While the primary burden of the Bible’s address to man is one of spiritual reform (2 Cor 4:16), spiritual reform cannot be separated from physical reality. Our body is inextricably linked to our very existence. We are born as biological heirs to sin passed down by our physical father, Adam (Rom 5:12). Christ died a physical death to pay a spiritual penalty on our behalf.

The body is important, not just because of what we do with it, but more importantly, it communicates something about God. Genesis 1:26 gives the first insight into the creation of man: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’” Since God is spirit, this “image” must be more than just physical. God gives man a body to represent Him to creation.

I want to highlight five ways that this “image” tells a theological story through our bodies.

The Body Images God’s Character

God’s attributes are brought to visual clarity through how His people represent themselves and interact with one another. Although there are attributes of God that the human body cannot replicate, particularly in His infinite nature, there are certainly some that God had in mind when He said that man is to be made in His likeness. As theologian Joel Beeke writes, “Man has a small sketch of God’s attributes imprinted upon him.”

While God is all of His attributes in their fullest sense, we can have a basic grasp of some of these attributes. We can love and show compassion to others, we can champion justice, and we can give sacrificially. Our ability to represent these characteristics with our own physical bodies is a tool God uses to teach us about Himself. This is why God gives the third commandment, which prohibits using His name in vain (Exo 20:7). Our bodies are image-bearing signposts to the rest of creation about the character and nature of God.

The Body Images God’s Authority

The task God gives to Adam in the Garden is found in Genesis 2:15: “Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.” The intention, of course, was that God would use Adam, Eve, and their offspring to expand Eden across the world. The Garden represented the glorious presence of God manifest in creation. God invites man to partner with Him to expand this glory around the world and fulfill the vision in Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.”

The Body Images God’s Relational Nature

We learn that God is “plural” when He says, “Let Us make man in Our image.” Thanks to the painful efforts of centuries of faithful Christians, we have a well-articulated doctrine of the Trinity, which helps us explain this truth about God. Yet, our bodies help explain this, too. Man was made to be relational. If God is love, then in His Triune character, this love is enjoyed across the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our bodies, imaging the likeness of God, are relational as well. 

God acknowledges, “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). Paul reveals that marriage represents our oneness with Christ (Eph 5:32). Our bodily relationships reflect the relational reality of the Trinity.

The Body Images God’s Mercy

God the Son took on flesh and became a man for the purpose of representing His own image-bearers as a payment for sins. We, with bodies of our own, share in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

Philippians 2:7–8 illustrates that Christ taking on the form of a servant by becoming a man was a process of “emptying” Himself and becoming obedient, even to death. Christ’s humility in taking on flesh ought to show us that we are to be humble, recognizing our creaturely weakness in comparison to God. Yet, it should also remind us of the mercy of God to choose to come in the flesh, live with the real physical pressures of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and accept a death unearned on our behalf.

The Body Images God’s Trustworthiness

Though we are frail, our frailty points to a day when our bodies will be glorified and immortal. Our bodies indicate hope. Because Christ was resurrected, we too have a hope of resurrection. Paul spends significant time on this point in 1 Corinthians 15. He argues that if Christ had not risen, then everything else is in vain (1 Cor 15:14–15). Without Christ, death is the hopeless end.

Our bodies ache in hope. Scripture says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers…even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body,” (Rom 8:23–24). This “groaning” serves a purpose. Paul states in the next two verses that the groaning is bearable because it points to hope in God’s promises. God’s promises are sure to come to pass, which is why Paul can so confidently say in Philippians 3:21, “[Jesus Christ] will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.” If all things are subject to Christ, even our bodies will be testaments to God’s power and trustworthiness as He accomplishes His will through our glorified, embodied state.

Conclusion

Our scars, wrinkles, and memories tell a story about our own lives, but more significantly, our bodies proclaim a story about our God. David Mathis writes, “The focus in the new heavens and new earth won’t be on our bodies. Our perfected bodies will no longer experience the many distractions and drawbacks of our previous humiliations. They will enhance and support our making much of our King.” Our bodies are ultimately instruments of worship to glorify Jesus.