What attitude should the Christian have toward his body? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 helps us to see that because our bodies belong to God they are to be used for his glory. God has a claim on our bodies because he is our Creator, Provider, Saviour, Sanctifier and Judge. We must respond to God according to whom He is and for what purpose He makes, sustains, saves, sanctifies and judges us.

Temples of the Holy Spirit⤒🔗

Paul asks: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?" In order to know why our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit we should review what God has done.

First, God made our bodies. God created man both body and soul (Genesis 2:7, Psalm 139:15). The body is the physical, material mantle for the spiritual, invisible soul. Man is a soul-body, in which both the physical and spiritual are related. God made the body and the soul and he made it good.

Secondly, God sustains our bodies (Genesis 2:15, 16). God provides food, wholesome activity and an envi­ronment for man's existence. Ultimately, God gives life and can take life (Job 1:21). Man depends on God's providence and is responsible for cooperating in maintaining the body.

Thirdly, God redeemed our bodies. After the fall of man into sin, the results of sin affected the body of man. There would be toil, pain, and finally death. Man was made from dust and to dust he would re­turn. This curse of sin upon the body, however, was personally dealt with by God. God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth, and Christ took upon himself human form, including the human body. Christ humbled himself unto death on the cross. His human body was crucified on the tree of death, as the atonement for sin. Christ arose from the grave with a new body, a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:35f) like that which is also promised to all those who believe Christ died and rose for them. They too will be resurrected with a new, spiritual body.

Fourthly, God sanctifies our bodies.

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justi­fied in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11

The redeemed bodies of Christians are sanctified by Christ's Spirit. God's indwelling Spirit is contradictory to sin, selfishness and the spirit of this world. The Christian body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The temples of God in the Old Testament were not so important because of their outward appearances, as because of the fact that God would dwell there. They were holy and sanctified places.

Finally, God will judge the use of our body.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolators, nor adulter­ers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor rob­bers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

As the Lord judged the temple in Jerusalem, so our temples will be judged. We are held accountable for what we do in our bodies.

Our Confession and its Implications←⤒🔗

Knowing who God is and that we are temples of the Holy Spirit leads Paul to the confession that "we are not our own, we were bought with a price." Our bodies belong to the Lord, for he has bought us with his own body and blood on Calvary. This confession is echoed in the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 1.

Q.  What is your only comfort in life and death?

A.  That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

Consider the implications of the confession of Paul and the Reformers concerning the body. Paul was speaking to the early Church in Corinth whose members were involved in immoral practices. Paul exhorted them that the body was to be kept morally pure in the light of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Reformed confession was written during a time when many considered the body inherently evil or non-redeemable. In contrast with that idea the Cate­chism confesses that the Christian, both body and soul, belongs to Christ.

A Misplaced Emphasis←⤒🔗

In our contemporary situation besides the same issues of immorality and pessimism concerning the body, also a popular tendency to overemphasize the body. Whereas Paul exhorted the Corinthians to "glorify God in your body", our situation often sug­gests a different emphasis, "glorify your body using God."

Body glorification, in the Christian community, can be seen when the emphasis of our activity centers around the body rather than God. The body receives the glory and not God. Thousands of dollars are spent on personal grooming while we are hard pressed for money to give to people who are trying to meet the basic necessities of life. Parents pres­sure their children, or schools channel children to excel in competitive sports without really knowing the final goal of the process which has taken un­countable hours of the participants' most productive and character building years. We can also be so con­cerned about losing excess weight, while a hungry watching world, tries to gain and maintain normal weight. Our grooming businesses, athletic programs or weight control parlors, despite their sometimes Christian names betray our misdirected emphasis. To capture our misdirected zeal we need only to observe the Sunday behavioural patterns of many Christians. Depending on the time of the year and the part of the country, many Christians will squeeze in a baseball, basketball, football, hockey or golf game on Sunday afternoons. Right between the two worship services they sandwich an activity which brings out more religious fervor than both worship services and all their devotions combined. All this commotion centers around persons with exceptional athletic ability (athletes and cheerleaders) who compete to win the big game. It's man at his best, playing the game with all the thrills of life com­pressed into two hours of TV prime time. We glorify 'the bodies' rather than God on that special day.

Glorifying God←⤒🔗

How then should we glorify God? We can glorify God by being thankful that He has made us, sustained us, uses us, redeemed us, and is preparing a final dwelling place for us. We truly can be grateful.

We glorify God when we study the body, as to its creational harmony, usefulness, function and disfunction. We glorify God when we study the body, acknowledging the Creator.

We glorify God when we maintain the body which God has made. If God made it, we should take care of it. Even if our situation involves a physical handi­cap, God still wants us to be stewards, though it might involve engaging the assistance of others. Personal habits such as smoking, or excessive drink­ing, which destroy the body, do not glorify God.

We glorify God when we discipline our bodies. Our discipline must be both physical and spiritual as we seek to control our bodies as well as to resist temptations.

For while bodily exercise is of some value, godliness is of value in every way.1 Timothy 4:8

We glorify God when we serve others. Matthew 25:35ff speaks about the final judgment when Christ will judge us according to our earthly service. Inter­estingly enough, bodily concerns such as hunger, thirst, nakedness and sickness are mentioned. Have we responded to the physical needs of our weaker brother? We are very creative in making games to satisfy our physical needs; how creative are we in meeting the physical needs of others?

The Christian is concerned about the body be­cause it is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be thankful, study, maintain, train and use our bodies to serve the needs of others. God has made us with a purpose; the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will help us to realize that purpose.