Embodied Existence for God’s Glory
By
John Jerry L. Basada
96429
Reading Reflection 3
Submitted to Dr. Beth Felker-Jones
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for BITH 565
Christian Theology
at Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois July 2019
Humans are intricate beings. There is complexity in our physical make up-- from our
cells to the bodily organs that allows us to breathe, move and be. We also possess complex
non-material aspects such us our emotions, dreams, memories and aspirations. We can reflect on
the nuances of our existence through different lenses but the Bible offers a unique and important
view to understanding of being human.
We should start at the beginning, when God breathed life to humanity and made it after
His own image (Genesis 1:27). Humanity is called to be a representative being of the divine. He
is called to a task to govern the created order. He is to be in communion with God. One must
notice how in this narrative man is not dissected into parts or parcels. What God has designed is
a whole being for His glory. But in the same page of wondrous power and divine created order
are we introduced to man’s rebellion, turning the design to a state far from how God intended
things to be. As the narrative unfolds to Jesus, we are presented with God’s move to restore
humanity to Himself. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus man is called and enabled
to live a life that Paul calls as “walking in the Spirit”.
The Pauline conception of anthropology gives us Biblical language useful to
understanding what it means to be human. Gutierrez looks into Paul’s discourse on Romans 8
and Galatians 5 to reflect on the idea of ‘walking in the Spirit’(1984, 55). He presents an
understanding that presents flesh, body and spirit as a unified whole and not parts. He concludes
that, “Life at the Spirit therefore is not an existence at the level of soul and in opposition to or
apart from the body; it is an existence in accord with life, love peace and justice (the great values
of the reign of God) and against death (71).
There is a temptation to pit flesh against spirit. This anthropological dualism holds a big
space in the Filipino psyche. It may be attributed to the long rule of Spaniards and Roman
Catholicism who wielded hell as a weapon to those who would oppose them. This leads to a
view that the physical is in a sense evil and the only way out of it is when one turns to the
immaterial afterlife. This can be seen, to some extent, to the way our people deal with the
environment. A case can be made that since this place is part of the fall, we can just wait for the
ethereal future where we can ‘enjoy life’.
The Biblical worldview points otherwise-- God created man in flesh and in spirit. This
idea calls us to reshape the way we view and live life. We are to view our life in the lens of our
purpose to glorify God. This also can be seen in how we deal with issues such as homosexuality.
That if we are more than our desires and flesh and bones, we are able to look at homosexulity in
the lens of being created in God’s own image but is marred by sin. This does not give us the
excuse for unaccountability , but gives us an understanding of the journey we are taking, in light
of the Cross and in view of the new creation (Hays 1996).
We truly are a complex creation, not only because of our physical and non-physical
make-up but because of who created us. Which leads us to why and how we should live. A
community of Christ-reflecting other serving humanity for the glory of God.
REFERENCE LIST
Hays, Richard, “Homosexuality” in The Moral Vision of the New Testament (HarperSan
Francisco:1996) 379-406.
Gutierrez, Gustavo. We Drink From Our Own Wells trans. M.J. O’Connell. (Orbis:1984), 54-71.
