I Believe that I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Pastor Cares for His Body

Abstract

The church in America is trending neo-gnostic with her spiritualizing tendencies. One often hears Christians relegate the human body to little more than a shell for the soul. The incarnation and the resurrection of Jesus Christ witness to the fact that God places great value upon the human body! He has united himself to our flesh. He has redeemed the body as well as the soul. He will raise our bodies up on the Last Day. This essay will be a practical encouragement to take care of the Spirit’s temple and take to heart what we confess in Luther’s explanation of the First Article of the Creed: I believe that God created me...and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my mind and all my abilities.

The Christian focus on the soul can often lead him to overlook the importance of the physical body. As pastors shepherd their congregation, the need to serve others overshadows the need to care for themselves. Thus, clergies are among the demographic commonly living a sedentary lifestyle, being obese, and acquiring various health problems. Moreover, Platonism, the Cult of Orpheus, Marcion, Gnosticism, and Apollinaris have taught that the body is the “prison house for the soul.” However, looking at the Creed, God’s care for the physical body is evident. He created Adam and Eve with body and soul. He has, likewise, created each individual with unique gifts suitable for service to him. The Lord God Jesus incarnated in human flesh to live a sinless life in his plan of salvation while healing physical ailments and forgiving sins, even raising bodies from the dead. Jesus has redeemed us through the means of the body. Furthermore, thus, our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple. Christians live among others, in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and whom God has given for fellowship and support, within the Holy Christian Church. Christians await the last day, where their own bodies will be raised. Meanwhile, out of the love that Christ has shown us, we take care of our bodies to glorify the gift that God has bestowed upon us. By carefully considering the food we eat, exercise, rest, and support from others, we remember that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made.