Theological Tidbits

There are many who are uncomfortable with the unity and duality of man. Rather than acknowledging the mystery, they try to eliminate it. One very common means of trying to remove the unity-duality mystery is to make the body a thing—almost a machine that a human person inhabits. In this view, the human person is pure spirit—and the body is not part of human life. Given this false opinion, the human body is merely a machine that is necessary here on earth. It is important to note that while this mechanized view separates the body from the person, it does not make the body something evil.

How often do people refer to the human heart as a ticker? Food is many times called fuel as if the body were an engine. Treating the body as a machine has become integrated into our culture. However, our bodies are not machines. If they were, when two people shook hands, hugged or expressed their love for one another, it would not be two persons touching—but rather their two machines. Moreover, if our bodies were machines, then a surgeon operating would be nothing more than a technician working on a defective machine much like a serviceman repairing a malfunctioning computer. Clearly, our bodies are our flesh and blood. They are the means by which our persons are expressed. When we are in pain, most of us do not cry out, “I have damaged my machinery.” Rather, we cry out, “My leg!” or “My arm!” When our bodies are hurt, we are hurt. Thus, the human body is not a machine. Rather, it is created to be the expression of a person.

We received our bodies as part of the gift of life. None of us bought them. They were given to us by God through the cooperation of our parents. Further, when a small part of the body is harmed—e.g., the heart, we—our persons—suffer and can die. Our bodies are part and parcel of human life. They are created to be the expressions of our persons. In other words, there is a fundamental unity in each of us. We are body and soul—but the two are united as one. The unity does not exclude the duality—and the duality does not destroy the unity. In this unity-duality, we confront one of the essential mysteries about man. It should not surprise us that man is a mystery. After all, we are images of the supreme mystery, God Himself.

Since God willed that we love Him—and since He created us to give and to receive love in and through our bodies, He must have willed from “the beginning” to allow us to love Him in and through our bodies and to receive love from Him in and through our bodies.

As enfleshed spirits or spiritualized bodies, human beings are unique. The first man, Adam, discovered the radical differences between himself and the rest of creation. Adam realized that, as an enfleshed person, he was unique. In the account of creation found in the second chapter of Genesis, God creates Adam first and then asks him to name the animals. In the process of naming the animals, Adam experiences an extreme loneliness as he discovers that no other human being exists. Since Adam was made in the image of God, he had a need to act as God acts—i.e., to love as God loves. Since his body was made to express his person, he longed, as we all do, to express love in and through his body. However, love is a mutual self-gift. Since Adam was alone, he could not receive the self-gift of another bodied person. Further, since he was alone, he could not give himself in and through his body to another bodied person. Adam experienced loneliness because there could not be a mutual exchange of love with another bodied person. God permitted Adam to suffer loneliness so that through this experience he would discover that the bodies of the animals were different from his own body. Adam saw that no body other than his own could express a person. In and through his loneliness, Adam discovered himself as an enfleshed spirit, as a person whose body was created to express his person. He discovered that, as a spiritualized body, he was unique.

Living among as many people as we do today, it is almost impossible for us to experience the kind of loneliness Adam felt. However, just as Adam came to realize that he was unique because his body could express his person, so it is important for all of us to appreciate our own uniqueness as enfleshed spirits.

Human beings are not only called to express their own personhood through their bodies, they are also invited to manifest God. As images of God, we are called to act as God acts. In other words, we are called to love as God loves. Since we have bodies, we are called to express love in and through our bodies. When our bodies express love, they not only manifest human personhood, but they also become physical images of God—i.e., signs of God: “The body also participates, in its own way, in the dignity of the ‘image of God,’ just as it participates in the dignity of the person” (John Paul II). As the expression of a human person and a physical image of God, the human body is a unique creation.

Human beings are not only called to express their own personhood through their bodies, they are also invited to manifest God. As images of God, we are called to act as God acts. In other words, we are called to love as God loves. Since we have bodies, we are called to express love in and through our bodies. When our bodies express love, they not only manifest human personhood, but they also become physical images of God—i.e., signs of God: “The body also participates, in its own way, in the dignity of the ‘image of God,’ just as it participates in the dignity of the person” (John Paul II). As the expression of a human person and a physical image of God, the human body is a unique creation.

It is quite clear that every human person is a spiritual being. Our thoughts and choices are spiritual, immaterial and non-corporeal. However, each one of us also has a body that is physical, material and corporeal. Further, the body is not something added to each of us as an afterthought. Rather, our bodies are given to us to express our persons. As embodied persons, we are different from all material things and from all other personal beings. We differ from inanimate things, the plants and the animals because we are persons—images of God. We differ from all the other persons in the universe—the three Persons in God and the angels—because we have bodies. Of course, our Lord Jesus Christ is God and He has a body. However, He has a body because He assumed human nature. It is as a man, in His human nature, that He has a body. As God, in the divine nature, He remains spiritual, immaterial and non-corporeal. We are unique. There are no other creatures comparable to human beings. There are no other enfleshed spirits or spiritualized bodies in the universe. Only human beings are persons with bodies. We are the only beings who can express personhood in a physical way.

It is possible for us to choose freely not to act as God acts. When we do not act like God, we are, in effect, trying to become something we are not. We are trying to shape ourselves into something other than images of God. In addition, acting contrary to the very beings we are fills our consciousness with a confusing array of experiential data. Thus, when we analyze this data to gain a knowledge of ourselves, we see an inadequate and marred image of God. The attempt to determine and, subsequently, to know ourselves as something other than images of God never completely succeeds. When we sin—i.e., when we act contrary to the very beings we are, we tarnish or wound ourselves. We try to do the impossible—i.e., we try to destroy our likeness to God. Sin is a suicidal act.

For good or for ill, we become what we do. We can choose to become more God-like or less God-like. Since God creates all men and women in His image and likeness, He invites each one of us to holiness, but He does not force it on us. He not only invites, He offers us the means: grace. But like the call or invitation, the means, God’s grace, is never forced on us.