The Theology of Ugliness

"There are no ugly people. Everyone is beautiful. God made them so you can't say they're ugly - They are beautiful." 

Have you ever heard any of these? I'm sure you have. You may have even been the one saying them and believing them. I however believe they are wrong. There really are ugly people in the world - Let me explain.

Scripture Call's People Ugly

The KJV Bible describes Leah (Jacob's first wife) as having “weak eyes.” Whether  that meant she was cross-eyed, half-blind  or needed thick glasses is unclear. Other translations do change the wording and suggest quite the opposite, stating that she had pretty eyes. What is apparently clear however is that she was not as beautiful as her sister. Scripture describes her younger sister, Rachel as “lovely in form, and beautiful.” (Gen. 29:17) Apparently, Jacob had an eye for beauty, because he chose to marry Rachel.

In Isaiah 3:24 when God describes the condition of backslidden Israel, he describes her as a woman stripped of her beauty. He even says that something will replace her beauty- Sin leaves Israel in a state of ugliness. This picture can only be presented if ugliness is a real possibility.

God's Creation

The most basic of arguments for the "Everyone's Beautiful" doctrine is the fact that every single human being is created by God in His image. This one of the foundational truths of Christianity which I sincerely believe but I do also believe that saying this is the reason for everyone being beautiful is a great misinterpretation of this truth.

What does scripture mean when it says that man was made in the image of God? The vast majority of bible scholars agree that this word image has nothing do with physical features, after all there are so many varieties of physical features in all the peoples of earth. Man is made in the image of God in the fact that he bears his moral nature - Man is a moral creature unlike the rest of creation.

Man Was Originally Beautiful

With that said, I must be clear that I do not believe Adam & Eve were ugly. I believe they were beautiful in every sense of the word and even more so than we would consider today:


Genesis 1:27,31 (ESV)
            27       So God created man in his own image,
      in the image of God he created him;
      male and female he created them.


31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

When God created the first people, they were perfect. There were no flaws that we would consider unattractive at all. Their skin was clear, there was no blemishes, spots or acne. They had perfect limbs, 10 fingers, 10 toes, perfectly aligned teeth, and whatever else you may consider to be a physical sign of perfection in beauty.

Man's Beauty Was Lost

The event's of Genesis 3 (Man's fall) are most important to this subject. I am convinced that one of the consequences of the fall was ugliness. 

What is ugliness but imperfection? How did man get imperfect except by sin?

I am certain that anyone reading this would know of someone with a physical defromity. Did God create man that way? No he didn't. Why then do we have people with deformities? It is only because of sin in the world.

I believe that just as sin caused sickness to enter the world, so ugliness entered the world through sin also. In fact the reality is that every single one of us has something ugly about us. This is the reason why even the most beautiful among us can sometimes be dissatisfied with their appearance. They look in the mirror and still see the imperfections. These imperfections may be small, even insignificant to some but the reality is that they are there.

Why A Theology of Ugliness is Important

If all of us, as a result of sin are affected by ugliness even the most beautiful among us, there has to be some meaning to this. 

Ugliness and the lack of beauty both serve an important purpose of teaching us that sin has robbed us of  the true beauty that God intended us to have. The most beautiful of people of in this world are never satisfied with their appearance. They look into their mirrors and see faults and flaws that need fixing, they spend thousands of dollars to fix things that others may consider insignificant. The truth is that they will never be satisfied because they have not identified the fact that what they see is far deeper than a physical flaw.

You must understand this; Man's recognition of his ugliness and desire to be free from it is exactly what Paul spoke of many times in his writings:


Romans 8:18–21 (ESV)
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

God has programed man to not be satisfied with his physical appearance because that very feeling is an indication of his spiritual condition.

The Hope in Ugliness

In Isaiah 53 we are presented with a picture of our suffering savior. He is said in verse to be without form or beauty. With a face that no one would desire, all of this was because he bore our sin. Just as man's sin caused ugliness to enter humanity, Christ became ugly when he bore our sin.

Central to the message of the Gospel is the doctrine of substitution (Or as Martin Luther called it, "The Great Exchange". This doctrine simply teaches that Christ took something of ours and gave us something of his. So Christ takes:

• Our sin and gives us his righteousness
• Our separation from God and gives us the position of children and heirs of God.
• Our ugliness and gives us beauty

I believe that the final point will only be fully realized in the resurrection - When Jesus returns and reconciles all things in himself, there will be no ugly people. In the coming heavenly kingdom, perfection will rule. No-one will have any physical disability, and there will also be no ugliness there. We will look into the mirror and be completed satisfied with the perfection of Christ. It is then and only then we will fully understand what the Psalmist said:

Psalm 149:4 (KJV)

      For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people:
                  He will beautify the meek with salvation.