A term used in the Bible in several different ways. Sometimes it refers to physical bodies, while other times it represents deeper religious ideas. These uses help us understand how the ancient Israelites thought about human life.
Body In the Old Testament
In the Old Testament, many Hebrew words are translated as “body.” These usually refer to physical life. The Bible talks about bodies that can suffer, get sick, or be injured. The body becomes a corpse after death. The Bible also mentions the bodies of spiritual beings, like angels in Daniel 10:6, or heavenly creatures called "cherubim" in Ezekiel 1:11. Jeremiah wrote about idol bodies when describing false gods (Jeremiah 10:1–16). This shows that ancient Israelites believed all beings had some kind of body, whether they were in heaven or on earth.
The word “body” is similar to the word “flesh,” and the same Hebrew word is used for both. “Body” refers to a human in their physical form. “Flesh” is used to refer to humanity's sinfulness or mortality.
Human beings have a body and a spirit. In the Bible, the two are not separate from each other. The body is not an obstacle to the soul (like the Greeks believed). Only between the Old and New Testaments does Jewish writing speak about the body as evil or as something that works against the soul.
Body In the New Testament
“Body” is used in the New Testament in the same ways as in the Old Testament. However, the idea is given new importance. Jesus's body was taken down from the cross (Mark 15:43). A body could get sick and be healed (Mark 5:29). Bodies needed to be clothed (James 2:16). But Jesus teaches that life is more than clothing (Matthew 6:25). He said only to fear those who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).
At the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said about the bread, “This is my body,” and then added about the wine, “This is my blood” (Mark 14:22, 24). Jesus took these words from the ancient Jewish system of offerings to God. His death was like the sacrifices made in both the old and new covenants (agreements) between God and his people. In both cases, someone gave their actual life for others.
Paul wrote most of what the New Testament says about the body. He used this idea often to help explain what it means to follow Jesus.
The Body of Sin
In Romans 6:6, Paul wrote about destroying the “body of sin.” Paul did not mean our physical bodies are evil. He also did not mean that sin is a thing living inside us. Instead, he was talking about how sin controls our lives on earth.
When someone becomes a Christian, Paul saw this control of sin being broken. When he connected sin to the body, he simply meant that humans, while living on earth, often do wrong things. After explaining this difficult struggle, Paul asked, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Human life is ruined by sin and needs Christ’s redemption (Romans 7:25–8:4).
The Body of the Believer
Paul taught that believers experience both a "saving of the soul" and a change in their current life. They have died to sin and are freed from it. Paul called for holiness of life “in the flesh.” “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires.” (Romans 6:12). Righteousness is the new ruler in a Christian’s life. The social and personal lives of believers are to be defined by holiness. Believers are in the world (John 17:11) and are to live for God in the world, so they are supposed to care about the world.
Physical life now has a new meaning. Paul told Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Each person's life is a “living sacrifice” to God. Rather than minimizing our earthly life, Paul saw that Christ gave it a new potential. The Holy Spirit is found in the believer. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy Spirit lives in a person's entire physical existence.
Paul looked forward to a transformation of life in the body through Christ. He spoke of the “redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23) and of the transformation of “our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). The Bible is aware of the effects of human sin and physical deterioration, is not pessimistic like the worldviews that want to escape from the world.
The Resurrection Body
The Israelites did not understand the body and soul to be separate. Life after death is not in spirit but involves a “new body.” In 1 Corinthians 15:35–57, Paul sees that the earthly body and the resurrection body are the same. “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:44). This idea comes from Jesus' experience, whose dead body was brought to life and transformed. Paul believed that in the resurrection, life would return to the body without its limitations. Paul says, "Death has been swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54).