Read Gen 1:26-28, 31; 2:7, 18-25
Our bodies are often in the background when we think about our spiritual lives, but contrary to how many think, the Bible puts our bodies in the foreground of our spirituality and humanity. The Bible is not alone, as many wrestle with serious questions about the importance of the body in our cultural climate. When we are tempted to be more “disembodied” than ever, we will turn our attention to the beautiful mystery that our God is embodied and created us to be embodied.
1. Your Body is Wonderfully Made
Something so obvious that we often move past it quickly is that God created the human body. Genesis reveals that He is the master craftsman, designer, and artist. Every time God creates physical and material things, He calls them “good,” but after creating humanity, He surveys all of his creation and calls it “very good.” Another unique feature of humanity in the text is that the combination of body and soul is attributed to His “image.” As embodied persons made in the image of God, we are made to be a visible manifestation of God’s invisible glory, beauty, and goodness.
The body is not incidental to who we are, as if it were some kind of shell for our soul. Genesis 2 zooms in to reveal that the body is formed first before the breath of life (soul or spirit) animates the body. So, who are you? You are an embodied person created in the image of God. You are an unrepeatable wonder, what Bavinck calls a “marvelous piece of art,” designed to reveal something special about God.
2. Your Body is Tragically Broken
If my body is wonderfully made, then why does it hurt? Why does my image often feel more like a burden than a gift? The Bible reminds us that we don’t only experience the curse of sin relationally or spiritually, but bodily. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were “naked and unashamed,” that is, they had complete acceptance of their bodies. After the Fall, we see that they hid in shame from God and themselves. They no longer felt they were wonderful, pleasing, and holy reflections of God. Our bodies also break down as we move toward death, and our work involves sweat and toil.
We live with the tension in our bodies that we are wonderfully made but tragically broken. We could call this body incongruence. Instead of wholeness and unity between our body and soul, we feel at odds with ourselves. This explains why we often struggle with body image and produce all kinds of coverings to make ourselves more acceptable and pleasing to ourselves and others. We are looking for something (or someone) to affirm that we are acceptable, pleasing, or good.
3. Your Body Will Be Even More Wonderfully Remade
There is no way to redeem our bodies from their broken state in our own power. We must look to Jesus, who bears our brokenness and paves the way for bodily redemption. According to the Bible, Jesus had the most perfect body because He perfectly reflected the image of the Father in visible, physical form as a man. Though he perfectly reflected God on earth, Jesus’ body was tragically broken when he endured the Cross because of our sins. Yet, He rose from the dead in the same body that was broken, died, and scarred forever. Though we are not fully home in our bodies on earth, they will be made glorious like His body.
The good news about the body, according to the gospel, is that, by faith, your body is united to His, and you are wholly acceptable, pleasing, and holy by His merit. He offered his body for us so that we might die to trying to make it acceptable or pleasing on our own. In loving obedience, we might reflect him as his image: “Thank you, God. You have made me a wonder. I offer my body to you!” Indeed, we might still struggle to look at our own “selfies,” but God sees a body made in His image, pleasing and acceptable to Him. He gave it to us and redeemed it from its brokenness through Christ. How could we not offer it back to Him?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?
Do you see your embodied nature as a wonder? Does it resonate with you that God made your body “very good” and unrepeatable? How might this encourage you when you are wrestling with your image or comparing yourself with others?
What is something you notice about yourself when you take a selfie? Do you gravitate toward the “very good” or the “broken”? How does this relate to what you notice about others?
What are some typical ways that people hide or cover feelings of body incongruence: feeling at odds with yourself in your body? Are you tempted toward any of those yourself?
How is the tragically broken body of Jesus the answer to our tragically broken bodies? How do you need to receive his body “broken for you” today? (Look at Hebrews 10:5-25 for reference)
Read Philippians 3:20-21. How does this passage encourage you to look to Jesus and trust him for the transformation of your body into something wonderfully remade? How does this hope differ from what our culture tries to promise us apart from him?
Why does God want us to offer our bodies back to Him? How does sin tempt us to use our bodies for ourselves? What would it look like to offer your body to God, and how does this lead to a holistic and flourishing life in the body?