The Short Answer
Latter-day Saints believe the Father and the Son have glorified bodies. The explicit teaching about the Father is in Doctrine and Covenants 130:22. John 4:24 calls God spirit in a discussion of worship. Luke 24 describes the risen Son with flesh and bones.
Three passages to read
- John 4:19–26. The woman asks where to worship. Jesus teaches how to worship the Father. Christians disagree about what his answer implies for embodiment.
- Luke 24:36–43. Jesus shows the disciples his resurrected body. The passage concerns the Son.
- Doctrine and Covenants 130:22–23. The Restoration teaches that the Father and Son have tangible bodies and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit.
What Latter-day Saints believe
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22 teaches that the Father and the Son have tangible bodies of flesh and bones and that the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit. This is the direct scriptural basis for the Latter-day Saint teaching about the Father. The Bible is part of the conversation because Christians disagree on whether it excludes that possibility. Doctrine and Covenants 130:22–23
Why other Christians disagree
The Westminster Confession describes God as a pure spirit without a body. It also teaches that the eternal Son took on a human nature. That distinction allows a Reformed Christian to affirm Christ’s bodily resurrection while holding that God’s divine nature is incorporeal. GotQuestions argues that John 4:24 describes God’s nature and takes biblical descriptions of God’s hands or face as figurative. Westminster Confession, chapters 2 and 8 · GotQuestions, Does God have a physical body?
Read John 4 in context
The woman at the well asks whether people should worship at the mountain in Samaria or at Jerusalem. Jesus tells her that true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. “God is spirit” grounds that instruction. The question is whether the statement about God also means that the Father cannot have a glorified body. The verse itself gives no description of what embodiment would mean. John 4:19–26
What the resurrection adds
In Luke 24, Jesus shows his hands and feet and invites his disciples to touch him. He says he has flesh and bones and eats in front of them. Latter-day Saints see this as a clear example of a glorified, embodied person with divine authority. A Reformed reader understands the body as part of Christ’s human nature. Luke describes the risen Son. The Latter-day Saint affirmation about the Father comes from Restoration revelation. Luke 24:36–43 · Doctrine and Covenants 130:22–23
A response you could give
“I believe the Father and the Son have glorified bodies because of what Doctrine and Covenants 130 teaches. I also believe Jesus when he says God is spirit and teaches us to worship the Father in spirit and truth. If you think those teachings conflict, let’s read John 4 together and identify what you think the word ‘spirit’ rules out.”
