Our Body in Christ

A physical body is essential for life on Earth. It provides a home for the spirit and allows interaction with the surrounding world. Through this interaction, we develop perspectives, habits, and patterns of behavior.

Our senses play a central role in shaping these patterns. What we taste and smell helps form appetites and preferences. What we see offers endless information, broadens our intellect, and shapes our interests. Hearing works alongside sight to create experiences that either attract us or cause us to withdraw. Through touch, we learn what brings comfort or pain, what is safe or dangerous, and how to manipulate objects and tools in our environment.

Pleasure and pain serve as guiding forces in this process. Pleasant sensations encourage us to repeat certain actions, while painful ones discourage repetition. Over time, these responses shape how we behave and experience life.

Although our bodies are not the essence of who we are, they are deeply connected to the development of our identity. They shape how we sense, respond to, and interpret the world, making them an integral part of the human experience.

When we receive Christ, we are given a new identity that touches every part of who we are—spirit, soul, and body. Though our earthly bodies remain for a time, we are promised a future heavenly body, free from the limitations and weaknesses we currently know. Yet even now, in our earthly form, we can experience a profound freedom from the demands and dictates of the flesh.

The cravings and repulsions shaped by our old nature can be transformed through new input to our senses as we draw near to Him. When we see and hear the Word of God, our self-image is renewed, aligning our thoughts and actions with the nature of Christ. There is a fragrance of His presence that draws us closer and, in turn, becomes a fragrance we carry to others. Our appetites are shaped not by old desires but by tasting the goodness of the Lord. Through the touch of fellowship, we both give and receive blessings as members of His family.

By presenting our bodies to God as living sacrifices, they are no longer merely vessels responding to the world around us—they become a dwelling place for His Spirit, joined in unity with ours. This union reshapes how we live, sense, and interact with the world, enabling us to reflect His character in both body and spirit.

Notes

As Jesus was given a body, so have we been given.

Hebrews 10:5 (NLT) 5 That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.

Till our heavenly body, the ways of our earthly one can be mortified.

2 Corinthians 5:1,17 (NLT) 1 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Death with the old – Life with the new

Romans 8:12-13 (NLT) 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

Not letting the flesh dominate enables the body to be God’s tool.

Romans 6:10-13 (TLB) 10 He died once for all to end sin’s power, but now he lives forever in unbroken fellowship with God. 11 So look upon your old sin nature as dead and unresponsive to sin, and instead be alive to God, alert to him, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Do not let sin control your puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God—every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes.

How does the earthly body identify with Jesus’ body?

While a new creation inside, the earthly body remains with its prior programming.

2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (TLB) 7 But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. 9 We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. 10 These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.

In Christ the earthly body is where the Holy Spirit now lives with His requirements.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (TLB) 19 Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you.

In Christ, life in an earthly body is guided by the Spirit.

Galatians 2:20 (NLT) 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Trusting – replacing the old with the New:

Seeing – beholding the image of Christ in the Word and by the Spirit
Hearing – receiving the Truth by faith
Tasting – of God’s Goodness
Smelling - savoring and spreading His presence
Touching- receiving and providing ministry to the Body we’ve joined with.

Like Jesus, the offering of our body provides with new stimuli.

Romans 12:1-2 (TLB) 1 And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.

With new bodies coming, we identify with Jesus’ earthly body.

Romans 8:11-12 (TLB) 11 And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, he will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you. 12 So, dear brothers, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.

By dying to fleshly demands, we live with power for healing.

1 Peter 2:24 (NLT) 24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

Overview:

God gave us a physical body to house our spirit and allow us to interact with the world.
Through our senses—seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching—we form appetites, habits, and behaviors.
Pleasure reinforces patterns; pain warns against harm.
Though the body isn’t the essence of who we are, it is deeply tied to how we experience and express life.
When we receive Jesus Christ, our entire being—spirit, soul, and body—comes under His lordship.
While we still inhabit an earthly body, we are promised a heavenly one (2 Corinthians 5:1).
Through His Word and Spirit, the old cravings and patterns can be renewed, and the senses redirected toward God’s purposes.
As Jesus was given a body to offer (Hebrews 10:5), we too are called to present ours as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
Our earthly body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), a vessel through which Christ is revealed.

As we trust Him, His Spirit empowers us to mortify the old nature (Romans 8:12–13), live in resurrection power (Romans 8:11), and walk in newness of life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Prayer

Father, Thank You for the body You’ve given me—a vessel through which I live, sense, and serve. Thank You for sending Jesus, who took on a body to redeem mine. I surrender my body to You as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing in Your sight. By Your Spirit, help me to silence the demands of my flesh and respond to Your Word. Renew my senses to delight in Your presence—to see Your glory, hear Your truth, taste Your goodness, and touch others with Your love. Thank You that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I choose to walk in resurrection life, knowing that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Declarations

My body is a vessel of God’s glory, not a slave to sin. (Romans 6:13)
The old nature has no power over me; I walk in newness of life. (Romans 8:12–13)
My senses are sanctified—my eyes see His Word, my ears hear His truth, my appetites are filled with His goodness, and my touch brings blessing.
Christ lives in me; His Spirit gives life to my mortal body. (Romans 8:11)
I am a living sacrifice, set apart for God’s purposes. (Romans 12:1)
By His wounds, I am healed and made whole. (1 Peter 2:24)
My earthly body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19)
I live not by the flesh but by the power of the Spirit. (Galatians 2:20)