In
the beginning God existed entirely in spirit form as three persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All things that now exist were created
by the Son (John 1:3). He created man from the dust of the ground,
but made him in the image of God (Genesis 1:27; 2:7). When God
breathed into him, he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). The
Scripture often uses the same word
for spirit and wind.
So it appears to me that when God breathed into Adam He was giving
him spiritual life as well as physical life. Several things seem
apparent to me. First, man is a spiritual being living in a body made
of dust and second, God is not against the body as those with a
gnostic viewpoint believe. God created the physical world, including
our bodies and He pronounced it good.
Adam
disobeyed God and the result was both physical and spiritual death as
well as a curse on all of the surrounding creation. In the plan of
God to remedy this situation, the Son, also known as the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). He is the image of the
invisible God; the express image of His person (Colossians 1:15;
Hebrews 1:3). Because of His virgin birth, Jesus was spiritually
alive and yet He was in a very human body that was itself subject to
the curse. His body felt pain, wept tears, became weary and
ultimately bled and died.
During
His life, Jesus was tempted in all point as we are and yet never
succumbed to the point of sinning (Hebrews 4:15). In living this kind
of life, He condemned sin in the flesh. He defeated it on its own
turf, the human body! (Romans 8:3) Even though He had not sinned, He
died on a cross as the punishment for our sins, since He didn't have
any of His own to die for (1 Corinthians 15:3).
The
Bible tells us that by believing in Christ, we've been given life
through His name (John 20:31). That means spiritual life has been
restored to us, but we are still in a body that is dying and living
in a world that is cursed. Paul says it this way, “And
if Christ is
in you, the body is
dead because of sin, but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). The same Spirit that
gave life to Jesus' body will give life to our mortal body (Romans
8:11). He will transform our lowly body so that it conforms to
Christ's glorious body (Phillipians 3:21).
What
was Jesus' glorious body like? For one thing, it was visible and He
had the capacity to eat. When He appeared to His disciples He said,
“A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke
24:39). So we will also have a recognizable, visible body capable of
many normal physical activities including eating. So we see that even
in the resurrection, God is not opposed to bodies. He Himself took on
a body. Because of the fact that our bodies are still in a cursed
body, we wait eagerly for the redemption of our body at the
resurrection (Romans 8:23).
How
is the body raised and what kind of body will we have? Paul writes
that it is sown in corruption, dishonor, weakness – a natural
(soulish) body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). But it is raised in
incorruption, glory and power – a spiritual body (1 Corinthians
15:42-44). Note the fact that even though it is raised a spiritual
body, it is not a spirit body. It is like Christ's glorious body
which was an actual physical body, although not subject to the curse
that our current bodies have. Paul explains that just as we have born
the image of the earthly, Adam, so we shall bear the image of the
heavenly, the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:49). In other words, we
shall be changed from corruption to incorruption and from mortal to
immortality (1 Corinthians 15:52,53). Death is swallowed up in
victory! (1 Corinthians 15:54; see also Hebrews 2:14, 15).
The incarnation is not just a
theological concept, it is a very real and important truth that will
have a tremendously powerful impact for those who have trusted
Christ.
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