Our Bodies and God’s Design: Part 1
Written by Jared Burkholder | Pastor of Outreach and Connections
It’s still near the first of the year, and most people are thinking about their bodies — cholesterol to be lowered, fat to be shed, muscle to be toned, blood sugar regulated, hair dyed (might I recommend A Touch of Grey), and wardrobe updated. And this isn’t a new year or even a “this year” point of emphasis. Humanity has always spent a significant amount of time navel-gazing, both metaphorically and literally.
“But far more than the aesthetics of our humanity, the philosophy behind a person’s perspective on their body carries massive cultural importance.”
It’s fascinating to consider how many contemporary cultural issues are tied to one’s perspective on the body. A worldview is like a tunnel: where you go in is where you will come out. How a person thinks about pornography, dysmorphia, transgenderism, homosexuality, substance use, and even food consumption all flow out of a particular understanding of what bodies are and how they relate to the rest of a person’s being.
This explains how someone could see abortion as morally possible and even encouraged. A fetus remains a mere clump of cells in a worldview that considers personhood coming after birth. When that organism threatens the mother’s ability to fully express herself as a person, the pregnancy can be terminated. This further explains how someone might feel free to reject their biological gender in favor of a chosen gender they feel matches more closely with their personhood. This is understandable in a naturalistic, evolutionary worldview that sees the body as a mechanism of animal existence. The body exists only to serve the person and has no reciprocal relationship with shaping the nature or expression of someone’s personhood. This underscores why the correct view of the body matters. To embrace an unbiblical and ungodly perspective in this area moves beyond merely a discussion of humanity and serves to shape one’s moral framework.
To rightly understand the body, we must first understand how it relates to the rest of our being. In her excellent work, Love Thy Body, Nancy Pearcey identifies how modern society separates personhood from bodily reality. She explains this ideological distinction: “To be biologically human is a scientific fact. But to be a person is an ethical concept, defined by what we value.”(1) In such a mindset, the body is merely an organism. The person, however, is the mind, the heart, and the force behind human existence. This separation views the body as a pliable material, able to be adjusted to accommodate the desires, whims, and convictions of the person inhabiting the body.
But denigrating the body isn’t just the domain of the secular and liberal. Many in conservative evangelicalism hold a dim view of the body that represents itself in undervaluing emotional, mental, and physical well-being. In many ways, in reaction to the social gospel of the 1920s, conservatives have eschewed ministry that failed to provide a return on investment toward spiritual conversations and conversion. This has created an environment of suspicion regarding mercy ministry and acts of kindness that fail to translate to more spiritual matters immediately.
Both ends fail to account for the beautiful unity that God intended in his design for both body and soul, material and immaterial. Sometimes we need a Scripture verse or time of prayer for encouragement and growth. And sometimes, we just need a nap.
The Scriptures present an understanding of humanity that, while never conflating the body and the soul, see them as operating in indivisible harmony. Michael Cortez refers to this as a “holistic dualism,”(2) a unified body/soul duality. More helpful, perhaps, is considering humans as embodied souls—inseparable on this side of eternity from the physical, but more than mere physicality. And, in this life, the soul and body live in constant interplay.
“To understand the body, we first must understand how it relates to the rest of our being. And we see this clearly represented in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.”
To be clear, in John 1, the flesh that the Word became was truly human. Jesus took upon himself the fullness of humanity in the incarnation. A humanity with dandruff and hunger pains, and indigestion. The Gospels represent the realness of his humanity. Jesus wept and slept and ate and, at times, had B.O. That Christ entered true humanity unashamed by and unswerving from its reality indicates that the body itself is not the problem. That Christ didn’t remain merely a mortal human on earth tells us that the body isn’t the solution.
We’ve barely dipped a human toe into the pool of all that there is to explore here, but let’s consider some summary principles from Scripture:
1. God created the body in all its fullness. While sin mars the quality of our bodies and perverts the purpose of our bodies, it fails to undermine its fundamental ontology. And many parts of our humanness aren’t evil—they are part of God’s design. Our need for rest, food, water, friendship, beauty, and movement are part of God’s good design for mankind. We celebrate the uniqueness and design of God’s creation when we embrace the limitations and beauty of our bodies.
2. God united the material and the immaterial. We must avoid denigrating our bodies and their interconnectedness with our souls. But we also understand how the spiritual must shape the ways we think about and live in our bodies. This means my identity, ontology, purpose, hope, and very eternal life stand outside of but speak meaning into how I live in my body.
3. God will transform our bodies. The eternal state is not a disembodied existence but the reunion of our souls with our bodies, eternally. These bodies will shed the stain of sin and the weight of mortality but will resemble, in so many ways, the bodies of our earthly existence. This anchors my life in my body here and now with transcendent hope.
As Christians, we avoid fearing our bodies, and we avoid worshipping our bodies. As embodied souls, we live in our bodies, marshaling our very selves in faithfulness to God, who created all things. Understanding, believing, and living this truth allows us to shine as bright lights, highlighting the beauty of God’s design and the beauty of God himself. Amid a dark and chaotic world, Christians get the privilege of representing the best of God’s intention for his creation. And we do this for his glory until he comes back to make our bodies new.
End Notes
(1) Nancy Pearcey, Love Thy Body (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2018), 19.
(2) Michael Cortez, Theological Anthropology (New York: T&T Clark International, 2010), 73.