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Genesis 2:4–7
“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7).
In yesterday’s study, we saw that the Biblical assertion that we are made in the image of God informs us that we are designed to reflect God’s non-physical attributes. The simple reason for this is that God has no physical attributes; He is Spirit. However, that does not mean that the body is an unimportant part of our humanness. When God created, He did not make disembodied souls, minds, wills, or feelings. He made physical bodies into which He breathed the breath of life. Furthermore, Scripture is clear that it is God’s intention to redeem His people’s bodies as well as their souls.
Unfortunately, many throughout history have thought and taught that the body is inherently evil, and such thinking has invaded the church. Plato’s teaching on this subject has been especially influential. He believed that the highest order of reality is not the physical realm but that of ideas, and any actual thing (including a human being) is just a cheap imitation of me perfect idea on which it is based. As Christians encountered such secular thinking, it seemed to square with aspects of Christian doctrine, which is deeply concerned with the spiritual realm (though not to the exclusion of the physical). Thus, physical things, especially the body, came to be seen as bad while spiritual things, such as the soul, were seen as good, and redemption came to be defined as the release of the soul from the prison house of the body. This led to all sorts of ascetic practices through the centuries as Christians sought to “mortify” their bodies to prepare their souls to enjoy God unencumbered by their mortal flesh, and such practices are far from unknown even today.
The truth is that the body as well as the soul is vitally important to our humanness. Though we may distinguish them, we must never separate them, lest we make man into something God did not intend him to be. Unlike many world religions and philosophies, Christianity does not teach “dualism”—a constant conflict between equal and opposite forces than cannot be reconciled. The body and the soul are not in competition or tension in man. The Christian view is of a “duality,” which holds that man is a harmonic unity composed of two essential aspects—body and soul. Thus he was created and thus he will exist, except for a brief time after death, for all eternity.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Do you tend to devalue the body? Read the verses below, then reflect on two truths. First, God created man and then judged His entire creation, including the human body, “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Second, at me Last Day we will be given glorified bodies, in which we will live forever. Praise God that He made us soul and body.
For Further Study
- Romans 8:23
- 1 Corinthians 15:40–44
- Philippians 3:20–21