Does God Have a Form?

a synapsis of an article by H. G. Chaitanya Charan das

Whether or not God has a form is a perennial philosophical question with arguments on both sides. The way we pray to God, and the way the saints address God in their devotional prayers, suggests that God is a person we are calling. But is personhood compatible with the idea that God must have no limits?

Would a Form Limit God?

To reconcile these two concepts—personhood and unlimitedness—we need to first understand the definition of God. The Vedanta-sutras (1.1.2) define God, or the Absolute Truth (brahman), as the source of everything: janmady asya yatah.Another ancient text, the Brahma-samhita (5.1), defines God similarly as the cause of all causes: sarva-karana-karanam. This concise definition of God is essentially in agreement with the understanding of God given by all the theistic traditions of the world. So, if God is the source of everything, then He must possess the essential attributes of everything, or else He would be less than His creation. In this world, both personal beings and impersonal forces exist, so both these aspects must be present in God. If God were not a person, then He, by definition the Complete Being, would be incomplete. Another, simpler way of putting this: If we as the children of God are persons, how can our father, God, not be a person? So, those who say that God is not a person are actually limiting Him, by divesting Him of what His creation has.

Now let's consider the question "Do personality and form not limit God?" Vedic wisdom helps us understand that what causes limitation is not form, but matter. Due to the very nature of matter, all material objects are limited, whether they have form or not. We subconsciously project our conceptions of matter on the form of God and so think that a form would limit God. But God is not material; He is entirely spiritual. Spirit has characteristics different from matter; that which is spiritual has the potential to be unlimited, whether it has form or not. God's spiritual form does not limit Him.

Is Man Made in the Image of God?

This brings us to the next objection: "Even if I accept that God has a form, why should He have a humanlike form? Isn't that another example of assigning human attributes to God?"

Factually, the opposite is true. Anthropomorphism—the idea that we have ascribed a humanlike form to God—seems sensible initially, but only because of our self-centered thinking. We think that because we have a humanlike form we have conceived of God as humanlike. But could not the reverse be true? What if God's form is the original and our human form is modeled after His?

Logically both ideas are possible. How do we know which is the reality? When we want knowledge about physics, we refer to authorized physics textbooks. Similarly, when we want knowledge about God, we should we refer to the authorized textbooks about God—the scriptures. The scriptures of the great religions of the world repeatedly refer to God in a personal, humanlike way. For example, the Bible talks about "under His feet" (Exodus 24:10); "inscribed with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18); "the hand of the Lord" (Exodus 9:3); "the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 38:7); "the ears of the Lord" (Numbers 11:1). Ezekiel (1:26) describes God as having "the semblance of a human form." Such phrases permeate the biblical literature. Similarly, in the Quran there are references to "the face of your Lord" (055:027), "under My eye" (020:039), "under our eyes" (052:048) & (054:014), and "the hand of Allah" (048:010), (038:075) & (039:067).

Some people say we should take these references metaphorically. But wouldn’t that be a human projection on the word of God? Wouldn’t we be imposing our interpretation on the self-evident statements of the scriptures, which repeatedly and consistently present God as having a humanlike form? Instead of audaciously claiming that the scriptures are presenting a misleading metaphor, it is humbler, safer, and more logical to infer that it is our preconceptions that are misleading and need to be corrected by the words of the scriptures. Further, there is the classic and clear statement in the Bible (Genesis 1:27): "Man is made in the image of God." In which scripture is it said that God is made in the image of man? Nowhere. So the correct understanding is not that God is anthropomorphic (having a humanlike form), but that man is theomorphic (having a form modeled on God's form).