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Hebrews 10:5
“When Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me.’”
Over the centuries, Christian theologians have sought to understand what Scripture means when it says that God made man in His own image (Gen. 1:26–27). Given that human beings are body-soul composites, one question has been whether the physical body is part of the image of God in any way. Many thinkers have argued that the divine image is only or at least mostly found in the human soul.
Given that the divine essence is not physical and that the human soul is not physical, this impulse to limit the image of God to the soul is understandable. Scripture, however, seems to teach otherwise. First, when the Bible describes the creation of humanity, it never says that only the human soul is made in the image of God. Second, the Word of God often describes God in bodily terms. The psalmist, for example, calls on the Lord to raise His “hand” to give assistance to the afflicted (Ps. 10:12). Hanani the seer told King Asa of Judah that the “eyes of the Lord” are looking for those who are blameless (2 Chron. 16:9). Certainly, we understand that this is anthropomorphic language, describing God in human terms that are not meant to be taken literally. God in His divine essence does not have hands, eyes, or other body parts as we do. Nevertheless, the use of such language has bearing on how we understand God’s image in humanity. Our hands mirror the Lord’s hands not in that God is a physical being but in that God acts in the world and we use our hands to act in the world. All this is to say that the human body is part of the image of God.
Ancient Greek thinkers such as Plato thought that the goal of humanity was for the soul to escape the body, leaving it behind. Scripture says otherwise. The body is not incidental but essential to who we are as human beings, though it is currently beset by weaknesses and infirmities on account of sin. It was originally pronounced “very good” when the Lord spoke that benediction over creation (Gen. 1:31). The goodness of the body can also be seen in the fact that Christ was raised bodily from the dead and will have a human body forever and that we will be resurrected on the last day, our present physical bodies’ being glorified and perfected (1 Cor. 15). Note especially the Son of God’s taking into personal union a complete human nature, including a body. There could be no higher affirmation of the body’s importance than that (Heb. 10:5).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
At death, our bodies rest in the grave while our souls go to be with Christ in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8). That does not make our bodies less essential to who we are, however. We should take care of our physical bodies because they are part of God’s original good creation, and we should look forward to the resurrection on the last day.
For further study
- Genesis 2
- Psalm 139
- Romans 8:23
- 2 Corinthians 1:9
The bible in a year
- Nehemiah 1–3
- Acts 1:12–2:13