What does God look like?

Once upon a time, I was helping my 5-year-old brush her teeth, and she asked, “Does God have teeth?” 

“What do you think?” I replied, intrigued. 

“I think he does,” she said matter-of-factly. Then she spat, wiped, and went off to her bedroom. 

Since no one has ever seen God (John 1:18), how would you answer that question? 

So what does God look like? 

The Bible talks about God walking (Genesis 3:8), God seeing (Genesis 16:13), God listening with his ear (Isaiah 37:17), God creating with his hands (Isaiah 29:23), and winning victory with his arm (Psalm 98:1). 

Notice how descriptive these Bible verses are—the focus is less on God’s looks and more on his character: God is with us, God is Creator, God is powerful, etc. 

Are they just metaphors? Could God look more like a sunset than a human? 

What about the times in the Bible when people saw God—like when Moses saw God’s back as he passed by on the mountaintop (Exodus 33:18–23)? Or the fourth man in the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego (Daniel 3:25)? Most would say that those men (and Elijah and Isaiah, who had similar experiences) actually saw God the Son in that moment—not God the Father. An early visit from Jesus before He was born. 

But then it gets a little confusing because when God passed Moses by on the mountain, he told Moses that “no one shall see my face and live.” Yet plenty of people saw the face of Jesus and lived. So what face was he talking about? Does God the Father have a face other than the human face of Jesus? 

It’s reasonable to assume that when God made us in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26), that meant both looks and personality. The words image and likeness are two completely different words in the original Hebrew, and while one of them does indeed mean inner nature, the other is the root word for our modern word photograph—meaning the way something looks on the outside. 

Did Jesus already have a shape with arms, legs, and a face even before he was born as a human, as suggested by all the early visits from him in the Old Testament? 

Perhaps. Or perhaps that’s not the point. 

So, does God have teeth? 

I could have laid all of this out for my 5-year-old—explaining what deeper thinkers and more educated scholars have debated for centuries. But for my 5-year-old, brushing her teeth, she just wanted to know a little more about this invisible God. She is building a mental image of who God is and what God is like. 

I do not think it’s wise to dwell too much on the outer likeness of God. God cares more about the inside than the outside of a person (1 Samuel 16:7), and we can do a lot of damage by focusing more on his looks than his character.

In Chapter 8 of The Story Girl by Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables), the children in the story find what is described as “A Picture of God.” The picture is awful—it depicts a very angry, bearded man having a temper tantrum. It was so counterintuitive to the children’s own understanding of God that even though they refuse to believe it—and the local minister convinces them that no one can know what God looks like.

“The mischief was done. From that day to this, the thought or the mention of God brings up before us involuntarily the vision of a stern, angry old man.” 

The author writes with such insight, you can’t help wondering if this experience is one she had as a child. 

There are good reasons God warns us never to make an image of God—not even an image in our minds (Exodus 20:4)—because there is not a single image, painting, picture, sculpture, or carving that can even begin to represent the awesome, wonderful holiness of the almighty Creator God. Whatever we draw, paint, sculpt, or imagine, it will focus on some of God’s characteristics and forget the others. Before we know it, we have created an image of God based on our own likeness (the opposite of God creating us in his likeness). That is what is known in the Bible as an idol. And even today, we are too easily inclined to worship the idol of the God of our own image or imagination.

So, as I followed my 5-year-old into her bedroom, what did I say? What can any parent say? Here are four possible responses: 

Important starting points

1. God is invisible

As already mentioned, the Bible tells us that no one has ever seen God. That means no one knows for sure what he looks like. God is invisible to us—for now. 

2. Look at Jesus

If we want to know what God is like, the best picture we have is of Jesus. The rest of John 1:18 says, “But God the only Son is very close to the Father. And the Son has shown us what God is like”. No one has ever seen God the Father, but lots and lots and lots of people saw Jesus! 

3. Character matters more

The funny thing is, even though God is as amazing as the stars and skies (Psalm 19:1), Jesus wasn’t especially good-looking on the outside (Isaiah 53:2). However, there was something very attractive about him on the inside—so attractive that thousands of people would crowd around and follow him! 

Jesus came to show us what God is like, but he didn’t leave us a detailed description of his looks. He didn’t sculpt a statue or make a crop circle of God’s face. Jesus was more interested in showing what God was really like—on the inside. 

While I love to tell my children how beautiful they are on the outside, I know it is even more important to nurture their beauty within—their character. 

So, it doesn’t matter too much what God looks like on the outside. What matters most is that we can be sure God has a heart that is full of love for us (John 3:16). He has ears to hear us when we pray (Psalm 6:9). We know he has eyes that see us when we are in pain (Genesis 16:13). We know his hands have created us and all the world (Psalm 8:3), his arms carry us (Isaiah 40:11), and he walks with us day by day (2 Corinthians 6:16). 

4. One day we will see God

God does have a face. The angels look upon that face, and one day, so will we (1 Corinthians 13:12; Revelation 22:4). So, if you really want to know if God has eyes, ears, hands, arms, legs, and a heart, put your faith in his Son Jesus—and one day, you will find out for sure.