What does the Bible say about beauty? 

Use these prefiltered searches to craft sermons and prayers, offer pastoral care, or plan worship services around the theme of beauty. 

Beauty and goodness 

In the beginning, God fashioned the world and called it good (Genesis 1). The Hebrew word tov, commonly translated as "good" in this narrative, also connotes beauty. As such, the goodness and beauty of the world reflect that of its creator. 

Beauty of the temple 

God is beautiful, and the temple, God's earthly dwelling, reflects that beauty: 

• Psalm 96:9, worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness 
• Psalm 27:4, the psalmist's one request is to live in the house of the Lord and behold the beauty of the Lord 

Beauty as fittingness 

Beauty also has the quality of being fitting. In Ecclesiastes 3, the Preacher lists a number of human experiences and then says that everything is beautiful (fitting, appropriate) in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:1–11). Tears at a funeral can be beautiful, as can tears of joy at a wedding. A fresh, young face is beautiful, but so is one lined by years of experience. 

God as the source of beauty 

Failure to recognize that all beauty has its source in God can lead to a form of idolatry: worshiping the reflection rather than the source. Ezekiel 16 is a long parable on the ways in which Israel abused its God-given beauty by prostituting itself to other nations. 

Physical beauty 

Several Bible passages emphasize that physical beauty is a fleeting thing. Physical beauty reflects the beauty of a good heart. 

• Proverbs 31:30, beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised 
• 1 Peter 3:3–4, beauty in the inner being, the lasting beauty of a gentle spirit 

The beauty of Jesus's transfiguration 

See Transfiguration Day  

With his face blazing with glorious brightness, the transfigured Jesus is a picture not only of divine glory, but also of his splendor as the new human who perfectly reflects the image of God. The Transfiguration thus pictures the beauty and glory of all humanity in Christ. 

• Matthew 17:1–9, the Transfiguration story in Matthew 
• Mark 9:2–8, the Transfiguration story in Mark 
• Luke 9:28–36, the Transfiguration story in Luke 

The beauty of the new creation 

John's vision of the new creation in Revelation 21–22  is nothing if not an evocation of beauty. From precious stones to stately gardens, the New Jerusalem, where God finally dwells with God's people, is a destination of overwhelming, glorious beauty. 

Sermon ideas about beauty

Sermons about beauty can discuss the human experience of beauty in light of the biblical message about beauty and its source. It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I wonder if someone whose heart is filled with hatred or lust is capable of perceiving beauty at all. To the greedy, a Rembrandt is measured in its cost. To the lustful, a beautiful person is reduced to their available orifices. The deeper we are mired in sin, the more ugly reality becomes. 

In art, what finally distinguishes the ugly from the beautiful is that the beautiful evokes and expresses reality and truth. The sentimental depiction of ordinary life in Norman Rockwell's painting Freedom from Want (his famous depiction of a Thanksgiving dinner) and the ugliness of war expressed in Picasso's Guernica can both be called beautiful. But paradoxically, many would say that the Picasso more fully expresses the truth of life and is therefore the more beautiful. 

Writers through the ages have observed that the things we find beautiful can never fully satisfy our souls because our desires are fulfilled in God. And in his song "Not Dark Yet," Bob Dylan observes, "Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain." In sermons about beauty, we can explore these connections.