One of the most fascinating aspects of the human body is that it has both physical and spiritual characteristics. It says in Genesis 1:26 that God created man in his image, after his own likeness. What that meant was that humans resembled God in form and shape, as well as, in the sense of his essential nature (H6754). Because of that, God said he would require a reckoning for the life of man, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed” (Genesis 9:5-6). The Hebrew word translated require, darash (daw-rash’) “is often used to describe the ‘seeking of’ the Lord in the sense of entering into covenantal relationship with Him” (H1875).

God established a covenant with Noah and his sons that applied not only to them, but to every living creature that came out of the ark after the flood. God told Noah, “I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (Genesis 9:11). The Hebrew word translated cut off, karath (kaw-rath’) “can be used of spiritual and social extermination. A person ‘cut off’ in this manner is not necessarily killed but may be driven out of the family and removed from the blessings of the covenant” (H3772). The cutting off God referred to in his covenant may have had more to do with the severance of a relationship with him and others than it did the extermination of life.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their relationship with God and each other was altered. One of the ways this change was manifested was Adam and Eve becoming aware of their nakedness. It says in Genesis 3:9-11, “But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?'”

Essentially, what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a spiritual covering was removed and they became ashamed of their nakedness which made them feel worthless in God’s eyes (H954). When God made his covenant with Noah, it was somewhat like putting a spiritual cloke on him in that it protected him and his family from the punishment associated with sin. One of the catches to this arrangement was that it didn’t apply to the physical realm. In other words, God no longer saw Noah and his family as being naked, but they still appeared that way to each other.

After the flood, it says in Genesis 9:20-23, “Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.” What exactly was going on in Noah’s tent isn’t completely clear from the text, but it seems likely that it didn’t have anything to do with Noah being nude in the privacy of his own home. The Hebrew word translated nakedness, ervah (er-vaw’) represents the male sex organ and implies shameful exposure (H6172). To be uncovered meant that Noah was probably engaged in some type of sexual activity (H1540), perhaps being sexually abused by his grandson Canaan, when Noah’s son Ham walked in on him. Noah cursed Canaan after he realized what had happened to him (Genesis 9:24-25).

It’s important to note that God didn’t punish Noah or Canaan for what happened between them. God’s covenant with his family made it possible for Noah to be avenged of the crime committed against him. When Noah cursed Canaan, he was pronouncing judgment on him because of what he had done. Psalm 8:2 says of the LORD, our Lord, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” Basically, what the psalmist was saying was that even babies can claim God’s vengeance. The Hebrew word translated avenger, naqam (naw-kam’) means “to grudge, i.e. avenge or punish…The Lord reserves vengeance as the sphere of his own action” (H5358).

The Apostle Paul identified sexual immorality as a serious spiritual crime because it contradicts our likeness to God. He said, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Ephesians 5:1-3). According to Paul, Noah’s son Ham was in the wrong because he told his two brothers what he saw (Genesis 9:22). The Hebrew word translated told in Genesis 9:22, nagad (naw-gad’) has to do with bringing something to someone’s attention in order to expose the person that is being reported on. In other words, Ham wanted to discredit or shame Noah by reporting what he saw to his brothers rather than keeping the matter to himself.

Paul went on to explain that certain behavior is indicative of being in a lost or unbelieving spiritual state. He said, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:4-5). The Greek word Paul used that is translated sexually immoral, pornos (por’-nos) means to sell and refers to a male prostitute as well as sex trafficking (G4205). Words that are related to pornos, porne (por’-nay) and porneia (por-ni’-ah) have to do with female prostitution, incest, and adultery. The English word pornography was originally thought of as writing about prostitutes.

Paul indicated that sexual immorality was the reason God’s wrath would be poured out on unbelievers or what Paul referred to as the “sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6). The Greek word apeitheia (ap-i’-thi-ah) describes disbelief as being obstinate and rebellious. “This word literally means ‘the condition of being unpersuadable’ and denotes ‘obstinacy, obstinate rejection of the will of God” (G543). Paul told the Ephesians, “Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:7-10).

Paul’s contrast of darkness with light was meant to show that believers and unbelievers are the exact opposites of each other. There is nothing similar about them from a spiritual standpoint. One way of understanding their differences is to think of someone that is in a state of darkness as being blind compared to someone with sight. Trying to explain what an eagle flying overhead, a mountain in the distance, or a sunset looks like to a blind person is impossible because he has no awareness of these things. Paul instructed the Ephesians to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead to expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light” (Ephesians 5:11-14).

Paul’s instruction to expose works of darkness meant that he wanted believers to witness or share God’s word with unbelievers so that they could be convicted of their sin by the Holy Spirit (G1651). For sin to become visible, it has to be linked with the conscience mind and understood as a condition that is contrary to the nature of God. Paul associated spiritual rebirth with being resurrected from the dead and used a hymn to illustrate his point. He said:

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14)

Paul’s analogy of waking up had to do with a change in position. Going from a horizontal to a vertical position spiritually meant that one was able to engage in a conversation with God. Paul’s statement “Christ will shine on you” indicated that spiritual comprehension was a result of being born again.

The genealogies of Noah’s three sons; Shem, Ham, and Japheth showed that particular pathways or the courses of their lives were determined by the incident that occurred in Noah’s tent. The descendants of Ham whose son Canaan was cursed by Noah (Genesis 9:25) became mighty men (Genesis 10:8-9) or valiant warriors, the opposite of what you might expect from being rejected by God. One of the definitions of the Hebrew word gibbor (ghib-bore’) which means powerful is tyrant (H1368). Noah’s great grandson Nimrod established a kingdom that eventually developed into the Assyrian Empire and included such cities as Nineveh, as well as Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 10:10-19), two cities that were destroyed by God because of their gross immorality (Genesis 18:20).

Psalm 8 suggests that God’s involvement in the world is focused on the building up of families and in particular the physical connection between family members. Verses 3-4 state:

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

The Hebrew phrase “set in place” indicates permanence and seems to suggest that God’s ongoing involvement in the affairs of men has to do with our physical location in relation to others. God placed the moon and the stars in specific locations in space so that they could be used for “signs” and to determine the “seasons and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14). The Hebrew word translated signs, owth (oth) means a signal. “This word represents something by which a person or group is characteristically marked” (H226). Owth also means “‘sign’ as a reminder of one’s duty” and can attest to the validity of a prophetic message.

The psalmist described God as being mindful of man (Psalm 8:4). To be mindful of something means that you are actively engaged in a thought process that will result in some sort of action related to it. The most frequent translation of the Hebrew word zakar (zaw-kar’) is remember and is usually associated with God’s remembrance of his covenants. When God established his covenant with Noah, he said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring the clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:12-15).

Flesh or basar (baw-sawr’) in Hebrew refers to the meaty part plus the skin of the human body. “This word may represent a part of the body” or “the ‘physical aspect’ of man or animals contrasted with the spirit, soul, or heart (the non-physical aspect)” (H1320). Paul likened the relationship between a husband and wife to the relationship between Christ and his church. Paul said, “Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23). Paul wanted believers to understand that there is a physical connection between Jesus and his followers even though he currently resides in heaven. It could be that spiritual bonds are just like physical ones except that they are invisible.

Paul encouraged husbands to love their wives in order to sanctify them as Christ does the church and said, “He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body” (Ephesians 5:28-30). The Greek word Paul used that is translated body, soma (so’-mah) refers to the body as a sound whole. Therefore, it can be assumed Paul was referring to the physical connection between a husband and wife, but “the body is not the man, for he himself can exist apart from his ‘body'” (G4983). Therefore, even though Paul was referring to Christ’s body as a material structure made up of numerous pieces that could be united into a functioning whole, it must be assumed that some aspects of Christ’s body are spiritual rather than physical because believers are dispersed around the world, and yet they are still a unified whole that is attached to Christ.

Paul indicated that every believer is a member or distinct body part that is essential to harmonized operation. “The unity of the body is not due to external organization but to common and vital union in Christ (G3196). Paul illustrated this point using the example of marriage. He said, “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32). Paul’s reference to becoming one flesh probably didn’t have anything to do with sexual intercourse. Paul was likely thinking of an external connection that had to do with the complete person or you might say the whole of a person’s activities e.g. the husband and wife’s daily involvement with each other or just being a part of each other’s physical space.

One of the things that is unique about Jesus, who is God, but also a man, is that while he was living on Earth, he was only able to be in one physical location at a time. Because his body, the church is described by Paul as being made up of many members, you could say that Jesus’ body now spans the entire world. Jesus is present everywhere a believer is. What makes this possible is Christ’s union with his body which Paul described as being like a husband and wife that are joined together in holy matrimony (Ephesians 5:31). The Greek word proskollao (pros-kol-lay’o) indicates there are two aspects of the joining together that occurs in marriage. First, there is a clean break or cutting off of a relationship that already exists with one’s parents. Then, a gluing together that produces a strengthened kind of relationship between the couple. The word kollao (kol-lah’-o) refers to cement, indicating that a permanent bond is formed that cannot be reversed.

The bond between Christ and the members of his church results in a superior physical form of the human body. Paul said that Christ loved the church so that he could sanctify it, “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). One of the benefits of having a relationship with Christ is that our physical body is regenerated and made to appear as if it has not been affected by sin. Paul’s used the words spot and wrinkle to illustrate the effects of sin as being like clothes that get messed up during use. Being born again is somewhat like getting a spiritual makeover in that it makes us more attractive both on the inside and out.

Paul’s conclusion that the bond between Christ and his church was a profound mystery (Ephesians 5:32) indicated that there were probably some aspects to this special kind of relationship that Paul didn’t completely understand. The Greek word translated mystery, musterion (moos-tay’-ree-on) “in the New Testament denotes, not the mysterious (as with the English word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those only who are illuminated by His Spirit” (G3466).

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart.

Dear Lord Jesus, I now that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believer you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!