A Temple, eh?

I remember asking as a young woman why I was supposed to lose weight. The answer I received was that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! It should be perfect! This response was taken out of context from one of the Apostle Paul’s letters to the early church.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body".

I cannot count how many times this verse was used to manipulate me and my eating, to promote thinness, to imply that God prefers smaller bodies, and to make me feel shame for my size.

Diet culture in Christian America latched onto 1 Cor 6:19-20 as a rallying cry to battle our physical bodies. Taken out of context, it was wielded as a weapon against the goodness of the bodies we are given. 

If we look at the entire chapter, we see Paul actually commenting on the role of the Christian as a witness.  He asks 6 similar questions.

Do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? v.2

Do you not know that we will judge angels? v.3

Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? v.9

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? v.15

Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? v.16

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? v.19 

I’m seeing a pattern of thought focused on living in relationship with others. Paul is concerned for the witness of the early Christians in Corinth. How would the world see them as different, set apart from the world and united with Christ? I see no support for seeing verse 19 as a teaching on the care and keeping of our physical bodies. 

And another thing, looking back to the Old Testament, what was the purpose of the Temple? It was the dwelling place of God on earth. It was where His people came to worship and meet with Him. It was where people were made right with God. It was a place of prayer and sacrifice. 

If we think of ourselves as someone who others could come to to meet God, to worship together, to be made right with God, or to pray with, wouldn’t that be a better focus? 

Dieting has us looking inward, selfish, self-centered. 

We are to be touch points of Heaven on Earth. People who God can work through to impact the lives of those needing His touch. 

Jesus put on a human body to demonstrate how it is to be done. 

Now it’s our turn. 

And we don’t need to be any particular size to do that.
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