April 16, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia 23860

Mural Worthey

 

Resurrection & Value of the Human Body

 

Introduction

 

Obviously, the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is a central doctrine in the Bible.  Paul places the validity of Christianity upon this truth.  (1 Cor. 15.)  If it is not true, then our faith is vain; Jesus was not raised, the apostles are false witnesses, those dead have perished, and we are still in our sins.  Paul did not hesitate to put this kind of emphasis upon the truthfulness of the resurrection of the dead.

 

There are many related issues to the belief in the resurrection of the dead, but, perhaps, none as important as the value of the human body in the eyes of God.  The resurrection is often minimized due to the low view that some have about the body of man.  This lesson is to show the value of the body and therefore the reason the resurrection of the dead is so important.

 

It is a Created Body  (Genesis 2:26-27)—A Look at the Past

 

God created man’s body from the dust of the earth and pronounced what he had done as good; not only good, but very good.  (Gen. 2:31.)  While it is true that man’ body came from the dust and will return to it (Eccl. 12:7), yet God created man to live.  The central message of the Bible is how man may obtain eternal life.  Paul wrote:

 

I endure all things for the elect’s sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.  (2 Tim. 2:10.)

 

I am come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.  (John 10:10.)

The plant and animal kingdom were created for man’ good, for his food and clothing.  Man is different from the animals in that God made man in his image.  Man was destined to live with God from his creation.  God wanted man to live in his presence in the Garden, but man sinned.

 

Man’s body is a created body, not an evolved body.  Evolutionists have a low view of human life.  We are from the same stock as trees, vegetation, and animals, they claim.  Charles Darwin wrote that he was convinced that plants and animals evolved from a common prototype.  (Origin, 642.)

 

Man’s body is a designed body, not an accidental body.  Man did not come into the world by chance.  Intelligence planned the life of man.  David wrote, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Marvelous are thy works and that my soul knows right well.  My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”  (Psalm 139:14-16.)

 

It is a Spiritual Body  (1 Corinthains 6:13-20)—A Look at the Present

 

Paul made some powerful statements about the human body to the Corinthians trying to convince them to abstain from sinful conduct, especially fornication.  Here are some of the good things that he wrote: a) the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body, b) God will raise our bodies, c) if joined to a harlot, we become one with the harlot, d) if joined to the Lord, we become one in spirit with the Lord, e) fornication is a sin against the body, f) your body is the temple of the Spirit of God, and g) we have been bought with a price.  Paul indicates that this purchase includes our body as well as the spirit.  Therefore, we should glorify God in our body and spirit because they are God’s.

 

How is fornication the only sin against the body of the believer?  Isn’t gluttony, drunkenness, suicide and other sins also against the body?  But in the context Paul is discussing how the sin of fornication binds one together with the harlot.  It makes them one flesh in a sinful way.  (6:16.)  Since the body is for the Lord, the sin of fornication is a special sin against the body because it prostitutes the holy purposes for the body.

 

Instead of misusing our bodies, we should use them for spiritual life.  We should be made one in spirit with the Lord.  The believers’ body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  He lives within us.  Solomon’s and Herod’s temple cannot compare with the body of one devoted for God’s purposes.  When we live for God, our bodies are spiritual temples.

 

It is a Redeemed Body  (Romans 8:22-24)—A Look at the Future

 

“Because the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.  For we are saved by hope.”  (Rom. 8:22-24.)

 

We live in hope of a future deliverance based upon the redemption provided in Jesus Christ.  The whole created world groans and desires this redemption.  Notice that Paul said “the redemption of our body.”  (verse 23.)  When we speak of salvation of the soul only, we misspeak.  The soul or spirit is the part of man that is born again in the new birth.  (John 3:6.)  However, we should know that God is interested in and has provided for the redemption of the whole man, not just part of him.

 

We get this divided view of man primarily from the Greeks.  They loved to differentiate between everything: the joints and marrow, soul and spirit, and different kinds of love.  We have been blessed by such distinctions, but we have also been misled into believing that only the soul of man needs redemption.  We need a holistic view of man—the one proclaimed in this verse: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Thess. 5:23.)

 

The body of man will be redeemed in the resurrection from the dead.  It is sown in corruption, but it will be raised incorruptible.  The Lord will “transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.”  (Phil. 3:21.)

 

Conclusions—False Views of the Body of Man

 

We have noted the biblical view of man by looking to the past in the creation, in the present of how we should live, and to the future redemption of our bodies in the resurrection of the dead.  The Christian view of man has been challenged by many false theories and notions about man’s nature.  Here are some of those false views of the body of man.

 

Evolved.  We have already noted that some believe that man’s man is simply a highly evolved specimen from the animal and even plant kingdom.  Believe it if you can; as for me I choose the biblical description of creation.

 

The body is evil.  A prevalent view throughout history has been that the body of man is basically evil.  It is the old dualistic view that man is made of two parts; one is good and the other is evil.  But note that the Bible says it is the heart of man that is deceitful, not his body.  The flesh is not evil.  (Jer. 17:9.)  Covetousness and lusts and pride have to do with the thinking of man.  Man can prostitute his mind and spirit as well as his body.  But that is simply a misuse of what God gave for his holy purposes. 

 

Part of the Colossian heresy had to do with the neglecting of the body.  Paul called it will worship.  It was the old ascetic view that the spirit is blessed when the body is disciplined and even put under pain.  (Col. 2:20-23.)  The question raised by the heretics at Colossea is “what constitutes true spirituality?”  Is it found in making rules—touch not, taste not, and handle not?  Is it found in fasting and self-flagellation?  True spirituality is found in Christ Jesus. It is “Christ in you, your hope of glory.”  (1:27.)

Remember that Jesus was crucified, but He was also raised the third day.  The body that came forth was a resurrected, glorious body.  The purpose of death is not to free us from an unwanted body; it is to redeem the physical body.

 

Physical things do not exist.  The Christian Science view is that evil is just a product of wrong thinking.  Pain in our bodies can be overcome by believing that every thing is spiritual, not physical.  Things in life are not physical, but metaphysical.  Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter.  All is Infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is all in all…..Spirit is God and man is His image and likeness.  Therefore, man is not material; he is spiritual.”  (Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures, 468.)  Eddy did not believe in the physical sciences.

 

Death ends man’s existence.  Many unbelievers have embraced the view that death ends man’s existence.  But Jesus said, “He that believes in me, though he were death, yet shall he live.  He that lives and believes in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?”  (John 11:25-26.)  The body will return to the dust, but it will return to life again.

 

Infidels have long mocked the view that man can survive death.  They are wrong on two counts: concerning the body and spirit.  Solomon wrote that the spirit returns to God when the body returns to the dust.  (Eccl. 12:7.)   Jesus said that we will never die.  (John 11:26.)  Secondly, the body will be raised.  Therefore, man will survive death in regard to both the body and spirit.