In Paul’s declaration, ‘the body is for the Lord’, he also says, ‘the Lord is for the body’. Can you please explain this statement?
This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Christian Philosophy of Man’ (1994).
'The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body' (1 Corinthians 6:13).
Our bodies are not just temporary.1 God, who raised up the body of the Lord Jesus from the dead, will raise our bodies up from the dead one of these days. The body is for the Lord, as Paul explains, in the sense that the human body is designed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, a temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). So the body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. That is, the Lord maintains it in his grace as a faithful Creator.
He will also transform it. He already dwells within, but oh what a marvellous thing when his eternal glory shall dwell in us, like the Shekinah glory dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness. There's no need of the sun: 'And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb' (Revelation 21:23).
You have friends come from Timbuktu to visit, and you arrange to take them out to see the glories of the Irish countryside. When the day arrives, very often it's dark and dismal and raining, and all you can say to your guests is, 'Well, there's a marvellous scene over there, but I'm sorry you can't see it. You'll have to take my word for it!' You need the light to bring out the glory of a thing.
When you get home, my good friend, and the glory of God shall dwell in you, bringing out all those qualities that by his grace and Spirit have been wrought in you, what a lovely thing it will be. I'm looking forward to seeing you. Our body is for the Lord, to make him a temple. The Lord is for us, in that he will bestow his glory on us and use us.
1 See ‘A Christian Philosophy of Man’, pp. 28f. ‘2. Man in relation to his body and to marriage (chs. 5–7)’.