How do you view your body? Do you see it as important? Do you believe that what you do with your body matters?
What comes to mind when you think about the purpose and value of your body is part of your worldview and will shape your decisions. Think of how many areas of life relate to our bodies: Clothes, gender, food, exercise, sex, sleep, hygiene, medicine, and more! How you use your body will impact your soul and your relationship with God and others.
There are many things that we could say about a biblical view of the body, but in this article we have one goal: We want you to understand from the testimony of the Bible that your body matters, so that you’re inspired to give more thought to the relationship between your body and your walk with God. In order for you to believe that your body matters, we need to expose an erroneous teaching that devalues our bodies.
What Keeps Us from Believing in the Value of Our Bodies?
There is an old idea that can creep into our thinking as followers of Jesus. It’s the idea that the material world matters less to God than the spiritual world; it’s the idea that the part of our personhood that matters most is non-material—our spiritual, intellectual, emotional lives—our souls. This is a mistaken idea that Scripture rejects.
The Bible speaks of us as whole persons; complex beings whom God knit together in his wisdom (Psalm 139:13). It does not consider the body or soul as more valuable than the other. Rather, the Bible speaks of our bodies as our ultimate place of worship, from which our spirituality flows (1 Corinthians 16:19; Acts 17:28). We relate to God as whole persons, not as spirits only.
A person is a soul with an intellect and emotions, but every person also is a body, and their body is core to who they are, and how they relate to God and others. Our bodies matter to God. He made them! And he made us with bodies, to enjoy his world and him in them!
Our Bodies Are Essential to Our Personhood
From the very beginning, we experience life and our relationship with God as embodied beings. In the Bible’s opening chapters, we see that human existence is tangible and material; God beautifully designed human beings as physical creatures, and before he breathed into the first man the breath of life, he formed him from the dust (Genesis 2:7). God placed him in a garden to work and keep (Genesis 2:15). He gave the man another physical being (a woman!) as his companion, and he gave them food to eat (Genesis 2:16, 18). God invented our bodies and their purposes—they are his masterpiece, his gift to us!
In the grand story of the Bible, when God determined to save sinners, he did so by being born into a body like our own in the person we call Jesus (John 1:14). And at the end of the Bible story we do not find that our souls and bodies remain separated, and our souls go to paradise while our bodies continue to decay. No, the Bible ends with a resurrection, where all who have put their faith in Jesus will not live in an ethereal world, but in resurrected bodies in a new heavens and new earth.
God made us with bodies, God saved us by entering our embodied existence, and he plans to resurrect our bodies.
Why All This Talk About Our Bodies?
People reading this article will vary greatly in how they view and feel about their bodies.
Some people are so convinced their bodies matter that their bodies become their gods. They worship their bodies, live to please their bodies, and care for their bodies obsessively.
Some people know their bodies matter and care for them well in moderation—prioritizing good food, enough sleep, exercise, and good hygiene.
Some people never think about their bodies. They live in survival mode and don’t give thought to their bodies because they don’t have the time or luxury.
And some, sadly, hate their bodies, usually on account of the deep pain that they have experienced in the body.
Wherever you place yourself on the spectrum, the truth is the same. Your body matters to God—what you think about your body, what you do with it and how you treat it.
In conclusion, we aren’t going to provide you with a fitness regimen or dietary plans, or a checklist for what to wear or not wear. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to lead you in the specific, everyday details of your life. We simply want to present to you truth from God’s Word that can shape how you view your body and encourage you to begin exploring what the Bible says about our bodies so that you can glorify God in how you live.
