affect it.

4. Animals aren’t in God’s image but have bodies: Animals have bodies with eyes, legs, and other parts, but the Bible never says they’re made in God’s image. If having a body were what made us like God, animals would be in God’s image too.

5. Jesus is the perfect image of God: Colossians 1:15 calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God.” Jesus perfectly shows us what God is like. But before His incarnation, Jesus didn’t have a human body. The image isn’t about physical form.

Dake’s Argument from Old Testament Appearances of God

Dake pointed to times in the Old Testament when people saw God in human form. For example, Abraham had three visitors, one of whom was the LORD (Genesis 18). Jacob wrestled with God (Genesis 32). Dake said these prove God has a body.

In his extensive documentation, Dake listed 44 such appearances, including when God visited Abraham: “He took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them… and they did eat”¹³ (Genesis 18:8). Dake argued this proves God has a body that can eat.

Dake claimed these experiences were literal encounters with God’s physical body: “Bible writers not only stated that God has a body, but they also testified that they have seen it with the natural eyes. Abraham made a dinner for God and two angels and they actually ate food (Gen. 18). Jacob had a physical wrestling match with God all night (Gen. 32:24-30).”²⁷

This argument misunderstands what these appearances were:

1. These were temporary appearances: These weren’t revelations of God’s true nature but temporary forms God took to communicate with people. God appeared in forms humans could see and understand, but these weren’t His essential nature.

2. God appeared in different forms: God appeared as a burning bush (Exodus 3), a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13), a still small voice (1 Kings 19). If these show God’s true form, which one is correct? Does God look like a bush, a cloud, or a human? The variety shows these are accommodations, not God’s real form.

3. Many were probably the pre-incarnate Christ: Many Bible scholars believe the “angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament was Jesus before He became human permanently. This would mean the Son temporarily took visible form, not that the Father has a body.

4. The appearances ended: If these showed God’s true form, why don’t we see such appearances today? The reason is they were temporary accommodations to human limitations, not revelations of God’s essential nature.

Dake’s Argument from Heavenly Visions

Dake used visions of God’s throne room (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Daniel 7, Revelation 4) where prophets saw God on a throne. Surely, Dake argued, someone sitting on a throne must have a body.

This argument doesn’t understand how visions work:

1. Visions are symbolic: Prophetic visions are highly symbolic, not photographs of heaven. In Ezekiel’s vision, there are wheels within wheels covered with eyes. In Revelation, Jesus has a sword coming from His mouth and eyes like flames. These are symbols, not literal descriptions.

2. Visions use images we understand: God shows prophets spiritual realities using earthly images they can grasp. A throne represents authority, not God’s furniture. White hair represents wisdom and age, not God’s literal hair color.

3. The visions differ from each other: If these visions show God’s literal appearance, they contradict each other. Does God look like Ezekiel’s vision, Daniel’s vision, or John’s vision? They’re all different. This shows they’re symbolic representations for different purposes, not photographs of God.

4. The Bible explains the symbolism: Often the Bible itself explains what the symbols mean. The seven lampstands are seven churches (Revelation 1:20), not literal lampstands. The four beasts are four kingdoms (Daniel 7:17), not literal animals. The throne represents God’s rule, not His chair.

Dake’s Argument from Christ’s Resurrection Body

Dake argued that since Christ kept His body after the resurrection and ascension, and since He’s God, this proves God has a body.

This argument makes several mistakes:

1. It confuses the persons of the Trinity: Christ is God the Son incarnate, not God the Father. The Son took on human nature in the incarnation, but this doesn’t mean the Father has a body. Each person of the Trinity is distinct.

2. The incarnation was unique to the Son: Only the Second Person of the Trinity became human. The Father didn’t become incarnate. The Holy Spirit didn’t become incarnate. Hebrews 10:5 specifically says “a body you have prepared for me” – indicating this was special for Christ, not normal for God.

3. Christ’s body is glorified humanity: Jesus’ resurrection body is a glorified human body, not a divine “spirit body” like Dake imagines. Jesus remains fully God and fully human. His body is part of His human nature, not His divine nature.

4. This was for our salvation: Christ took and kept a human body to be our mediator and high priest (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 4:14-16). This was for our benefit, not because deity requires a body.

What the Church Has Always Believed

Throughout history, Christians have consistently taught that God is spirit without a body. This isn’t because they didn’t read their Bibles carefully. It’s because the Bible clearly teaches God is incorporeal (without a body). Let’s see what Christians have always believed.

The Early Church Fathers

The early church fathers were Christian leaders and teachers in the first few centuries after Christ. They unanimously taught that God doesn’t have a body:

Irenaeus (130-202 AD): “God is not as men are… He is a simple, uncompounded being, without diverse members, and altogether like, and equal to Himself” (Against Heresies, Book II, Chapter 13).

Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD): “God is without form and invisible. For if He has a form, then He would be in a place, and if He is in a place, He is not God” (Stromata, Book V, Chapter 11).

Origen (185-254 AD): “God is absolutely incorporeal… We must maintain that God is not corporeal even in the slightest degree” (On First Principles, Book I, Chapter 1).

John Chrysostom (347-407 AD): “When you hear of the wrath of God, do not think of anything human. It is not passion. God is not angry like a man. These are words of condescension accommodated to human weakness” (Homilies on Genesis).

Augustine (354-430 AD): “God is spirit, not having parts greater or smaller, but everywhere whole and perfect… He is everywhere present in His entirety” (Letter 187).

The Major Christian Creeds

Creeds are official statements of what Christians believe. All the major creeds affirm that God is spirit without a body:

The Nicene Creed (325 AD): While focused on the Trinity, it assumes God’s spiritual nature. It calls Christ “Light from Light, true God from true God” – using spiritual, not physical language.

The Athanasian Creed (500s AD): “The Father is immense, the Son is immense, the Holy Spirit is immense… yet there are not three immense beings, but one immense being.” Something with a body can’t be immense (unlimited by space).

The Fourth Lateran Council (1215): “God is absolutely simple essence… In Him there can be no composition either of quantitative parts as in a body.”

The Protestant Reformers

When the Protestant Reformation happened, the Reformers maintained the historic Christian teaching that God is spirit:

Martin Luther: “God is not a corporeal substance, but a Spirit” (Table Talk). Luther clearly affirmed God’s spiritual nature.

John Calvin: “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” (Institutes I.13.1).

The Westminster Confession (1646): “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” (Chapter 2.1).

The Baptist Faith and Message: “There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being… infinite in holiness and all other perfections… He is infinite and beyond human comprehension.”

Why This Agreement Matters

For 2000 years, Christians of all types – Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant – have agreed that God is spirit without a body. They didn’t all misunderstand the Bible. They understood it correctly.

When Dake claims God has a body, he’s not offering new insight. He’s bringing back an old heresy that the church rejected long ago. He stands not with faithful Christians but with:

• The Anthropomorphites (300s AD) – heretics who believed God had human form
• The Mormons – who teach God the Father has a body of flesh and bones
• Various pagan religions – which imagine gods as superhuman beings with bodies

We should be very suspicious when someone’s teaching contradicts what all Christians have always believed. It’s very unlikely that everyone was wrong for 2000 years and only Finis Dake got it right.

How This Error Connects to Dake’s Other False Teachings

Dake’s teaching that God has a body doesn’t stand alone. It connects to and causes many of his other errors. False teaching is like a spider web – one error leads to another, and they all support each other. Let’s see how this happens.

It Leads to Believing in Three Gods (Tritheism)

Once Dake says God has a body, he almost has to believe in three Gods instead of one. Here’s why:

If the Father has a body, and the Son has a body (after becoming human), and the Holy Spirit has a body (as Dake also taught), then you have three separate beings with three separate bodies. Bodies, by definition, separate one being from another. You and I are separate people because we have separate bodies. If each person of the Trinity has His own body, they must be three separate beings.

Dake accepted this conclusion. In his note on Deuteronomy 6:4, he writes:

In another place, Dake explained: “These three (individuals-the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Ghost) are one (1 Jn. 5:7). The only sense in which three can be one is in unity—never in number of persons.”¹⁴

Dake was even more explicit in God’s Plan for Man, writing: “If the fact is revealed that 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. Even disembodied spirits are separate and distinct from each other and can be numbered as are all other beings.”²⁸

See the progression? God has a body → Each person of the Trinity has a body → Three bodies mean three beings → Three Gods. The error builds on itself.

But the Bible clearly teaches there is only ONE God:

• “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
• “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5)
• “There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5)

Dake’s teaching leads straight to polytheism – belief in multiple gods. This isn’t Christianity anymore.

It Limits God’s Knowledge

If God has a body in heaven, how does He know what’s happening on earth? Can He see everywhere if His eyes are in one location? Dake’s solution was to say the Father doesn’t directly know everything – He depends on the Holy Spirit to tell Him about things happening elsewhere.

Dake wrote: “Here we have another proof that God receives knowledge of true conditions and becomes acquainted with existing facts.”¹⁵ In discussing omniscience, he stated it must be “understood in a limited sense”¹⁶ because God “comes to know certain acts.”

But this creates huge problems:

• God’s knowledge becomes secondhand, like ours
• The Father might not know something until the Spirit tells Him
• There could be delays in God getting information
• God becomes dependent on someone else for knowledge

The Bible teaches God knows everything directly and immediately:

• “His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5)
• “He knows everything” (1 John 3:20)
• “No creature is hidden from his sight” (Hebrews 4:13)

It Destroys God’s Omnipresence

Dake explicitly taught that God is NOT omnipresent (everywhere) in body. He wrote: “God is NOT omnipresent in body but in Spirit through the Holy Spirit.”

This means:

• God isn’t really with you – only His Spirit is
• When you pray, God might be far away
• God has to travel to get places
• There are places where God isn’t

But the Bible clearly teaches God is everywhere:

• “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:23-24)
• “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)
• “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)

It Ruins the Meaning of Worship

If God has a body, worship becomes confused:

We’re not worshiping the Creator who is fundamentally different from creation. We’re worshiping a very powerful creature who happens to have a better body than us. The difference between God and us becomes one of degree (He’s bigger and stronger) not of kind (He’s completely different).

This is exactly what pagans do – they worship powerful beings they imagine have bodies. Biblical worship is different because our God is different – He’s spirit, infinite, and transcendent.

It Undermines Salvation

If God has a body limited to one location, how can He save people all over the world? How can the Holy Spirit indwell millions of believers if He has a body that can only be in one place? How can God be personally involved in each person’s salvation if He’s stuck in heaven?

The gospel requires an omnipresent God who can work everywhere at once. A God with a body can’t do this.

Common Defenses of Dake’s Teaching (And Why They Don’t Work)

People who follow Dake’s teaching try to defend it in various ways. Let’s look at their most common arguments and see why they fail.

Defense 1: “Dake Was Just Being Literal”

Some say Dake was simply taking the Bible literally while others explain it away. They claim he was being faithful to Scripture while others compromise.

Dake himself argued: “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.”¹⁷

Response: There’s a difference between taking the Bible literally and taking it woodenly. Taking the Bible literally means accepting what it actually teaches, including recognizing figures of speech. The Bible uses metaphors, symbols, and anthropomorphisms. To ignore these is not being faithful but being foolish.

The Bible also says God has wings (Psalm 91:4) and is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). Should we take these literally too? Of course not. We recognize these as metaphors. The same is true for descriptions of God’s hands, eyes, etc.

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

Defenders point out that Scripture frequently mentions God’s hands, eyes, face, etc. They argue Dake was just accepting what the Bible says.

Dake asked: “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.”¹⁸

Response: Yes, the Bible uses this language, but it also tells us how to understand it. The Bible explicitly says God has “no form” (Deuteronomy 4:15) and is “spirit” (John 4:24). We must interpret the body-part language in light of these clear statements.

If we take all such language literally, we get absurd results. The Bible says God has wings – is He a bird? It says He’s a rock – is He made of stone? It says He’s a consuming fire – is He made of flames? Obviously these are metaphors, and so are the descriptions of body parts.

Defense 3: “Spirit Bodies Are Different”

Some argue that Dake’s “spirit body” concept doesn’t mean a physical body like ours. They claim spirit bodies don’t have the limitations of physical bodies.

Dake claimed: “There are such things as spirit and heavenly bodies… The 284 passages on spirits in Scripture prove that spirit bodies are just as real and capable of operation in the material worlds as are flesh beings.”¹⁹

Response: This is playing word games. A body, by definition, has location, boundaries, and parts. If something takes up space and has boundaries, it functions like a physical body in all the ways that matter.

Besides, Dake himself said spirit bodies are “just as real and tangible with bodily parts as ours.” He’s not talking about something completely different from physical bodies. He’s talking about bodies made of different stuff (spirit instead of flesh) but still bodies with all the limitations that implies.

Defense 4: “This Is a Secondary Issue”

Some argue that whether God has a body is a minor issue that Christians can disagree about while maintaining unity.

Response: This is absolutely NOT a secondary issue. If God has a body:

• He cannot be omnipresent
• He cannot be infinite
• He cannot be truly transcendent
• The Trinity becomes three Gods
• The incarnation loses its meaning
• Prayer, worship, and salvation are all affected

This strikes at the heart of who God is. The early church recognized this, which is why they condemned anthropomorphism as heresy. We’re not dealing with a minor disagreement but with a fundamental corruption of Christian doctrine.

Defense 5: “We’re Made in God’s Image”

Defenders repeat Dake’s argument that since we have bodies and are made in God’s image, God must have a body.

Dake wrote emphatically: “Man in reality is simply a miniature of God in attributes and powers.”²⁰

Response: The Bible itself tells us what the image of God means, and it’s not physical. The image involves our spiritual capacities – reason, morality, creativity, dominion. Animals have bodies but aren’t in God’s image. Angels don’t have physical bodies but are more like God than animals are.

If the image were physical, then:

• Women would be less in God’s image than men (since God is called “He”)
• Disabled people would be less in God’s image
• Jesus before His incarnation wouldn’t be God’s image
• Spiritual renewal couldn’t affect the image

None of this is true. The image is spiritual, not physical.

The Pastoral Impact – How This Hurts Real People

False doctrine doesn’t stay in books – it affects real people’s lives. Dake’s teaching about God having a body causes real spiritual and emotional damage. Let me share some examples from my years of ministry.

It Creates Anxiety About God’s Presence

I counseled a woman whose child was dying in the hospital. She had been reading the Dake Bible and was tormented by the thought that God’s body was in heaven while her child suffered on earth. “How can God be with my baby if He’s sitting on a throne far away?” she asked through tears.

This dear mother needed the comfort of knowing God was right there with her child, feeling every pain, aware of every breath. But Dake’s teaching robbed her of that comfort. She imagined God distant and removed, trying to help from far away like a concerned relative watching through a window.

I opened my Bible to Psalm 139:7-8 and read, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!” I explained that God isn’t limited by a body. He’s fully present with her child, with her, and in heaven all at the same time.

The relief on her face was immediate. “So God is really there with him? Not just watching from heaven?” Yes, God is really there. That’s what it means for God to be spirit – He can be fully present everywhere.

It Undermines Confidence in Prayer

A young man came to me frustrated about prayer. He had been influenced by Dake’s teaching and imagined God like a CEO in a heavenly office, trying to handle millions of prayer requests. “I guess my problems aren’t important enough for God to deal with,” he said. “He’s probably busy with bigger things.”

This young man had started timing his prayers for 3 AM, thinking fewer people would be praying then so God would be more available. He kept his prayers short, not wanting to “take up too much of God’s time.” He even felt guilty praying about small things, imagining God irritated by trivial requests while dealing with wars and disasters.

I explained that God doesn’t have a body that can only focus on one thing at a time. God is infinite spirit, able to give full attention to every prayer simultaneously. Your prayer doesn’t take God away from someone else’s need. He’s not rationing His attention or prioritizing requests like a harried emergency dispatcher.

It Distorts the Experience of Worship

A worship leader told me his congregation seemed disconnected during worship. As we talked, I discovered he had been teaching from the Dake Bible about God’s physical appearance. The congregation was trying to imagine what God looked like, picturing Him on a distant throne.

Instead of encountering the immediate presence of the infinite God, they were trying to send their worship to a specific location in heaven. Worship had become like sending a video message to a distant relative rather than communing with the God who is right there with them.

True worship happens when we realize we’re in the immediate presence of the infinite, spiritual God. He’s not far away receiving our worship like radio signals. He’s right here, more present to us than we are to ourselves.

It Limits Expectations of God’s Power

A pastor influenced by Dake told me he had started doubting God could handle all the needs in his congregation. If God has a body, he reasoned, there are limits to what He can do. Maybe God gets tired. Maybe He can only do so much at once.

This pastor had stopped praying for certain things, thinking they were beyond God’s capacity. He didn’t pray for simultaneous healings. He didn’t believe God could work in multiple situations at once. His God had become so small that faith seemed foolish.

The Bible presents a God who creates galaxies with a word, who sustains every atom in existence, who works all things according to His will. This is only possible if God is infinite spirit, not a being with a body.

It Damages Children’s Faith

Perhaps most heartbreaking are the children affected by this teaching. Children naturally think concretely, so the idea of God having a body seems to make sense to them at first. But it quickly creates problems.

One parent told me their child was afraid to pray at night because “God might be asleep.” Another child wondered if God could see her when she was at school if His body was in heaven. A little boy asked if God’s body ever got sick or old.

These children were developing a view of God as just a bigger, more powerful person rather than the awesome, infinite Creator. They were learning to limit God to human categories rather than expanding their minds to grasp God’s transcendence.

Why This Matters for Your Faith

You might wonder why this matters so much. Does it really make a difference whether God has a body or not? Can’t we just love God either way? The answer is that this matters immensely for every aspect of your Christian life.

It Matters for Your Understanding of God

Who you believe God to be shapes everything else in your faith. If God has a body:

• He’s not truly infinite and transcendent
• He’s not essentially different from creation
• He’s not worthy of ultimate worship
• He’s not able to be omnipresent
• He’s not the God revealed in Scripture

A.W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If we think of God as a bodied being, our entire faith is built on a wrong foundation.

It Matters for Your Prayer Life

If God is infinite spirit:

• He hears every prayer instantly and completely
• He’s fully present with you when you pray
• You never need to wonder if He’s available
• Your prayers don’t compete with others’ prayers
• Distance is irrelevant – He’s as close as your breath

But if God has a body, prayer becomes uncertain and anxiety-filled. You’re trying to get the attention of someone far away who might be busy elsewhere.

It Matters for Your Worship

Biblical worship is about encountering the infinite, transcendent, yet immanent God. We worship God because He’s qualitatively different from everything else – He’s the Creator, we’re creatures.

If God has a body, He’s just a creature like us, only more powerful. That’s not worthy of worship. That’s the kind of god the pagans invented – a superhuman with superhuman powers but not truly divine.

It Matters for Your Daily Walk

Knowing God is omnipresent spirit changes how you live:

• You’re never alone – God is always with you
• There’s no place you can go where God isn’t
• God sees and knows everything – nothing is hidden
• God can work in your situation no matter where you are
• You can practice the presence of God because He’s always present

Brother Lawrence wrote about “practicing the presence of God” – living in constant awareness of God’s immediate presence. This is only possible if God is spirit. If God has a body elsewhere, we can only practice remembering an absent God.

It Matters for Your Hope

The Christian hope includes dwelling with God forever. Jesus promised, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).

If God has a body, how can He make His home with millions of believers? How can we all dwell with God if He has a body that can only be in one place? The promise becomes impossible.

But if God is infinite spirit, He can be fully present with each believer, making His home in every heart while still filling heaven and earth. The promise is glorious and certain.

How to Help Others Who Have Been Deceived

If you know people who have been influenced by Dake’s teaching about God having a body, here’s how to help them:

1. Start With Love and Patience

Remember that people following Dake’s teaching are usually sincere Christians trying to understand the Bible. They’re not your enemies. They’re brothers and sisters who have been misled. Approach them with gentleness and respect.

Don’t attack them or mock their beliefs. Don’t say, “How could you believe something so stupid?” Instead, say something like, “I understand why that teaching might seem to make sense, but let me show you some verses that helped me understand this better.”

2. Go to Scripture First

Don’t start with philosophy or church history. Start with clear Bible verses:

• John 4:24 – “God is spirit” – Jesus’ clear statement
• Deuteronomy 4:15-16 – Israel saw “no form” when God appeared
• 1 Timothy 1:17 – God is “invisible”
• Luke 24:39 – “A spirit does not have flesh and bones”
• Jeremiah 23:24 – God fills heaven and earth
• Psalm 139:7-10 – God is everywhere present

Let Scripture do the work. The Bible is clear that God is spirit without a body.

3. Explain Anthropomorphisms

Many people have never heard of anthropomorphisms. Explain this concept simply:

“The Bible often describes God in human terms to help us understand Him. Just like we say ‘the hands of a clock’ without meaning clocks have actual hands, the Bible talks about God’s hands to describe His power to act. These are figures of speech, not literal descriptions.”

Give examples they can relate to. Show them how we use similar language every day without meaning it literally.

4. Show the Problems

Help them see the logical problems with God having a body:

• How can God be everywhere if He has a body in one place?
• How can God hear all prayers at once?
• How was there room for God’s body before He created space?
• Why does the Bible say God is invisible if He has a visible body?
• Why forbid making images of God if God has an image?

Don’t overwhelm them with every problem at once. Pick one or two that seem most relevant to their situation.

5. Address Their Concerns

People holding to Dake’s view often have specific concerns:

“But we’re made in God’s image!” Explain that the image is spiritual (reasoning, morality, dominion), not physical. Show them Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4:24.

“But people saw God in the Old Testament!” Explain theophanies – temporary appearances God took to communicate with people, not revelations of His essential nature.

“But it says God has hands, eyes, etc.!” Return to anthropomorphisms. Show them that the Bible also says God has wings – do they believe God is a bird?

6. Be Patient with the Process

People don’t usually change deeply held beliefs instantly. It may take time for them to process and accept the truth. Don’t push too hard. Plant seeds and let the Holy Spirit work.

Keep the relationship intact. It’s better to remain friends and have ongoing conversations than to win an argument but lose the relationship.

7. Recommend Good Resources

Suggest solid Bible study resources that teach orthodox doctrine:

• A good study Bible like the ESV Study Bible or NIV Study Bible
• Classic books on God’s nature like A.W. Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy”
• Systematic theology books that explain God’s attributes clearly
• Your pastor or other mature Christians who can answer questions

8. Pray for Them

Ultimately, only the Holy Spirit can open someone’s eyes to truth. Pray that God would reveal Himself accurately to those who have been deceived. Pray for wisdom in how to help them. Pray for patience and love as you walk alongside them.

The Glorious Truth: Our God is Spirit

After examining all the problems with Dake’s teaching, let’s end by celebrating the wonderful truth: God is spirit! This isn’t a limitation but a glory. Let’s consider what it means that our God is infinite, incorporeal spirit.

God is Truly Infinite

Because God doesn’t have a body, He has no limits. He’s not confined to any location. He’s not restricted by physical laws. He’s not bounded by space or time. As the psalmist says, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3).

An infinite God can handle any problem. No situation is too big for Him. No need is beyond His power. No prayer exhausts His resources. He’s infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely good.

God is Truly Present

Because God is spirit, He’s genuinely with you right now. Not just watching from a distance, not just aware of you, but actually present. David celebrated this: “You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me” (Psalm 139:5).

Wherever you go today, God is already there. Whatever you face, God is present in it. You’re never alone, never abandoned, never forgotten. The infinite God is infinitely near.

God is Truly Transcendent

Because God doesn’t have a body, He’s not just a bigger version of us. He’s qualitatively different – not just more powerful but all-powerful, not just wiser but all-wise, not just older but eternal. Isaiah 55:9 declares, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This transcendent God is worthy of worship, capable of miracles, able to save. He’s not limited by what limits us. He’s not threatened by what threatens us. He’s not confused by what confuses us.

God is Truly Able to Save

Because God is spirit, He can work in millions of lives simultaneously. He can convict of sin, draw to Christ, regenerate hearts, and sanctify believers all over the world at the same time. The gospel can spread to every nation because God isn’t limited to working in one place at a time.

Moreover, the Holy Spirit can indwell every believer because He’s not confined to a body. The promise “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5) is only possible because God is omnipresent spirit.

God is Truly Worthy of Worship

We don’t worship a superhuman with a superior body. We worship the infinite, eternal, spiritual Creator who is utterly unlike His creation. He alone is God. He alone is worthy. As Revelation 4:11 proclaims, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

When we understand that God is spirit, our worship is transformed. We’re not trying to impress a distant deity but responding to the immediate presence of infinite holiness and love.

Conclusion: Standing for Truth with Love

Finis Dake’s teaching that God has a body is not a small error or a different interpretation. It’s a fundamental departure from biblical Christianity that affects everything we believe about God, salvation, prayer, and worship. It turns the infinite, omnipresent, spiritual Creator into a limited, located, bodied creature.

We’ve seen that this teaching:

• Contradicts clear Scripture (John 4:24, Deuteronomy 4:15-16)
• Misunderstands biblical language (anthropomorphisms)
• Creates logical impossibilities (space before creation)
• Leads to other heresies (three Gods instead of one)
• Damages practical Christian life (prayer, worship, comfort)
• Opposes 2000 years of Christian teaching

But our goal isn’t just to refute error – it’s to celebrate truth. The God revealed in Scripture is infinitely greater than Dake’s bodied deity. He is pure spirit – unlimited, unrestricted, unconfined. He is wholly other yet wholly present, infinitely transcendent yet intimately near.

This is the God who spoke worlds into existence, who sustains every atom, who knows every thought, who hears every prayer, who is present in every place. This is the God who became flesh in Jesus Christ – not because He already had a body but because He didn’t, making the incarnation the unique miracle it is.

This is the God we worship, serve, and proclaim. Not a being with a body sitting on a distant throne, but the omnipresent Spirit in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

If you’ve been influenced by Dake’s teaching, I encourage you to return to Scripture. Read what the Bible actually says about God’s nature. Don’t add to it or take away from it. Let God reveal Himself as He truly is – infinite, eternal, spiritual, and absolutely worthy of all worship and praise.

If you know others trapped in this error, approach them with love and patience. Use Scripture, explain carefully, and pray faithfully. The same God who opened your eyes can open theirs.

May we all grow in the true knowledge of God, worship Him as He truly is, and reject any teaching that diminishes His infinite glory. Our God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 25)

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