Beauty is one of those things in our societies that’s hard to define as every society has different criteria. To make it even more difficult, what’s considered beautiful is left to an individual’s personal tastes and preferences. What quickly becomes apparent to each of us is what beauty is not.
Regardless of its definition of beauty, society–and the people in it–are always quick to indicate what is not considered beautiful. But what does God say about beauty? Let’s examine some Bible verses about beauty to see what we can learn about God’s opinion of it.
What Does the Bible Say About Beauty?
Table of Contents
The first time beauty appears in the Bible was in the book of Genesis,
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:4 ESV).
The word translated as “good” is the Hebrew word ṭôwb, (pronounced tobe). It could also have been translated to mean beautiful, best, better, pleasant, or agreeable. Tôwb is commonly used to indicate that something is pleasant to all the senses.
What is beauty if not that?
The Oxford Dictionary defines beauty as a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Beauty, then, was a part of Creation and we get our love of beauty from God.
But beauty in the eyes of our Creator, is not the same as beauty through the eyes of the world. Beauty, according to the world is used as a measuring stick. It separates those who are worthy from those who are not.
It is a determinant of benefits where the beautiful ones get better treatment and more amenities than those who are not.
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Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself. If you have been classified as beautiful by the world’s standards, then maybe you’ve received preferential treatment or attracted a certain type of attention.
If you had not attained beauty as the world defines it, you may have been ostracized or treated poorly. You may have experienced loneliness or isolation. Whatever the case, I’d like to remind you that God’s opinion of beauty is different than that of the world’s.
So what, if anything, does God say about beauty?
What does God say about outer beauty?
I think we learn more about what God thinks about beauty from what He does not say. In Genesis 1-2, God repeatedly used the phrase, “it was good”, with one exception: Adam’s lack of a mate was not good (Genesis 2:18), a matter that was quickly resolved.
As we already know from our earlier study, we know that God was saying the things that had been created were pleasing to all His senses. The most popular statement that God made about outward beauty was in relation to Eliab,
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7 ESV
God was not swayed by his outward beauty as He was more concerned about Eliab’s inner beauty or lack thereof. God wants our beauty to reflect from the inside out.
Bible Verses About Beauty
We can learn a lot about God’s opinion about beauty from studying Bible verses about beauty. Here are just a few lessons for us. Download the free Bible verses about beauty printable so you can always have these reminders of what God says about beauty.
1. Our focus should be on developing our inner beauty rather than simply perfecting the outward appearance of beauty.
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. – 1 Peter 3:3-4 ESV
2. Physical beauty is temporary, so spend more time developing a reverent fear of God than you do on your outward appearance.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. – Proverbs 31:30 ESV
3. Physical beauty can lead to pride which in turn can lead to destruction.
Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. – Ezekiel 28:17 ESV
4. When we spend time in God’s presence, we’ll reflect His beauty.
Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. – Psalm 34:5 ESV
5. God is more concerned about the condition of a person’s heart than their physical appearance.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7 ESV
6. Beauty is in the eye of the Creator. We were created by the hand of God and we know from the story of Creation that everything He makes is good.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10 ESV
Through God’s eyes, beauty is more than skin-deep. This was one of the reasons Finding Beauty by Rebecca Friedlander was such a fascinating read, it gave a visual expression of the way God looks at beauty.
Finding Beauty Review
Twelve women tell their stories of God’s redemptive power. They share how He took their twisted, broken lives and remade it into something beautiful. Each chapter of Finding Beautiful: Discovering Authentic Beauty around the World begins with the featured woman’s story and then has a section for the author’s experience. Finally, the chapter’s lesson is tied to Scripture to show God’s perspective.
Ms. Friedlander first photographs each woman in a way that represents their broken identity, and then as they appeared after they had embraced their new identity from God. The photographs tell a powerful tale. They speak of how the world sees us and causes us to see ourselves, but more importantly, they show how God sees each of His daughters and the transformation that awaits if we would just run into His arms.
Know God—God has the power to transform us. When we live our lives outside of His presence there is despair, abuse, and an incorrect view of self. But when we turn to Him and allow Him to define us, there is a dramatic change. Spend some time reading and studying Bible verses about beauty to internalize the lessons. The more you understand what God says about beauty, the more you will see yourself through His eyes.
Know yourself—an intimate knowledge of God gives us true knowledge of self. Despite what the world teaches, we will never truly know who we are if we don’t spend time getting to know God. The stories of these 12 women show us that. They each had to put aside the “truth” they had known about themselves before Christ in order to embrace their identity as the daughter of the Great King.
Run your race—these were stories of hope. No matter what has happened in your past, God gives grace and He gives it abundantly. He also gives each of us the ability—and the power—to run the race that He has set before us.
Favorite Quotes from Finding Beautiful
One of the secrets of God’s kingdom is that following Christ often leads us to the very thing we were hoping to find all along.
Many times the thing we think we want is a substitute for something else. We may think we want attention from men but what we really want is love—the love which our Heavenly Father provides abundantly.
Sometimes we need to turn to a fresh page and allow our Father in heaven to define Himself based on accurate descriptions in Scripture rather than defining Him based on what our past or society tells us.
Don’t we do this? We always want to put God in a box that is created by the fallen, broken people in our lives. We sometimes act as though He has to behave the same as we do in much the same way as the Greek and Egyptian gods.
Sometimes our dreams need a makeover. We think we know exactly what our dreams will look like, but when our hopes come crashing down, we feel as if God hasn’t been faithful. This is a good time to step back and ask God to do a new thing.
Yes! We want our dreams on our terms often forgetting that we were created to give glory to God. Sometimes we can’t have what we want because our motives aren’t right. And that’s when we have to ask God to take away our dreams and replace them with His.
Have you read Finding Beautiful? What did you think? Get your copy today. I received a copy of Finding Beautiful as part of the Baker Books Blogger program. A positive review was not required.
About Finding Beauty
Americans spend millions on beauty products, weight-loss programs, and age-defying medical interventions each year. We set impossible standards and feel bad about ourselves when we don’t reach them. Is beauty truly that difficult to attain? Or could it be that our idea of what’s beautiful is simply too narrow?
With engaging personal stories and dramatic before-and-after photography, filmmaker Rebecca Friedlander uncovers the true beauty of 12 women from various ethnicities and backgrounds, empowering us to shatter the lies of rejection, doubt, and low self-esteem. Utilizing compelling biblical truth and questions for personal reflection, Friedlander helps us identify our own personal battlegrounds, celebrate our uniqueness, and embrace God’s definition of beautiful.
Anyone who loves a great makeover story or who wants to explore their unique identity will love this eye-opening book. Let’s stop letting the world define beauty and start being a voice that tells the world what true beauty actually looks like.
About Rebecca Friedlander
Rebecca Friedlander has been in full-time ministry for 17 years, ministering both locally and internationally using creative arts and music. As a worship leader, she has copyrighted more than 300 songs and released 13 CDs. As a film producer and award-winning photographer, her productions include Seeds TV, Girl Perfect, Pioneers, A Southeast Alaskan Odyssey, Spiritual Warfare 101, Celtic Pilgrimage, and Thin Places.
Her newest production, Radical Makeovers, is a TV series about beauty, featuring makeovers and testimonies of 40 women around the world who have overcome image-related issues. The author of 8 books, Rebecca lives in San Diego, California. Visit rebeccafriedlander.com for more information.
Is Beauty a Gift from God?
The short answer to this question is yes. The Bible tells us that every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17). So yes, beauty is from God. But I hope that after reading this Bible study and the Bible verses about beauty you understand that the way God defines beauty is not the way it’s typically defined.
Of course, if you are physically beautiful as the world defines it, it’s time to consider a very important question: are you as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside? How have you used your beauty to give glory to God?
If the world doesn’t consider you beautiful on the outside, how does your inner beauty affect those around you? What would God say about your beauty?
My friend, regardless of which camp you fall in when it comes to outer beauty, it’s never too late to reflect the beauty of Christ.
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