Bodies Matter

Our minds matter, so do our bodies. Offering our bodies in view of God's mercy is a step that the church cannot afford to neglect.

By John Lee

1. TWO BODIES

C

an we view a white body on top of a black body as a hermeneutical lesson of American history? I do not know, but this image out of Minneapolis has been chiseled onto our national consciousness and produced a geyser-like eruption of anger that has spilled onto the streets. Since Mr. Floyd’s death, protests have continued.

We live in a society where people can cheat the college admissions process with little impunity for years (Operation Varsity Blues), call the police on a black man even though the fault lies with the person calling the police (Amy Cooper), and murder for no reason except pure racism (Ahmaud Arbery).

What makes these cases particularly pernicious is that they are products of society. Millions have the same mental map of the world. Their feel for the world and dispositions are rooted in white privilege. Rules don’t apply to all in the same way. Rules are flexible, pliable, and even breakable. 

Most importantly, we can say that this type of privilege is embodied. Is it any surprise that it is cloaked in stealth mode? Who of us are conscious of our lungs, liver, and large intestine? Yet, they are essential parts of who we are. 

This is also why some people do not understand what the protests are about. Years of living in a certain way and in a particular context shape us, and we carry that shape wherever we go. Pierre Bourdieu, the great sociologist, reminds us that there is a logic to practice, and our whole lives consist of practice (or practical knowledge) for life in the public arena: how we move, how we interact with others, and how we negotiate power. To put it another way, most people don’t rely on logical principles to make decisions; they simply do and act, based on what intuitively makes sense, that is, the practical knowledge they have gained by living. So, when Loughlin and Giannulli wrote a check, snapped a misleading photo, submitted a false application, and originally pleaded innocent, they had a lot of practice.  

We all know that shifts in worldview are nearly impossible. And if we really think about it, we know why: Worldviews are embodied. This means that for a change to take place, we need more than new policies or laws or insights; we need new bodies.  

2. New Bodies 

If any organization can help in healing society and bringing righteousness, it is the Church, but not for obvious reasons. The Church is more than a confessing body that can repent for its own sins and for the sins of others as Nehemiah and Daniel did on behalf of their people and ancestors. The Church is also more than a paradoxical body that defines greatness by an inversion of power by prizing humility, servanthood, and hiddenness. The Church is also more than an inclusive body that gives no advantage to any group by stating that all are sinners and saved by grace alone—Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, and actresses and fashion designers who try to cheat the system.  

The Church offers something better; it offers a new body. At the center of Paul’s theology, he argues that the Corinthians must no longer operate in the flesh because of their union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He writes: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?” (1 Cor. 6:15). He, then, goes on to say: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit?” (1 Cor. 6:19). 

Paul’s point is that the Corinthians must live new lives because their bodies have been transformed by union with Christ’s body. Hence, there is a fundamental flaw in living in the flesh. Their new bodies are incompatible with unions with prostitutes, sexual immorality, and slogans of licentiousness. Paul’s intent is not to devalue the body or view it as a source of weakness. Rather, bodies are elevated, and for this reason elevated ethics are required.  

Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church explains that they must not be divisive (1 Cor. 1), boastful of human wisdom and eloquence (1 Cor. 2), unjustly litigious (1 Cor. 6:1-11), and selfish and self-seeking (1 Cor. 8-11). Their union with the resurrected Christ has already given them a foretaste of their new bodies. Therefore, they must live new lives, which entails new beliefs, ethics, and practices. 

Elsewhere Paul makes the same point, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Gal. 5:16-21). Instead, the people of God must bear the fruit of the Spirit because they are united with Christ and the seed of new life has been implanted.  

As significant, union with Christ also unites one believer to another. Paul makes this point when he says that the wall of hostility between people has been broken down (Eph. 2:14). Jews and Gentiles are now one. Both have been embodied together. The language Paul uses is remarkable in its corporeal emphasis: “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both to them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Eph. 2:15-16). 

To give full weight to these words, we need to appreciate that the division between Jews and Gentiles was the widest chasm in the ancient world. From Paul’s theological perspective, the division between Jew and Gentile originated with God for a certain epoch and for a distinct purpose. Hence, this division was deeper than the divisions that existed among other nations and tribes. The book of Ephesians hammers this point home by saying that Gentiles were at one point excluded from citizenship in Israel, without hope and without God (Eph. 2:12). The Gentiles were the absolute other.  

But now through the death of Christ and his blood, the two groups are reconciled. Through Christ, peace reigns, reconciliation is enacted, and both groups have access to the same Father. The outcome is one new humanity and one new body. When the Church is faithful, it celebrates this truth and lives as one new body. When it does, there is a new logic of practice. The Chinese believer is my sister, the black believer is my brother, the children in the white suburban youth group are my children. We have been embodied together. That fact changes everything if we will let it.  

A new body hits believers in another way because the goal of Christianity is the resurrection. This is why a confession that stops at the death of Christ or unduly emphasizes the cross apart from the resurrection is defective. The resurrection is the Church’s great hope, goal, and aim. It gives a future picture of newness. And we need this picture in our current state to deal with all the brokenness. 

Good and godly people are lamenting today for the state of our nation. Even my small Reformed church participated in an antiphonal prayer where we lamented the injustices, pain, and sorrow of our world. We also confessed our ignorance, complicity, and lack of love.  

Living in New York City, we see the protests, pain, and problems from our living room windows. Yet we are hopeful because as broken as the world is, we have an eschatological vision that is rooted in the resurrection of Christ. Just as death could not hold Christ down, we believe injustices, brokenness, and fear cannot tie down the Church. The DNA of the Church has the power to bend and break injustices and even death itself. The good news is that this victory is not far off in the future in some eschatological utopia.  

Paul helps us again. In the context of his pain and suffering, he is able to find strength. His bruised body, incarcerations, and the constant pressures of his ministry do not break him because the power of the resurrection is a present reality. He writes: “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is not seen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). 

Paul admits that the beatings and the buffeting of his body have taken a toll, but he says in the same breath that they are light, momentary, outward, and temporary. In that same breath, incredible strength arises because he experiences a deeper reality that he describes as inward, glorious, invisible, and eternal. He is living the resurrected life in prisons, on ships, and on dirt roads. The in-breaking of the resurrection gives him a new logic of practice. And he is sharing that with the world and changing it even though the trials are real.  

Another demonstration took place, a demonstration of compassion. When New York City became the epicenter of the novel coronavirus, a Christian organization, Samaritan’s Purse entered into the pain of the city. Christian doctors, chaplains, and medical personnel became Christ to the city as they pitched their field tents to serve the sick. I am tempted to say that they “tabernacled” with us for a season, in imitation of Christ (John 1:14). They served with love, sacrifice, and honor, and when their job was done, they left with little fanfare and no thanks from the mayor’s office. The staff at Samaritan’s Purse who served in other crises, such as the Ebola outbreak, understood Paul’s words, shared his hope, and served selflessly in the midst of sick bodies. Through it all, they demonstrated a different logic of practice to those with eyes to see.  

Paul has a theology with grit and bite. He sees all that is wrong with the world and says: “Bring it.” For Paul, the resurrection of Christ and his participation in it makes all the difference. Hope arises for him, and it can for us.  

3. Conclusion 

So, where do we go from here? We have to be more deliberate with our bodies; not just focus on our minds, a perennial problem among elites. There is always a logic that lurks deep within our breasts of which the logician does not see or know. There synapses, neurons, and other biological mechanisms live and shape us. What we do, where we go, and what we commit to all impact our feel for the world. Likewise, where we attend church, whose authority we submit to, and what friends we make inscribe in our bodies a logic. Let me be more concrete, if we never submit to minority leadership, we will always have a knee jerk reaction against it. If we never put ourselves in uncomfortable situations where our culture is challenged, we will always seek cultural homogeneity and see it as right, normal, and the way it should be.  

Paul made this point two millennia ago. “Offer your bodies (sōma) as living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). The apex and sum of Paul’s theology is to offer our bodies to God. Such an act is spiritual, holy, and pleasing to God and leads to further discernment.  

A fair conclusion in view of where the church is today is that the church has been offering its body to other gods – Mammon, the god of materialism; Asherah and Baal, the divinities of sensuality and prosperity; and Molech, the god of commerce at all costs. The good news is that God’s mercy remains in Christ. And in view of that mercy, we have the opportunity to repent, return, and find renewal. If the church follows with its body, a path ahead remains for our country.  

Photo by James Coleman on Unsplash

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John Lee is an ordained minister at City Grace Church, a Christian Reformed congregation in the East Village. He is also an administrator of a Classical Christian School in New York City. He also writes for The Banner, the denominational magazine for the Christian Reformed Church.