Bodily Persons
Spirit AND Body = Good
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
The human body is a beautiful thing. Society often tells us otherwise. For so long, we have lived in a world where we are told “Spirit good…body bad.” If we fall into this error, our lives will be devoid of something very important: a way to communicate who we are. The body is the surest means to this. Pope John Paul II wrote, “The body, and it alone, is capable of making visible the invisible.”(1) If we did not have our bodies, how could we communicate? How would we survive as humans? For instance, if we close our eyes, our mouths, and cease to move, is there a way to communicate to another? Is there a way to fulfill the two greatest commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”(2) Our bodies are intricately entwined as a part of us.(3) Just as without our souls, our bodies would lie lifeless, so too without our bodies, our souls would not be able to rightly communicate during our earthly lives.
Body Good?
But what makes our bodies good? Why should we respect ourselves, not only in regard to the spiritual aspect of our being, but also that of our bodies?
We can begin to answer this question by looking at Sacred Scripture: “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them….God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.”(4) This is clearly visible when looking at Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. One frame shows God and man touching nearly touching fingers. In looking at this image of the creation of man, the man looks very similar to God.
The “Imago Dei”
So man is made in the image of God. He looks like him, as we can see in paintings throughout the history of the Church. Pope John Paul II tells us, ““Man has been given a sublime dignity, based on the intimate bond which unites him to his Creator: in man there shines forth a reflection of God himself.”(5) But, what does this really mean?
Pope John Paul II tells us, “In the life of man, God’s image shines forth…at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh. ‘Christ is the image of the invisible God’…He is the perfect image of the Father.”(6) So to be in the image of God, it means to be like God in all things, and Christ is the best example of that, especially since He is a part of the trinity. And most especially, “God’s image shines forth…at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh.” Thus, we can see that God made man is the best example of the image of God. Afterall, “He is the perfect image of the Father.”(7) So to be like Christ is to live out our design as being made in the image of God. To be in the image of God is to follow Christ’s command, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(8)
New Dignity of Man
But, what does this have to do with the body? We know from the Book of Genesis that the image of God is stamped in our bodies. And by Christ becoming man, our bodies are raised to a new dignity. Pope John Paul II tells us, “Christ has imprinted new dignity on the human body - on the body of every man and every woman.”(9) Furthermore, St. Athanasius writes, “For He was made man that we might be made God.”(10)
Not only did God became man to restore us to our former dignity, the dignity of Adam and Eve before the fall, but he also raised us to an even greater dignity than before so “that we might be made God.” In God becoming man, he raised the dignity of the human person.(11) This includes the body. We should not see the body as the enemy of the soul, but as an integral part of who we are. If it is dignified, we need to treat it as such. We need to control the desires of the flesh to match that of the spirit. If we are to become better people, if we are to follow the will of our Lord, than we need to train our bodies to be visible images of what it means to be Christian. We need to strive for purity, which is “the capacity of controlling one’s body in holiness and honor.”(12) For, as Pope John Paul II tells us, “the fruit of purity“ is “the sight of God,” or growing in holiness.(13)
The Meaning of Life
Thus, to become holier, we must control our bodies, and thence we will be able to live more as ourselves. The more we understand how we are created and live in the idea that we are dignified beings created in God’s image, the more we will know ourselves, and the more fulfilling life will be.(14)
As already mentioned, the greatest commandment is to love God above all else, and the second greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself. So if loving God and neighbor is the best thing that we can do, and control of our bodies helps us to live a more fulfilling life should not loving God and neighbor through the control of our bodies be the best thing that we can do?
Again, Pope John Paul II tells us that the body “includes…the capacity of expressing love, that love…which…fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence.”(15) So through our bodies, we can fulfill Christ’s commands to love one another. And this, simply put, is the meaning of our existence: to love. And through our bodies, we can fulfill just that. We have the capacity to love or to lust. To live fulfilling lives, we must choose love, for lust is only a degradation of the human person, both ourselves and those whom we encounter. And this leads us back to our original point.
“God created man in his image…male and female he created them…and he found it very good.” It is good that we are bodily creatures. In and through our bodies we are able to love God and one another, and in and through our bodies we are able to learn what it means to be who we are. We are not merely something but rather someone, and our bodies help to make this a visible reality.(16)
(1) Pope John Paul II, Theology of the Body, pg. 76, audience of February 20, 1980; In the same audience, Pope John Paul II further wrote, “It [the body] was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus be a sign of it.” Furthermore, “By means of his corporality, his masculinity and femininity, man becomes a visible sign of the economy of truth and love, which has its source in God himself and which was revealed already in the mystery of creation.”
(2) Matthew 22:37, 39.
(3) cf. CCC, 365: “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the ‘form’ of the body.”
(4) Genesis 1:27, 31.
(5) Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae, 34.
(6) EV, 36.
(7) cf. Col. 1:15
(8) Matthew 5:48.
(9) TOB, pg. 207, Feb. 11, 1981.
(10) St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word, 54.3; Furthermore, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (Opusc. 57:1-4).
(11) Pope John Paul II also writes, “Christ has imprinted new dignity on the human body - on the body of every man and every woman” (TOB, pg. 207, Feb. 11, 1981).
(12) TOB, pg. 209, March 18, 1981.
(13) TOB, pg. 210, March 18, 1981.
(14) cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22: “Jesus Christ fully reveals man to himself.”
(15) TOB, pg. 63, Jan. 16, 1980
(16) cf. CCC, 357: “Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of the person, who is not just something, but someone.”
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
The human body is a beautiful thing. Society often tells us otherwise. For so long, we have lived in a world where we are told “Spirit good…body bad.” If we fall into this error, our lives will be devoid of something very important: a way to communicate who we are. The body is the surest means to this. Pope John Paul II wrote, “The body, and it alone, is capable of making visible the invisible.”(1) If we did not have our bodies, how could we communicate? How would we survive as humans? For instance, if we close our eyes, our mouths, and cease to move, is there a way to communicate to another? Is there a way to fulfill the two greatest commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind,” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”(2) Our bodies are intricately entwined as a part of us.(3) Just as without our souls, our bodies would lie lifeless, so too without our bodies, our souls would not be able to rightly communicate during our earthly lives.
Body Good?
But what makes our bodies good? Why should we respect ourselves, not only in regard to the spiritual aspect of our being, but also that of our bodies?
We can begin to answer this question by looking at Sacred Scripture: “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them….God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.”(4) This is clearly visible when looking at Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. One frame shows God and man touching nearly touching fingers. In looking at this image of the creation of man, the man looks very similar to God.
The “Imago Dei”
So man is made in the image of God. He looks like him, as we can see in paintings throughout the history of the Church. Pope John Paul II tells us, ““Man has been given a sublime dignity, based on the intimate bond which unites him to his Creator: in man there shines forth a reflection of God himself.”(5) But, what does this really mean?
Pope John Paul II tells us, “In the life of man, God’s image shines forth…at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh. ‘Christ is the image of the invisible God’…He is the perfect image of the Father.”(6) So to be in the image of God, it means to be like God in all things, and Christ is the best example of that, especially since He is a part of the trinity. And most especially, “God’s image shines forth…at the coming of the Son of God in human flesh.” Thus, we can see that God made man is the best example of the image of God. Afterall, “He is the perfect image of the Father.”(7) So to be like Christ is to live out our design as being made in the image of God. To be in the image of God is to follow Christ’s command, “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(8)
New Dignity of Man
But, what does this have to do with the body? We know from the Book of Genesis that the image of God is stamped in our bodies. And by Christ becoming man, our bodies are raised to a new dignity. Pope John Paul II tells us, “Christ has imprinted new dignity on the human body - on the body of every man and every woman.”(9) Furthermore, St. Athanasius writes, “For He was made man that we might be made God.”(10)
Not only did God became man to restore us to our former dignity, the dignity of Adam and Eve before the fall, but he also raised us to an even greater dignity than before so “that we might be made God.” In God becoming man, he raised the dignity of the human person.(11) This includes the body. We should not see the body as the enemy of the soul, but as an integral part of who we are. If it is dignified, we need to treat it as such. We need to control the desires of the flesh to match that of the spirit. If we are to become better people, if we are to follow the will of our Lord, than we need to train our bodies to be visible images of what it means to be Christian. We need to strive for purity, which is “the capacity of controlling one’s body in holiness and honor.”(12) For, as Pope John Paul II tells us, “the fruit of purity“ is “the sight of God,” or growing in holiness.(13)
The Meaning of Life
Thus, to become holier, we must control our bodies, and thence we will be able to live more as ourselves. The more we understand how we are created and live in the idea that we are dignified beings created in God’s image, the more we will know ourselves, and the more fulfilling life will be.(14)
As already mentioned, the greatest commandment is to love God above all else, and the second greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself. So if loving God and neighbor is the best thing that we can do, and control of our bodies helps us to live a more fulfilling life should not loving God and neighbor through the control of our bodies be the best thing that we can do?
Again, Pope John Paul II tells us that the body “includes…the capacity of expressing love, that love…which…fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence.”(15) So through our bodies, we can fulfill Christ’s commands to love one another. And this, simply put, is the meaning of our existence: to love. And through our bodies, we can fulfill just that. We have the capacity to love or to lust. To live fulfilling lives, we must choose love, for lust is only a degradation of the human person, both ourselves and those whom we encounter. And this leads us back to our original point.
“God created man in his image…male and female he created them…and he found it very good.” It is good that we are bodily creatures. In and through our bodies we are able to love God and one another, and in and through our bodies we are able to learn what it means to be who we are. We are not merely something but rather someone, and our bodies help to make this a visible reality.(16)
(1) Pope John Paul II, Theology of the Body, pg. 76, audience of February 20, 1980; In the same audience, Pope John Paul II further wrote, “It [the body] was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus be a sign of it.” Furthermore, “By means of his corporality, his masculinity and femininity, man becomes a visible sign of the economy of truth and love, which has its source in God himself and which was revealed already in the mystery of creation.”
(2) Matthew 22:37, 39.
(3) cf. CCC, 365: “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the ‘form’ of the body.”
(4) Genesis 1:27, 31.
(5) Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Evangelium Vitae, 34.
(6) EV, 36.
(7) cf. Col. 1:15
(8) Matthew 5:48.
(9) TOB, pg. 207, Feb. 11, 1981.
(10) St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word, 54.3; Furthermore, St. Thomas Aquinas writes, “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods” (Opusc. 57:1-4).
(11) Pope John Paul II also writes, “Christ has imprinted new dignity on the human body - on the body of every man and every woman” (TOB, pg. 207, Feb. 11, 1981).
(12) TOB, pg. 209, March 18, 1981.
(13) TOB, pg. 210, March 18, 1981.
(14) cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22: “Jesus Christ fully reveals man to himself.”
(15) TOB, pg. 63, Jan. 16, 1980
(16) cf. CCC, 357: “Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of the person, who is not just something, but someone.”
Labels: General TOB
posted by Matthaeus Evangelista at 11:47 PM
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