Our society has cast off God. One very obvious result is that we have lost what it means to be human. The nature of God and the nature of mankind may be the two most important questions of our time. The Bible teaches that human beings are God’s images (Gen 1:27; 9:6). That means God created us to reflect His likeness in and through our human natures. Our natures have two parts: soul and body. Classical Christianity said that the soul is the “form of the body,” meaning that the soul is the animating, organizing, and forming principle of the human body. It is made for the human body. As such, the soul is not made to exist without the body, even though it can do so temporarily, if the body dies. Without the body, the soul is an incomplete human. This is why when Christ returns, He will rejoin our souls to glorified bodies, and we will live forever in the new heavens and the new earth, body and soul together (1 Cor 15:42-44; Phil 3:21). If the soul is the form of the body, then the body, as God made it, must be very important to imaging God. We should not toy around with it. 

Today’s Heresy

I am convinced that the major heresy of our time is a form of gnosticism that devalues the human body. Old gnosticism taught that the soul is trapped in the human body, and that the human body is not an inherent good, that it is even oppressive of the soul. Similarly, our world today believes that you are your consciousness, or your feelings, particularly your sexual feelings. Your body is not you, but it belongs to you to do with as you please. It may even be trapping you, or oppressing you, in a reality you don’t want. So, the human body is treated like a “sandbox,” something you can change according to your desires. Today, people think we are free to modify our bodies at will. But I would argue that to do so would be to make a “carved” or “graven” image, would it not? To modify our body is to make it an image according to our own liking, instead of accepting the bodies that God has given to us that express His image (Exod 20:4-5). Wouldn’t it be a sin to covet bodies that God did not create for us or give to us (Exod 20:17; Col 3:5)?

The trans movement believes in altering sexual appearance through hormones and surgeries. The woke movement insists that morbid obesity resulting from gluttony is beautiful and that everyone must celebrate it (Prov 23:20-21). One day, we will be able to genetically modify the human body, enhancing it in various ways. C.S. Lewis warned of the terrifying implications of such power over the human body in The Abolition of Man. 

Cultural Seepage into the Church

There is a version of body modification that is far more acceptable in Christian circles, and it is just as idolatrous. It denigrates and devalues the body by forcing it into an unnatural and contrived beauty through a hyper-focus on curating the body’s form. 

For men (and in some cases women), body devaluation might look like taking steroids, along with other kinds of powerful and potentially dangerous supplements, and an excessive regimen of dieting, in order to impress. The underlying sin is coveting the praise, glances, and respect of others. This sinful motive of covetousness is driving the hyper-body-focus. It’s actually similar to an old form of paganism, practiced by the ancient Greeks who worshipped the human body, made highly detailed sculptures of its form, and glorified it during the Olympic games as an act of worship to please their gods. But such worship of the body actually denigrates it, and ultimately destroys it. 

For women, body devaluation may look like starving themselves, making themselves skinny, and taking diet medicines because they covet the praise and approval of others, perhaps even getting surgical breast augmentations, tummy tucks, nose jobs, face lifts, etc. It’s important to understand that these practices done because of a hyper-focus on one’s appearance, and dissatisfaction with what God has given, actually denigrate the body, making it into a carved image of false worship (Deut 4:15-18; Prov 31:30; 1 Pet 3:3-4). The problem is discontentment with the body God has given us, which is discontentment with God. It’s coveting a body God did not give to us. Sometimes the covetous motive shows up in dramatic ways that are obviously wrong to most people, but other times, the behavior is not wrong, but the motive is. You could wear lipstick with a wrong and covetous motive. On the other hand, ladies who rightly celebrate the beauty God has given to them might wear lipstick and earrings, and other things to enhance beauty, but they don’t resent their bodies. They are gently underlining God’s created natural graces, which is good. 

As an aside, tattoos sometimes come up in this context. When it comes to things not prohibited by the Bible, the question is always motive. What is your motive and goal in getting a tattoo? Is it a right motive? The tattoo itself is a liberty and a matter of wisdom and therefore a good in itself, unless the tattoo itself explicitly identifies with evil, such as the depiction of satanic symbols.

The Christian View

The Bible teaches that while “bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim 4:8). We should take basic care of our bodies because they do not belong to us (1 Cor 6:19-20). Part of this means eating wisely and with moderation, getting appropriate exercise, taking needed medicines, etc., but our motives are important. Why do we take care of our bodies? Because we want to live like Christ with our bodies and to enjoy Christ and His good gifts, and we can’t do that if our bodies are hindering us, rather than helping us. There is nothing wrong, per se, with going to the gym to strengthen our bodies. There is nothing wrong, per se, with dressing so as gently to underline the God-given natural graces of our bodies and so to glorify God. 

But our goal in doing these things should be to enjoy Christ, His graciously given creation, to reflect His image, and to proclaim His message to others. We should never want people to notice our bodies just for their own sake, apart from our true character, or apart from Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” The Bible teaches that our bodies are vehicles of the very image of the God of heaven, which means that when people observe us and our behavior with our bodies, they should be directed to Christ, not to our bodies themselves! Proverbs 11:22 says, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion [wisdom].” Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.”

This means that our efforts should be focused on developing Christian character by faith in Jesus, growing in self-control, humility and love, putting on the beatitudes, the fruit of the Spirit, and on keeping the Ten Commandments, all under the grace of Christ in the gospel. This is how we become partakers of the divine nature, being filled with the Holy Spirit, in union and communion with Him with our souls and bodies together (2 Pet 1:4). This is what God made us for, and it is why He made our bodies. Church, do not get distracted!

Christ and the Gospel

But maybe you have coveted a different kind of body or you think you need to turn your body into something other than what God has given to you (Ps 139:13-14). Maybe you have felt that you had to do this to win honor and respect or to be truly attractive and beautiful. Maybe people have sinfully shamed you for your body. Sadly, many are shamed in their own homes for not being beautiful or strong enough. If that has happened to you, it was horribly wrong.

But the way you respond to past shame is now your responsibility. One response to shame is to change your body and try make it glorious so no one can shame it again. This response is a way of becoming strong in yourself, making yourself greater and more glorious in some way. Biblically, that is pride (Prov 11:2; 16:18). And it won’t work. Sin, not your body, is your real shame, but if you go to Christ with your shame of pride, He will wash you completely clean, and He will not shame you. And then you can go to Him for repentance, and He will teach you to put off your pride and to put on trust in Him and love for other people, instead trying to get them to love you and treat you as great.

The right way respond to others who illegitimately shame your body is to remember Christ, who does not shame you for the body He gave you. Your body just isn’t shameful. He made it, and gave it to you. You are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139:14). He died for your actual sins against His law, and He loves you. If you look to Christ in faith, you can trust that your name is written in heaven, that His righteousness clothes you and that He accepts you fully by free grace alone. 

And trusting in Christ, who accepts you, you will have strength to fight by faith to put on godliness, growing in grace to love others, instead of demanding that others honor and love you. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). If people shame you for your God-given nature, you can rebuke them, and call on them to fear God, but then forgive them, knowing that the shame is really theirs, and knowing that Christ never shames you, and that He will never push you away and that you are seated in the heavens with Him forever (Eph 2:6).