Question
Why do we sing songs that say that God is beautiful?
Response
In recent years there have been many songs that speak of God’s beauty. I don’t know about you, but I often struggled to sing these songs as I wasn’t too sure what they meant when they spoke of God as being beautiful. It’s not just modern songs that refer to God’s beauty – it’s an idea that’s in the Bible. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and seek him in his temple.”
So what does “God is beautiful” actually mean? It surely can’t mean that he is physically beautiful because God isn’t a physical being, he’s spiritual. Also, when he was on earth as the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible says he wasn’t (physically) beautiful (Isaiah 53:2).
The main problem with the word ‘beautiful’ is that, on the whole, we have a very limited usage of the word. On most occasions when people talk of ‘beauty’ they are referring to physical beauty. We might refer to Kiera Knightly or David Beckham as being beautiful. When we do this we are usually referring to the fact that we think these people are pretty or hansome, gorgeous, sexy and look good physically.
However, the word beauty should not be limited to physical beauty. My dictionary defines ‘beauty as, “The combination of qualities in a person or object that cause delight or pleasure.”
This means we could say, “David Beckham scored a beautiful goal”. By saying this we wouldn’t be referring to the good looks of David Beckham or the particularly good looking goal post and net! No, when we say that “David Beckham scored a beautiful goal” we are saying that all the factors that led to that goal being scored were impressive (maybe even perfect) – the combination of events gave us, the viewer, delight and pleasure. It was the combination of his impressive dribbling of the ball from the halfway line, the way he turned to avoid being tackled, the way he skilfully tapped the ball through the legs of a defender, the way his final strike of the ball was flawless, the way the ball sailed through the air, passed the keeper, and into the top right-hand corner of the net. It was the combination of all these things that made the goal beautiful - it had nothing to do with whether or not we think David Beckham is physically attractive.
When people talk of God’s beauty they are referring to the combination of all his amazing qualities. God is beautiful because he is complete, he is perfect, he does not lack anything. The combination of all God’s perfect attributes of love, justice, anger, compassion, power, holiness, wisdom, knowledge…everything about him make him beautiful.
If to be beautiful is to have ‘a complete set of desirable qualities’ then God is the bench-mark for defining beauty and nothing else comes remotely close.
Therefore, when we are singing songs about God’s beauty we are not singing songs about God’s good looks. These songs aren’t ‘shallow’ songs. In fact these songs are plunging to the depths of who God is and what he is like, they are summing up the fact that God is complete, that he is perfect, that he lacks nothing.
Key Bible Passages
Psalm 27:4
Beauty: The combination of qualities
in a person or object that cause
delight or pleasure.
This response was written by Phil Green. Copyright © July 2006.
You may like to use some of the following ideas…
- What do think is beautiful and why? (You could introduce or conclude this discussion by showing a video clip of something you think is beautiful. For example, some stunning goals being scored in football or an impressive rally in a game of tennis.)
- Word association: come up with a list of words that have a similar meaning to the word ‘beautiful’.
- In pairs, get those in your group to come up with a few sentences in which they might use the word beautiful.
- How would you define the word ‘beautiful’? What do we mean when we say that God is beautiful?
- Make a list of things that make God ’beautiful’. What things does society see as ‘beautiful’?
- What things do you think God sees as beautiful? (Reading 1 Samuel 16:7 or 1 Peter 3:3-4 may be an effective way to round up this discussion.)
FAQ Disclaimer:
FAQ responses are designed to promote clear biblical thinking about subjects that are often difficult and confusing. The responses are all considered to be compatible with the Evangelical Alliance’s basis of faith but beyond that should not be assumed to represent the Evangelical Alliance’s ‘official standpoint’ on any particular doctrine or issue.
