Do young earth creationists believe that God has a body?

Question

Young earth creationists believe that the bible should be read literally.

Adam and Eve hear God's footstep. That means God must have foot and his foot step emit sound waves. That means God has a body.

Is it what YEC believes too?

The point of the question is, if YEC believes that the creation story is literal, do they also interpret the idea of hearing God's footstep literally too? The latter implies that God has a body, or at least a foot, and the foot is physical enough to emit sound waves when hitting the ground.

Answer 1

Here is an answer from one young Earth creationist.

Apparently you got your Scripture from the Hebraic Roots version of the Bible, or the New revised King James version since these are the only versions I know of which say:

Genesis 3:8 HRS And they heard the sound of YAHWEH Elohim walking up and down in the garden at the breeze of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of YAHWEH Elohim in the middle of the trees of the garden. And YAHWEH Elohim called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I have heard Your sound in the garden, and I was afraid, for I am naked, and I hid myself.

Genesis 3:8 NRKJV And they heard the voice of יהוה Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of יהוה Elohim amongst the trees of the garden. And יהוה Elohim called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

All of the other 15 versions that I have in my study Software all say 'heard the voice' as in the King James translation

King James translation:

Genesis 3:8 through 10 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Apostolic Bible Polyglot:

Genesis 3:8 through 10 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in2 the paradise at dusk. And hid both Adam and his wife from the face of the LORD God in the midst of the tree of the paradise. And God called Adam, and said to him, Adam, Where are you? And he said to him, your voice I heard while walking in the paradise, and I feared, for I am naked, and I hid.

American Standard version:

Genesis 3:8 through 10 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

I have omitted the other versions for brevity since they are almost exact clones.

The original Hebrew Text in literal translation is almost the same as the Hebraic Roots version. However, at first I thought that from that to footsteps was a very large leap. But it being somewhat of a lazy Sunday after Church I took some time to consider it, and slowly the mind seemed to connect that to some other passages.

In Genesis Chapter 18, Abraham pleads with one of the three angels; who come to his tent, concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. so I decided to look up that in the Hebraic Roots version and to my surprise I found:

Genesis 18:32 and 33 And he said, I pray, let not YAHWEH be angry that I may speak only this time; perhaps ten will be found there. And He said, I will not destroy because of the ten. And when YAHWEH had finished speaking to Abraham, He left. And Abraham returned to his place.

And even though it says YAHWEH and not YAHWEH Elohim compared to the King James version;

Genesis 18:32 and 33 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

I have for some time felt that this was actually the pre-incarnate Jesus to whom Abraham was speaking. and the premise for that was:

John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Also backing that up is the knowledge that With God there is no such thing as time, since time itself demands that there be something previous and something after the present, and with Eternity there is neither past nor future , there is only present.

So it is probable that Jesus being Eternal would be there at Creation, which lends credence to John 1:1 through 3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

What seems to become possible is that just as John stated Jesus was the creator, in his pre-incarnate person and it was the pre-incarnate that walked with Adam in the cool of the evening.

So to answer your question about having a body, providing my interpretation is not as illegitimate as an eleven dollar bill; that would be that it is both pre-incarnate Jesus (יהוה) God the father (YAHWEH Elohim) in Jesus Resurrection body, and for that matter may also include the Holy Ghost as many of us subscribe to the concept of the Trinity.

perhaps that is something we will need to ask God when we get there, assuming that we will still care about the answer then.

Answer 2

The vast majority of Churches assuming the banner of Christianity, whether young earth creationists or not, do not believe God ever had a physical body. Even when we speak of the incarnate Christ, the human body of Christ is not 'mixed' in amy sense with his omnipresent divinity or 'part' of the divinity. Jesus is both God and man, but to be divine you can't have a body that contains your nature, or be part of it because the divinity is eternal, omnipresent and invisible. The divine nature does not have boundaries or parts. Also to be man, or to have a body, you can't have divine qualities. Therefore, the divinity and humanity of Christ are both true of his person but are not mixable.

Regarding the language of Genesis where God can be heard walking, some take it literally and believe God the Son appeared in the shape of a man, but only 'appearing' in this shape and not actually incarnate yet. Others take it symbolically even though young earth creationists. For example, technically, Martin Luther was a young earth creationist as were all the Protestant reformers and he thought it just meant that Adam and Eve were scared of the natural sound of a breeze.

My own opinion is that we should understand “spirit” simply in the sense of wind, and that after their conscience had been convicted by the Law, Adam and Eve were terrified by the rustling of a leaf (Lev. 26:36). (Martin Luther's Commentary of Genesis)

John Calvin, another young earth creationist, takes it more literally but still not proposing a physical pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. He thinks God stirred the wind in an unusual manner and that along with His Spirit invading the consciences of our first guilty parents, made his presence magnificently known.

But, as often as he sees good, he uses the winds, as well as other created things, beyond the order of nature, according to his own will. Therefore, Moses, in here mentioning the wind, intimates (according to my judgment) that some unwonted and remarkable symbol of the Divine presence was put forth which should vehemently affect the minds of our first parents. (John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis)

Of course then their is the matter of God 'speaking' though he does not really have a mouth. Just as a curiosity respecting the two names mention above, Luther and Calvin, Luther seems to imagine God spoke through an angel and Calvin seems to just assume that God manipulated the sound of of thin air.