More often than not, the significance and value of the body are grossly underestimated. We can be tempted to view our true personhood as ultimately a spiritual matter divorced from our physical existence. Within this paradigm, our bodies are, at best, labeled as temporary, non-essential vessels that our spirits, our beings, transcend at death. At worst, the human body is deemed a limiting and embarrassing prison from which we will one day escape and be free.

When our bodies are perceived as disposable, the corporality of our human existence becomes degraded and disregarded as well. Making physical contact with another person is gradually eclipsed by the expediency of establishing a virtual connection. If we are nothing more than spirits in a material world, then we are liable to care less about how we treat all the other forms of life that surround us, including the planet. When our bodies become secondary to our souls, physical exploitation or abuse based on race or gender is rationalized. Human dignity begins to lose any association with the preservation of bodies in life or death. Bodies become commodities—filling a seat, occupying space, marking time, but always expendable.

Our bodies, however, are an essential part of the expression of who we are. In giving us life, our Creator does not trap our humanity in a physical shell. Rather, humankind is formed in the divine image from the dust and dirt of a newly birthed universe—inextricably uniting us with the materiality of the earth. The human body then becomes rounded out as it is animated by the breath or spirit of God. Like the rest of creation, the emergence of humankind is affirmed as being good—including the physical nature of our existence.

From the beginning, the image of God is revealed through the expression of the human body and spirit working in tandem and not in opposition to each other. Relational connections are forged through the embodiment of our thoughts, feelings, and will. Even in our engagement with our Creator, the Bible calls us to get physical - to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Our faith, what we believe, is to be incarnated or fleshed out through our actions.

Some associate the frailty and vulnerability of the body as the root cause of humanity’s later brokenness and imperfection. But the assertion of the weakness of the flesh has less to do with our bodies than humanity’s nature towards being unhealthily self-centered. Ironically, being consumed by an idolatry of self misguides us into a dysfunctional relationship with our flesh and bone. A hyper-fixation upon our body’s appearance, attractiveness, strength, and performance lead to insecurity, abuse, or even hatred of our physique. It also fosters harmful comparison and rivalry, keeping many of our relationships merely skin-deep.

But this fatal flaw that haunts and threatens us is not left unresolved by our Creator. God is not distant or remote from the trauma we inflict and bear on ourselves and each other. In a surprising act of solidarity aimed at our salvation, our Creator steps out of eternity into time as “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”’(John 1:14). In the person of Jesus Christ, the One in whose image we are made comes down and embodies our humanity—the reflection we bear of His divine likeness. The revelation and the deliverance of our complete healing and renewal result because God becomes a body.

Everything God imparts to us in Christ—true wisdom, unmerited forgiveness, unconditional love, empowering grace—is exhibited not just with words but through tangible actions. The lessons of the Kingdom of Heaven are displayed through radical expressions of hospitality. Declarations of inclusion are modeled as Jesus reaches out and touches the untouchable, raises up those forsaken and left for dead, and lowers himself to wash the feet of his followers. Christ institutes a sacred communion made available first by breaking bread with those deemed unacceptable and unworthy but ultimately through becoming the bread that is broken through willingly offering his own flesh and blood on a Cross for all the world.

That our redemption comes through and not apart from our bodies is observed, not through Jesus’ death but through his resurrection. Jesus is raised from the dead not as a disembodied spirit but with a body—transformed and yet still in continuity with the physicality of life we know. Those who encounter the risen Christ interact with someone they can see and touch, someone who eats with them. Later as Jesus imparts the power of his Spirit upon his disciples, he does so through the act of breathing upon them. Mirroring the creation of humanity, through the giving of his Spirit, a new body is formed - the Body of Christ - followers of Jesus who embody his character and purpose through how they serve others and engage the world. 

The image of God is made present in the world via our bodies, and God’s desire and purposes for all creation are intended to be lived out through our embodied existence. Our Creator reinforces this not only through the gift of our creation but also through the grace of our salvation. The resurrected body of Jesus forever bears the mark, the scars of his everlasting love and commitment to us. We worship and glorify God as we, through the strength of the Spirit, likewise offer our “bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1), reaching out in compassion and mercy to others for the sake of their wellbeing—body, mind, and soul.

More often than not, the significance and value of the body are grossly underestimated. We can be tempted to view our true personhood as ultimately a spiritual matter divorced from our physical existence. Within this paradigm, our bodies are, at best, labeled as temporary, non-essential vessels that our spirits, our beings, transcend at death. At worst, the human body is deemed a limiting and embarrassing prison from which we will one day escape and be free.

When our bodies are perceived as disposable, the corporality of our human existence becomes degraded and disregarded as well. Making physical contact with another person is gradually eclipsed by the expediency of establishing a virtual connection. If we are nothing more than spirits in a material world, then we are liable to care less about how we treat all the other forms of life that surround us, including the planet. When our bodies become secondary to our souls, physical exploitation or abuse based on race or gender is rationalized. Human dignity begins to lose any association with the preservation of bodies in life or death. Bodies become commodities—filling a seat, occupying space, marking time, but always expendable.

Our bodies, however, are an essential part of the expression of who we are. In giving us life, our Creator does not trap our humanity in a physical shell. Rather, humankind is formed in the divine image from the dust and dirt of a newly birthed universe—inextricably uniting us with the materiality of the earth. The human body then becomes rounded out as it is animated by the breath or spirit of God. Like the rest of creation, the emergence of humankind is affirmed as being good—including the physical nature of our existence.

From the beginning, the image of God is revealed through the expression of the human body and spirit working in tandem and not in opposition to each other. Relational connections are forged through the embodiment of our thoughts, feelings, and will. Even in our engagement with our Creator, the Bible calls us to get physical - to love God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) Our faith, what we believe, is to be incarnated or fleshed out through our actions.

Some associate the frailty and vulnerability of the body as the root cause of humanity’s later brokenness and imperfection. But the assertion of the weakness of the flesh has less to do with our bodies than humanity’s nature towards being unhealthily self-centered. Ironically, being consumed by an idolatry of self misguides us into a dysfunctional relationship with our flesh and bone. A hyper-fixation upon our body’s appearance, attractiveness, strength, and performance lead to insecurity, abuse, or even hatred of our physique. It also fosters harmful comparison and rivalry, keeping many of our relationships merely skin-deep.

But this fatal flaw that haunts and threatens us is not left unresolved by our Creator. God is not distant or remote from the trauma we inflict and bear on ourselves and each other. In a surprising act of solidarity aimed at our salvation, our Creator steps out of eternity into time as “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”’(John 1:14). In the person of Jesus Christ, the One in whose image we are made comes down and embodies our humanity—the reflection we bear of His divine likeness. The revelation and the deliverance of our complete healing and renewal result because God becomes a body.

Everything God imparts to us in Christ—true wisdom, unmerited forgiveness, unconditional love, empowering grace—is exhibited not just with words but through tangible actions. The lessons of the Kingdom of Heaven are displayed through radical expressions of hospitality. Declarations of inclusion are modeled as Jesus reaches out and touches the untouchable, raises up those forsaken and left for dead, and lowers himself to wash the feet of his followers. Christ institutes a sacred communion made available first by breaking bread with those deemed unacceptable and unworthy but ultimately through becoming the bread that is broken through willingly offering his own flesh and blood on a Cross for all the world.

That our redemption comes through and not apart from our bodies is observed, not through Jesus’ death but through his resurrection. Jesus is raised from the dead not as a disembodied spirit but with a body—transformed and yet still in continuity with the physicality of life we know. Those who encounter the risen Christ interact with someone they can see and touch, someone who eats with them. Later as Jesus imparts the power of his Spirit upon his disciples, he does so through the act of breathing upon them. Mirroring the creation of humanity, through the giving of his Spirit, a new body is formed - the Body of Christ - followers of Jesus who embody his character and purpose through how they serve others and engage the world. 

The image of God is made present in the world via our bodies, and God’s desire and purposes for all creation are intended to be lived out through our embodied existence. Our Creator reinforces this not only through the gift of our creation but also through the grace of our salvation. The resurrected body of Jesus forever bears the mark, the scars of his everlasting love and commitment to us. We worship and glorify God as we, through the strength of the Spirit, likewise offer our “bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1), reaching out in compassion and mercy to others for the sake of their wellbeing—body, mind, and soul.