What the Bible Says About the Body

By Paul E. Boatman

The body. Artists draw, paint, and sculpt it. Exhibitionists display it. Pornographers exploit it. Oglers leer at it. Sadists abuse it. Physicians attempt to heal it. Aging adults bemoan it, at least their own edition of it. And God created it.

The Bible knows little of Western society”s various obsessions with “the body,” yet it speaks prophetically and candidly to virtually every significant concern connected to the body.

Avoiding Sin

The Old Testament is uniformly matter of fact regarding the body. It is most clearly perceived as a physical entity, somehow entwined with God”s image, empowered by the breath (Spirit) of God, to be cared for with respectful stewardship. Adam and Eve, in the recognition of their primary sin, sought to hide the nakedness of their bodies. Various directives of the Mosaic code call for treatment of bodily maladies (see especially Leviticus 13″“15) and for dietary patterns that have the effect of preventive health care. However, the Old Testament does not seem to develop major theologies around the body.

The New Testament significantly expands our understanding. Jesus” Sermon on the Mount homes in on bodily perspectives that are surprisingly akin to postmodern irresponsibility. As Jesus addresses those who absolve themselves of personal accountability for sins””apparently believing that “my body has a mind of its own”””he challenges the self-deception through his “cut it off, pluck it out” teaching (Matthew 5:29, 30). He teaches that sin does not originate in mere biochemical reactions of the physical body, but in the mind of the sinning person.

Paul seems to resonate with Jesus” understanding of the interaction of soma (body) and psyche (mind), in saying “I discipline my body and make it my slave” (1 Corinthians 9:27, New American Standard Bible). The mortal body, without imposed discipline, is a self-centered tyrant, but under the lordship of Christ it becomes an earthen vessel to be used for godly and eternal purposes. Thus, the body is to be offered in sacrificial service to an immortal God (Romans 12:1).

Learning from Analogies

It is in analogies that the most vivid biblical discussion of the body comes into play. The temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) is an often uncomfortable simile. As a child, I saw this allusion as a clear teaching against such self-abusive behaviors as smoking and drunkenness. Context shows the specific emphasis is on sexual immorality, with its negative impact upon both body and soul. Yet the image is so potent it enables application to almost any bodily activity that ignores God”s call for holy living.

God has graciously sent his Holy Spirit to dwell within us as we inhabit our bodies. Others may not be able to look at our bodies and discern our hearts and minds, but they can assuredly observe holiness or unholiness by the way we act toward and through our bodies.

The image of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12 and elsewhere) is the most extensively developed metaphor for the church. This New Testament analogy relies upon a perspective rooted in the Old Testament idea of the wholeness of the body to mandate the unified function of the corporate church.

In Corinth, archeologists found a cistern full of body-part carvings, testifying to the fragmented priorities that unredeemed Corinthians may have placed upon parts of the body. Christian wholeness of the body challenged the Corinthians to abandon divisiveness in the church, even as they rejected a disunited approach to their physical bodies.

In relating the church to Christ”s body, Paul alludes to a central dynamic of the gospel. The incarnation (John 1:14) is the powerful reality of God taking bodily form. The sinless life (Hebrews 4:15) was capped by the abuses against Christ”s body and the resurrection of his slain body. A primary evidence that he lives is in the extensive witness of people seeing him in bodily form (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). In his own distinct way, Jesus blurred the lines of the literal and the figurative in his final Passover observance with his disciples. As he broke the loaf he spoke the remarkable words, “Take, eat; this is My body” (Matthew 26:26, NASB).

Which Body?

What does the Bible say about the body? It depends on which body.

Concerning our physical bodies, Scripture consistently calls for respect and stewardship, avoiding any semblance of idolatry of the body.

Concerning Christ”s physical body, it was the dwelling place for God”s only begotten Son, a body that could not be drawn into sin, a body that Jesus yielded up for our benefit, a body that could not be held by the grave, a body that we are commanded to remember in a sacred feast.

Concerning the church as Christ”s body, we are to join our Lord in loving it, honoring it, serving it, and being a unified part of it.

 

 

Paul Boatman is dean of the seminary and professor of pastoral care and counseling at Lincoln (Illinois) Christian College and Seminary.