But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. – Colossians 1:22
Our physical bodies are given to us from God. Paul called them a tent (2 Corinthians 5:4). That is not to diminish the importance of the body, but that the spirit is much more valuable. Our very being is spirit and our body is the vessel in which we dwell. In the early Church times there were those who were stating the body and all matter was evil, they were known as gnostics, which was a term that covered over many of these sects and false teachings. The letter from the Apostle Paul to the believers in Colossae (Colossians 1:2) speaks much to this false teaching and re-enforces the importance of the physical body of Jesus Christ. It is amazing that he even goes as far to say that we were reconciled by Christ very “physical body” thus the gospel message itself rested upon this sacrifice once for all. God made “all his fulness dwell in him” (Colossians 1:19), Jesus was not a important part of God’s creation, or an angel or any less then very God himself. Almost all heresies and cults throughout the history of the Church have diminished the fact that Jesus was God, part of the holy trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The early Church laboured to ensure that the teaching of the bodily importance of Jesus Christ was emphasized.
God was “conceived” in the flesh. He was “born” in the flesh. He “suffered” in the flesh. He was “crucified” in the flesh. He “rose again” in the flesh. God “ascended to heaven” in the flesh. He is “seated at the right hand of God” in the flesh. The early Apostles creed speaks of these things in summarize of the holy faith the Church believed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” The Apostle John warns the early believers of the antichrist spirit that would deny this fleshly existence of of God in Christ: “Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2). God’s Son dwelt from eternity past and clothed himself in flesh, incarnating in flesh. God’s Son was fully God and fully God in the womb of Mary the bearer of God. The Apostle John warns that “many false prophets” have gone out into the world and are continuing to go out denying the incarnation of God. Though this bodily death of Christ we are now his holy people, without defect and free from the accusations of the evil one. What a glorious Good News to trust in, God became flesh and bore our sins in his body that we might be set free and be his holy people. Amen.