Nature of God and the Godhead/Trinity

Latter-day Saint Belief

The Godhead is made of three Holy Beings.

Articles of Faith 1 "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." (Articles of Faith 1, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 535-541).

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Holy Bible KJV

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

The Hebrew for "God" is "Elohiym" which is the plural of 'elowahh meaning "God" (Strong’s Concordance 0430) which could easily be translate to be "Gods."

Genesis 1:1 could read "In the beginning the Gods created the heaven and the earth.

Some would say to believe there could be more than one god would be "polytheistic," but that is what the Holy Bible says "Elohiym" and that means "Gods."

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Latter-day Saint Belief

We believe that God the Father, The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are one in purpose not in substance.

"I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one." (Doctrine & Covenants 35:2 Emphasis added).

"And so, my beloved brethren and sisters, I believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost... They are distinct beings, but they are one in purpose and effort. They are united as one in bringing to pass the grand, divine plan for the salvation and exaltation of the children of God... " (The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: President Gordon B. Hinckley, In Conference Report, October 1986s)

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Holy Bible KJV

1 John 5:7 "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one."

How can three be one? Jesus explains it very well in the following:

John 14:9-11, 20 "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? . . . Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works . . . Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake . . . At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." (Emphasis added).

John 15:1-5 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman . . . Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit . . . Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you . . . Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me . . . I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."

John 17:20-22 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; . . . That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me . . . And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:" (Emphasis added).

Jesus did not pray for His apostles to be one in mass or substance, but "one" in purpose, in unity.

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Latter-day Saint Belief

We believe that God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ look like men glorious beyond all description.

From Joseph Smith’s first vision at the age of fourteen in the spring of the year 1820.

" . . . I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me . . . When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (Joseph Smith History 1:16-17 for a full account of of Joseph's first vision Click Here).

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Holy Bible KJV

Genesis 1:26-27 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness . . . So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Genesis 5:3 "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:"

The Hebrew for "image" is "tselem" which means likeness (of resemblance) (Strong's Concordance 6754).

So with the above understanding; if God made man in His "image" and Seth was after Adam's "image", then whose "image," does the Holy Bible say man looks like? Man looks like God, as Seth looks like his father Adam.

Latter-day Saint Belief

Is God a Spirit?

President Gordon B. Hinckley: "I remember the occasion of more than fifty years ago when, as a missionary, I was speaking in an open-air meeting in Hyde Park, London. As I was presenting my message, a heckler interrupted to say, "Why don't you stay with the doctrine of the Bible which says in John (4:24), "God is a Spirit'?"

"I opened my Bible to the verse he had quoted and read to him the entire verse:"

"God is a Spirit: and they worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

"I said, "Of course God is a spirit, and so are you, in the combination of spirit and body that makes of you a living being, and so am I."

"Each of us is a dual being of spiritual entity and physical entity. All know of the reality of death when the body dies, and each of us also knows that the spirit lives on as an individual entity and that at some time, under the divine plan made possible by the sacrifice of the Son of God, there will be a reunion of spirit and body, Jesus' declaration that God is a spirit no more denies that he has a body than does the statement that I am a spirit while also having a body." (The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: President Gordon B. Hinckley In Conference Report, October 1986)

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Holy Bible KJV

John 4:24 "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Raymond E. Brown (non-Mormon) has the following to say about John 4:24 ". . . not an essential definition of God, but a description of God's dealing with men; it means that God is Spirit toward men because He gives the Spirit (xiv 16) which begets them anew. There are two other such descriptions in the Johannine writings: "God is light" (1 John i:5) and "God is love" (1 John iv:16). These two refer to the God who act is; God gives the world His Son, the light of the world (iii 19, viii 12, ix 5) as a sign of His love (iii 16). (Raymond E. Brown, Gospel According to John, p 172).

If John 4:24 were to mean that God is a Spirit, then it could be wrongly interpreted that since we are to "worship him in spirit" that it would be impossible because we have a physical body and are not "in spirit" form.

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Latter-day Saint Belief

We believe that Jesus Christ loves and serves God the Father and none else.

"Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you--that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me." (3 Nephi 27:13). (Emphasis added).

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Holy Bible KJV

Jesus did not put Himself on the same level as His Father in Heaven. Jesus clearly shows that His God is our God, and His Father is our Father.

Matthew 19:16-17 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." (Emphasis added).

John 5:30 "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (Emphasis added).

John 14:28"Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I." (Emphasis added).

John 20:1, 11-17 "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (Emphasis added).

Jesus had just told Mary not to touch Him, why? Because He had not been to His Father yet. If Jesus was not with the Father during the three day His body laid in the tomb, then where was He? The point is He had "not yet ascended to [the] Father." Then Jesus clinches it when He says, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (Emphasis added). Jesus is saying that He has the same child parent relationship with the Eternal Father that we do, except of course He is far beyond us! It is so simple to see.

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Latter-day Saint Belief

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are resurrected beings with physical bodies and the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit.

We believe that our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are resurrected beings each with physical bodies (see Luke 24:36-43; John 5:19). However, their bodies are perfect, gloried, and immortal; and as described by the Prophet Joseph Smith "whose brightness and glory defy all description." (Joseph Smith History 1:17 for a full account of of Joseph's first vision Click Here).

We believe the Holy Ghost is a separate being, who is Holy and is part of the Godhead, but He does not have a physical body.

Doctrine &Covenants 130:22 "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us."

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Holy Bible KJV

Luke 24:36-43 "And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 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. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them." (Emphasis Added)

Jesus pointed out to His apostles that He had (and still has) a physical body. He had them touch Him and He even ate food in their presence. If it was not important for the apostles to understand He was literally and physically risen from the dead, then why did Jesus go through so much effort to make this point?

John 21:14 "This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead."

Paul also understood that Jesus was resurrected with a physical body. "But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (1 Corinthians 15:13-14,21-22,26) (Emphasis Added).

Paul is saying if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then death has not been conquered. Like Adam all of us will die. Our mortal bodies will rot and return to dust, but because of the triumph of Jesus Christ through His physical rising from the dead, so we too shall rise. Then if we shall rise as Jesus did, that must mean Jesus is still risen from the dead, otherwise death won after all. Therefore, Jesus is still resurrected with a glorified immortal physical body. I have found no place in the Holy Bible where it says He threw His body away.

Furthermore, in Acts 1:11 it says, ". . . Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." So how is He going to return? Just as He was taken up. He will come in His glorified immortal physical body. (Emphasis added).

John 5:19 "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (Emphasis added). (This is a deep LDS doctrine, but it is important in helping to understand that God the Father is a separate being and that Jesus taught that). What did Jesus do? He did "what he seeth the Father do," and just what did Jesus do? He lived, died for us and was resurrected. Could that mean that God the Father once lived, died for sin and was resurrected as well?". . . For what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."

In James 2:26 informs us that, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." (Emphasis added).

Did Christ die twice? His spirit had left his body once (Luke 23:46) and entered back into his body three days later, marking the first resurrection. Death would have entered his body again if his spirit had separated from it. Paul wrote that this was an impossibility in Romans 6:9-10 when he said, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” (Emphasis added).

I believe the Holy Bible clearly shows that Jesus Christ has a physical body today, and that since Christ is in the express image of his Father (Hebrew 1:2-3), then his Father also has a body of flesh and bones.

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