Theology often deals with immaterial subjects like God, angels, and eternity.  But when man, and the created world, is under theology’s microscope, the material comes into focus.  Sometimes Christians believe God is only interested in man’s soul or spirit, and that his body is only a necessary shelter until his “spiritual” body can be prepared. But is this true?

The arguments surrounding dichotomy and trichotomy focus on the immaterial, whereas the body emphasizes the material.  The Bible says God “formed the man from the dust of the ground” (material stuff), and then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” When finished, God called all his creation, including man, “very good.” In doing this God blessed the human body.

Over the years various individuals and groups felt the body was evil. Plotinus (A.D. 204-270) sometimes called matter evil. He believed, like Plato, that the body was to be suppressed, so the soul could obtain its unity with God.  The Gnostics also believed the body was evil. Several ascetics went so far in this belief they would damage their health by performing weird and eccentric acts. The apostle Paul warned of people who passed hardship rules on the body while forgetting all of God’s creation was good (cf. 1 Timothy 4:3-4).

Man’s material part, his body, is no less spiritual than his immaterial part. That’s why God said in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”  To be human is to possess a soul and a body, which are united into one person. The Scriptures do indicate that at death the soul is separated from the body; but this was imposed as something unnatural, a dreadful punishment because of sin.  The promise of the resurrection is that all believers’ bodies will be transformed so that they might bear the mark of eternity (1 Corinthians 15:49) with Christ, but it’s still a body, not something else.