CLAIM: Some critics or cultists argue that this passage implies that God has a physical “form” in heaven. However, God is a disembodied mind without physical form. Which is true?

RESPONSE: This Greek word for “form” (morphe) was the same word that Plato used in referring to his unembodied, abstract “forms.” That is, Plato often referred to abstract entities such as Love, Justice, Good, Evil, etc. with the word “form.” This demonstrates that this Greek word morphe had a broad range of meaning, referring to much more than just physical shape or size. With this in mind, Paul is merely saying that Jesus existed immaterially as God before he took on material human flesh.