Christian Mission and a Theology of the Body

Introduction

The Lausanne movement has always had a keen interest in rooting missiology in theological reflection. Missiology is, fundamentally, about the embodiment of the Christian message in the lives of those who faithfully seek to communicate it across sometimes hostile terrain. In that sense, this chapter is a missiological endeavor to bring to light a theological theme that has become dormant during the long sojourn of the church under the domesticating influence of Christendom.

Today, the rise of a new form of neo-gnosticism¹ in our time has received insufficient theological attention, and that alone makes this effort an important one for this generation of thoughtful pastors and Christian leaders who want to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth in faithful ways. The locus of this problem may be discerned in the growing issues around gender reassignment and same-sex marriage. In short, this has become a crucial theological and missional issue for the church around the world. 

The global church has been experiencing an unprecedented time of cultural upheaval and change, sometimes called the third wave of the sexual revolution.² There are always specific symbolic moments which capture the key issues of the day. The United States Supreme Court decision by a 5-4 vote in the Obergefell vs. Hodges case on June 26, 2015, was a landmark moment with global implications. This was the decision which legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.

Ironically, this was the same month that the famous Olympic decathlon athlete, Bruce Jenner officially transitioned to a female and appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine with the famous phrase, “Call me Caitlyn.” It was the first time a transgender person appeared on the cover of a major magazine. Similar court rulings have taken place in many parts of the world.³

These two issues, same-sex marriage and gender re-assignment, capture the heart of the cultural challenge we are facing. The church has not fared well in this cultural storm. The contention of this chapter is that the church has been divided on these issues because we lack clarity on what is the real nature of the struggle we are engaged in. As important as issues around same-sex marriage and gender re-assignment are, they are part of a larger spectrum of brokenness which includes an array of issues, including the normalization of adultery, the rise of digital pornography, the increasing numbers of young adults who co-habit, the wide acceptance of abortion, the growing addiction to violent video games which involve “first-person shooters,” and so forth.

The church has approached these issues in a kind of serial fashion, as each successive generation of Christians has engaged in what appears to be yet another new battle. The co-habitation of the 60’s, was followed by Roe v. Wade, which gave rise to major protests over abortion in the 70’s and 80’s. This was followed by the rise of digitally available pornography in the 90’s. The struggle over same-sex marriage in the subsequent decades, followed by gender re-assignment today, seems to support the idea that we are struggling over a whole laundry list of different issues, with no real sense of what may lie ahead, or even any clear sense that these varying issues may be connected to a larger theme.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that the church has failed to understand that these are not separate issues, like fires which keep breaking out in different parts of the culture, with the church desperately careening from one spot to another, trying to put this, or that, fire out. Instead, we must understand that, for the church, these seemingly disparate issues are actually manifestations of a single root problem; namely, our inability to articulate a Christian view of the body. The result is that the church misses this larger foundational issue because we have been framing the issue in smaller ways. It has also created a situation where the church is perceived to be merely against a range of behaviors or actions, without any clear, compelling vision of what we are for.

The purpose of this chapter is to articulate a positive, biblical theology of the body. The re-construction of a theology of the body involves seven key “building blocks” which must be carefully taught and understood by the global church. These seven “building blocks” are set within the framework of three aspects of our bodies: the created body, the related body, and the sacramental body.

Seven Building Blocks of a Theology of the Body

A. The Created Body

Building Block #1: Creation is good, and therefore it is trustworthy. 

Our faith that God created the world and that it is an expression of his goodness is fundamental to our faith (Heb. 11:3). In Genesis 1, creation is declared “good” seven times (the number for perfection in the Old Testament). The early church, however, battled against false teaching known as Gnosticism, which believed that the material world including the body was untrustworthy or evil, and the “real” you was somehow trapped inside. This false idea has resurfaced in our own day, stating that our bodies are not trustworthy. The God of biblical revelation, in contrast, created our bodies in his image and declared us very good. 

Building Block #2: Our physical bodies are pointers to spiritual mysteries. 

At the dawn of creation, God was already preparing the human race for the eventuality (which was eternally present to him) that he would send his only Son into the world in that great mystery we call the incarnation. God designed us to be the perfect receptacles for his greatest revelation, knowing that someday Jesus would enter the world in a human body. The book of Hebrews places Psalm 40:6 (LXX) onto the lips of Jesus when he declared, “a body you have prepared for me” (Heb. 10:5, NRSV). Therefore, our very bodies point to the mystery of the incarnation.

The church has traditionally taught that God has given various “means” through which he conveys his grace to us. These are called the “means of grace” and include such normative practices such as preaching, the sacraments of communion and baptism, and prayer. All of these “means of grace” happen in and through the body. We hear the preaching of God’s word with our ears. Our bodies are baptized. We take communion with our mouths. Our eyes read God’s word. Thus, our bodies are not only pointers to the incarnation, but also the ongoing bridges by which God continues to extend his grace into the world. Charles Wesley captured this beautifully in his hymn, Celebrate Immanuel’s Name, writing, “God is in our flesh revealed; heaven and earth in Jesus join – mortal with immortal filled, and human with divine.”

B. The Related Body

The first two building blocks are about our bodies as the object of God’s created power.  The next three building blocks focus on how our bodies are designed to relate to other bodies.

Building Block #3: Marriage is a pointer to the greater mystery of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). 

ust as your body is a pointer or window to the incarnation, so marriage is a window into the relationship of Christ and his church. Marriage is not a socially constructed arrangement which conforms to the wider cultural understanding of marriage; namely, a functional, utilitarian arrangement which satisfies our social and sexual needs and provides economic security. The Bible gives us not a commodified view of marriage, but a covenantal view of marriage designed to be a pointer to the great mystery of Christ and his church. The biblical account sets forth the design of marriage being unitive (the two shall become one flesh), procreative (be fruitful and multiply), binary (he created them male and female), and donative or self-giving (marriage points to the sacrifice of Christ for his church, the Bride).

In that beautiful passage in Ephesians 5 about Christian marriage, Paul concludes the chapter by reflecting on the mystery of marriage, saying, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32, ESV). The Bible amazingly begins and ends with a marriage ceremony. Adam and Eve are married in Eden and the Bible culminates in the marriage supper of the Lamb where Christ is eternally wed to his church (Rev. 19:6-8).

Building Block #4: Childbearing is a pointer to the divine mystery of the Trinity.

Just as marriage points to Christ and the Church, so through the mystery of childbirth, God has given a pointer to his own inner life. Through the bearing of children, we are given the privilege of participating with God in the sacred act of creation. God created men and women and made them image bearers. Then, through his grace, he allows us to participate with him in the creation of new image bearers. Through this grace, the family becomes the basic “triune” (father, mother, child) building block of all communities, pointing to the mystery of the inner community within the very life of God:

Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christians believe that there is one God, but his Oneness is revealed through eternal, personal, and relational distinctions known as the Trinity, revealing God is the ultimate source of community, rooting God’s very nature in relationships. Since homosexual relationships are inherently non-reproducible, it diminishes the Christian vision for childbearing and, more importantly, robs the church of this pointer to the great mystery of the Trinity.

Childbearing is also one of the sources of our own sanctification. Augustine, and later, Martin Luther, described the root of all sin as “incurvatus en se,” the “heart turned in upon itself.” As every parent quickly discovers, bearing children summons us out of ourselves and turns our lives towards an “other,” with all the love and responsibility which that brings. This process is inherently sanctifying and is therefore one of the ways God’s image is fully restored in us.

Building Block #5: Celibacy is a pointer to the eschatological life.

Scripture reveals that there are actually two ways our bodies are “related.” The first is the spousal meaning of the body, which the previous two building blocks highlighted. They summon us joyfully into the life of marriage and childbearing. There is, however, a second meaning of the body which Jesus highlights in the New Testament; namely, the celibate meaning of the body. Jesus teaches in Mark 12:25 that “when the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage (NIV).” Here Jesus reminds us that as important as marriage is, it is not an end in itself, but a pointer to a greater spiritual reality, the final eternal union with Jesus Christ. The point is that some people have already been gifted by God in this life to anticipate the eschatological state to which we are all moving. Those called to celibacy are already living out the future reality in the present. They stand as pointers to that great eschatological reality.

What we call “singleness” is actually described in the Bible as the “single-focused life.” This is not about being “alone” or “unmarried,” but the opposite. The celibate, “single-focused” life is united with Christ and thus stands as a reminder that being married to Christ is our eschatological reality. This is why Christians teach the importance of celibacy before marriage as well as after one’s spouse dies. Paul even teaches us to practice temporary celibacy within the state of marriage (1 Cor. 7:5). In short, even those who may not be called to lifetime celibacy are called to experience it temporarily, even as we give special honor to those who have been uniquely called to this life.

This “relatedness” to God is also reflected in deep, same-gender friendships which have recently come under threat as all relationships tend to be sexualized. The nurturing of deep friendships, however, is another pointer to the deep community to which we are all summoned in the presence of the Triune God.

C. The Sacramental Body

The first five building blocks of a theology of the body related to our bodies being created and in relationship with others. The last two building blocks relate to the sacramental nature of our bodies. Here we examine the connection between the sacraments (i.e., the Lord’s Supper and baptism) and our physical bodies.

Building Block #6: Our bodies are sacraments for the world.  

The church coined the word “sacrament” in the third century by combining the Latin word sacer (holy) with the Greek work mysterion (mystery). Thus, a sacrament is a “holy mystery.” This was originally a broad term for a variety of ways in which the physical world pointed to divine, supernatural mysteries. Because the created world was envisioned as a “temple” of God (e.g., Isa. 66:1, 2), then his created order would reflect the grander mystery of his handiwork.

Gradually, in the Protestant tradition, the term sacrament became associated only with the two practices of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Sometimes parts of the church went further to dichotomize the “Word” and the “Sacrament” in a way which envisions the “Word” as our ministry to the world, and “sacraments” as God’s internal ministry to us. However, the sacraments were never meant to be isolated from our public witness in the world.

When we are baptized, we are not merely baptized by faith, i.e. a personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ. We are also baptized into the faith, that is, we become part of a public witness of the good news of Jesus Christ before the eyes of the world. When Martin Luther famously threw his inkwell at the devil in Marburg Castle in the year 1521, he did not shout, “I was baptized,” but “I am baptized” (baptizatus sum). We walk into the world as the baptized people of God, holy mysteries of redemption.  Baptism is not just something we “did,” it is an ongoing mark of who we are in the world.

When we take the broken bread in the Lord’s Supper, we are taking his broken life into ourselves, and through God’s grace we become God’s broken bread for the world. In other words, the Lord’s Supper is not merely for us, but it mysteriously transforms us into spiritual bread for a hungry and needy world. The elements of the Lord’s Supper are like the appetizers preparing us for the wonderful feast which awaits us at the end of time at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Our presence in the world is like an invitation to all of the great feast which awaits us.

Building Block #7: Our bodies have a sacramental nature which transforms the whole of ‘ordinary’ life.

So much of our lives are made up of daily routines like washing dishes, folding clothes, vacuuming floors, preparing meals, taking out the trash, weeding the garden, mowing grass, putting gas in the car, or changing diapers. A proper theology of the body helps to raise our awareness of the theological significance of our bodies in these daily, often repetitive, tasks of each day.

For the Christian, these tasks are not mundane, but are the very means by which we can develop liturgical rhythms in our daily lives. When we do these tasks, we are saying to our parents, our friends, our spouses, and even to God, “this is my body, given for you.” These words, reflecting the sacred words of Jesus in his institution of the Lord’s Supper, should be reflected in the whole of our lives as our bodies become small reflections of his great sacrifice. The so-called “menial” tasks then become filled with sacred meaning for us. This is why Paul says that our greatest spiritual worship is to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices” (Rom. 12:1, NIV).

It may seem odd that such a mundane idea serves as the final building block to a theology of the body. However, this expanded theological awareness of the sacramental nature of our ordinary lives simultaneously challenges three tragic dichotomies that have harmed the church’s witness. 

First, it challenges the false separation between “clergy” and “laity,” which has limited ministry to those in full vocational callings. A proper theology of the body empowers the whole people of God. Second, it challenges the modern-day notion that values financially compensated work but devalues work that is not financially compensated. Vital embodied roles such as father and mother and friend, which are sometimes discounted as not having real value since they are not financially compensated positions, have their proper priority. Third, this seventh building block destroys the fatal barrier between “spiritual” work and “secular” work which has plagued Western expressions of Christianity for centuries.

In sum, a proper theology of the body begins, quite sublimely, with God creating the world and it ends with changing diapers. Yet, this demonstrates how important our bodies are in God’s plan. Our bodies are speaking to us and pointing us to a whole range of divine mysteries: the incarnation, the mystery of the church, the Trinity, and the final eschaton at the end of the ages. Our culture has unwittingly scrambled the message of the body and the church has missed it. The tragic result is that the church is often more known for what we are against rather than what we are for.

This brief survey is to help recapture the idea that we are for the body. The recovery of a theological, not merely biological view of the body, will be increasingly vital as we seek to navigate the particular challenges to Christian faith in our time.

Implications for the Global Mission of the Church

The restoration of a biblical, positive theology of the body has important implications for the Great Commission and the ongoing vitality of the Lausanne Movement.

First, God’s mission is an embodied message. Gospel communication is inherently an embodied event. In other words, the gospel is primarily communicated by those who embody the new creation to others who are embodied persons created in the image of God. This is not to diminish the importance of print or digital media, but to acknowledge that all Christians are reflections of the incarnation. As such, there is no replacement for people sharing the gospel with other people. In short, good missiology presupposes a secure anthropology. 

The reason for this is that the church is not merely the conveyer of salvific information, rather, we are also called to embody the message through our own lives as living examples of those into whom the new creation is already breaking in. In short, we do not simply tell the gospel, we must show the gospel, and that is fundamentally an embodied, ecclesial reality.

Second, God’s mission is public. The gospel is deeply interwoven as a witness to the complexity of a public world. The Enlightenment pushed the church to think about the gospel around what happens in private, spiritual places, rather than public, societal spaces. But, the Great Commission found in Matthew 28 does not call us to make “converts of all people” but to “disciple all nations.” This emphasis on discipling ethne or “people-groups” is only coherent within the larger framework of a theology of the body.

Andrew Walls has pointed out, “[N]ational distinctives, the things that mark out each nation, the shared consciousness and shared traditions, and shared mental processes and patterns of relationship, are within the scope of discipleship.”⁴ Christ must become “visible within the very things which constitute nationality.”⁵ This is why the Great Commission is more than a call to personal evangelism on a global scale. It is a call for Jesus’ disciples to create “communities of obedience among the nations.”⁶

This can only happen if we honor the distinctive realities of how the gospel is culturally embodied by men and women within their own social and cultural lives. This is impossible if we do not have a proper theology of the body. C. S. Lewis says, “Christianity is not merely what a man does with his solitude. It is not even what God does with his solitude. It tells of God descending into the coarse publicity of history and there enacting what can – and must – be talked about.”⁷

Third, God’s mission faces barriers. Effective gospel witness must always be attentive to the key barriers which arise in every generation. In the 19^th century, one of the overwhelming barriers to the gospel was the fact that 90% of all Protestants were western and white, thereby creating the impression that the gospel was not for all peoples. In the 20^th century, the exclusivity of Christ became a barrier as the world became more aware of alternative global faiths. In the 21^st century, issues around human sexuality and embodiment have inadvertently communicated the message that Christians are somehow against certain groups of people, rather than joyfully embracing a more positive Christian vision of the body.

So, today, having greater clarity about the positive, biblical vision of human embodiment which, in mystery, points to the greater realities of incarnation, Trinity, new creation, and so forth, is essential to effective witness in the 21^st century.

Conclusion

In the midst of the myriad of discussions about strategies for world evangelization, we should never forget the importance that the gospel is always proclaimed and manifested from embodied communities and addressed to embodied communities. Therefore, a recovery of a theology of the body has become essential for effective missions in the 21^st century.

Bibliography

• Lewis, C. S. “The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club,” in God in the Dock:  Essays on Theology and Ethics, ed. Walter Hooper. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970.  
• Okesson, Gregg. A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to a Complex World. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020. 
• Tennent, Timothy. For the Body: Recovering a Theology of Gender, Sexuality, and the Human Body. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020.
• Walls, Andrew. The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Press, 1996.
• Wright, Christopher. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2006.

Further Resources

• Gregg, Allison R. Embodied: Living as Whole People in a Fractured World. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2021.
• Pearcy, Nancy. Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2019.
• Trueman, Carl R. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to the Sexual Revolution. Crossway, 2020.
• West, Christopher. Our Bodies Tell God’s Story: Discovering the Divine Plan for Love, Sex, and Gender. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2020.

Endnotes

1. Gnosticism refers to several 1^st and 2^nd century movements which believed that the body and the material creation itself was evil and the “highest good” was trapped inside and could only be liberated by the hidden “knowledge” of the gnostic teachers.
2. The first wave is associated with the fight for female suffrage in the early 20^th century. The second wave is associated with the rise of birth control and the broad acceptance of sexual activity outside of marriage in the 1960’s.  The third wave is associated with the acceptance of gay marriage and embracing a wide range of responses to gender dysphoria during the early decades of the 21^st century. 
3. Same-sex marriage is now legal in the following countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States, United Kingdom, and Uruguay. However, it is a major political and cultural debate in many more countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.
4. Andrew Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1996), 27.
5. Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History, 27.
6. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God (Grand Rapids: IVP Academic, 2006), 391.
7. C. S. Lewis, “The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club,” in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, ed. Walter Hooper (Grand Rapids:  Eerdmans, 1970), 128. Gregg Okesson, A Public Missiology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 29, 67.