TARA GIBBS|CONTRIBUTOR

Have you heard the word “embodied” being used more in the last few years? If asked to define that word a few years ago, I would have defined it “represents” or “lives out” as in, “She embodies the values of her home church.”

But people are talking a lot more these days about a different definition of embodiment, one that addresses what it means to inhabit our physical bodies. As we observe our culture today, we see more and more confusion about how much our physical body defines who we are. Modern culture seems increasingly inclined to separate identity from our physical reality. It is not uncommon today for someone to decide who they are by how they “feel,” divorced from the physical reality of their bodies. As Christians, we must continue to consider, “Do our physical bodies and what we do with them matter to God?”

Embodiment: The Glory and the Brokenness

I wrote earlier on this blog about the beauty of being created a soul-body unity, bearing God’s image, enjoying His world, worshiping Him, and living as His ambassadors to this good world. God made us body and soul in His image and declared that creation very good.

But there is something else we see in Scripture regarding bodies. We see bodies that are corrupted by sin, rebel against God, harm others, and abuse rather than steward His good creation. We see bodies doomed to death and separation from our souls until the final resurrection. What does it mean to live in the midst of both the glory and the brokenness of our physical bodies?

Adam and Eve lived in harmony with their good bodies and with one another in the Garden. But sin introduced every type of alienation—including body/soul alienation. We are no longer naked, unashamed, and at peace with these bodies we inhabit. It is beneficial to consider where we see this alienation in the world around us as well as in our own life and heart, because Jesus came to redeem all of God’s good creation, and He calls his followers to this mission.

Body/Soul Alienation

Author Maria Goff recalls growing up listening to her father’s constant criticism of her mother’s weight. One day, her father told Maria and her sister to step onto the bathroom scale for a weight check. Maria still remembers the humiliation she felt and the lie that lodged deep in her heart, “…that the love and acceptance and approval I longed for was conditional and depended on my outer appearance.”[1] Body shame is just one way we can feel alienation from our bodies. With the increase in screen time in our western culture, we are moving our bodies less and physically interacting with others less. We are becoming more disconnected from our physical bodies. With COVID, we stopped gathering our bodies together to worship as often. According to Barna, one in three Christians left the church permanently during the pandemic.[2]

We see body alienation and body shame all around us. It can manifest in obsessive food control or eating disorders, in unhealthy preoccupation in exercise, in anxiety attacks, in self-mutilation like cutting, even in chronic health issues that can be traced back to emotional roots.

This problem isn’t new. Even within the historic church we see the effects of this body/soul alienation. Gnosticism taught matter is evil and freedom comes in release from the physical body. We see this dualistic heresy still influence our thinking in the church today. Seminary Professor Gregg Allison tells the story of a student who entered his office with a litany of physical ailments. When Allison began to question him about his physical habits, the student became agitated. He said his physical habits didn’t matter because “his body was going to be sloughed off at death anyway.” This young theology student wanted more “spiritual” solutions to his physical problems because he thought his physical body was unspiritual and worldly.[3]

Restoration

As we consider this wide range of the effects of body/soul alienation in our world, what would it look like to see a vibrant, biblical view of bodies boldly portrayed to a hurting world by the Body of Christ?  Jesus came to turn back alienation and restore all things to himself.

Colossians 1:19-22 tells us:

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…(emphasis mine).

If you are in Christ, you are no longer alienated and hostile to God. He has now reconciled you “in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” And as we are reconciled to God, that reconciliation flows out into our lives and the world around us. God reconciles not just our souls, but all of us to himself.

God cares about our bodies. “…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20, emphasis mine). We will dwell with Him both body and soul for eternity.

As you go about the work of the Lord on this earth, spend a time thinking about being created and redeemed as a body-soul unity. How is your body doing today? What is it telling you about your spiritual and emotional health? Are we listening to the messages our body reveals? What can we learn from the tension in our guts, the clenching of our jaws, the shame we feel when we look in the mirror, the lies we believe about how we should look? God made us embodied. Remind yourself that your body bears the image of God. Then take practical steps to care for your body. Go take a walk. Go hug a baby. Go serve a hungry person. Go worship with your body. Go look in a mirror and remind yourself that God calls the body He gave you good.

Consider what you learn as you listen to your body. If you are struggling with body shame, trauma, or alienation, you may need to find a trusted Christian ministry leader, mentor, or counselor to help you begin to work through these issues. Our bodies are good, but they are also a deep mystery and reconciling to them is not simply telling ourselves to “just do it.” Our bodies and brains keep deep records of the brokenness and sin within and without that has been inflicted on them and by them. Sometimes we need help to work through that, and this is one of the multitude of reasons God gives us one another in the Body of Christ. It is hard but important work.

Many people use the word, “embodiment” to talk about healthier living in tune with our bodies. But our alienation from our bodies is a spiritual problem that originated in the Fall, and it requires a spiritual solution which is found by new birth through faith in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are the ones to offer this hope to a hurting world. If Christians do not hold out a beautiful and true view of God’s restoration and reconciliation, both body and soul, from where will it come?

What a wonder God has made us! May we worship Him body and soul today, looking in faith toward the final restoration of all things in glory and pointing everyone we meet toward that beautiful vision.

[1] Goff, Maria, Love Lives Here, (B&H Books 2017)

[2] https://www.barna.com/research/new-sunday-morning-part-2/

[3] Allison, Gregg Embodied, (Baker Books 2021)

Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash