Today we will continue looking at the Apostles’ Creed: 

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Today’s passage may not be exactly what you think it is at first.  Today we are looking at “the resurrection of the body.”  We hear this and we think of eternal life. And that’s true, but not all of it. Because, spoiler, tomorrow is life everlasting. 

Today is specifically the resurrection of the body. This is a big deal, and important to our faith.  What this passage is talking about is that in the resurrection, in eternal life, we will have resurrected bodies. Paul talks about this in his letters where he talks about how we will have spiritual bodies in eternity. 

What are these bodies like?  Great question.  Paul doesn’t really know, he never really answers the question. He just knows that we will have them.  And that in heaven we will have a body.  We won’t just be spirits floating around. We’ll have a body. 

We need to understand this, because this means that our “body” is not bad. The Bible talks about our flesh and our flesh being sinful, but when it talks about our flesh, that is an allegory for our sinful nature and desires. It’s not literally talking about our flesh, the organ of our body.  

Our bodies were created good. The Bible tells us that they are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  We do not believe that the body is bad and the spirit is good. We believe that we are fallen and in need of redemption. But we believe that the body was made good in creation, and will be restored fully in eternity. 

Gnosticism is the ancient heresy that the body is bad and the spirit is good, so it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you focus on the spirit. The Christian belief is that the body and the spirit were both made good.  And are affected by the fall. And can be redeemed by Jesus. 

We see post resurrection Jesus has a body. He ate, He talked, He walked.  He had a body.  This doctrine of the church tells us this, we will too. 

So take care of your body now, as well.  It was created good in the Garden. It houses the Spirit now.  And it should be cared for, even now.  We believe in the resurrection of the body.  

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