When Christians are Possessed
Have I ever told you about when I was possessed? It’s not something you really expect to be told (at least by someone who isn’t institutionalised) but I tell you it’s true. It’s a pretty big shock learning that you have been possessed; I mean I use my body all the time; I’ve never had to share it before. Then one day I’m not the one who owns this body which, up until now, I have called my own. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it before but the Bible is pretty clear that all Christians have been possessed, not only that but the effect that this should have on our behaviour should be significant.
Now before this article goes any further, two important details probably need to be explained. Firstly, I am not talking about being possessed by demons or evil spirits, what I am talking about is being possessed by God. Secondly, Christians are possessed by God in the sense that we are his property, we belong to him. If I am Gods property then the decisions that I make about what I do with my body are really important. So I put it to you, the reader, do you use your body to glorify God, or do you misuse the body that he has redeemed?
In 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, Paul explains that if we think that our bodies are our own, we are kidding ourselves. Thinking our bodies are our own is a wrong way of thinking. In verse 19b-20, we learn ‘You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.’ Paul explains that our salvation was not without cost, Jesus paid the price that our rebellion against God deserved and he did this by dying on the cross. Because Jesus is the one who paid the price, we belong to him.
To be honest, I struggle trying to process this idea. I’m the sort of guy who gets grumpy & irritable when people intrude on my personal space, and now I suddenly find out that I don’t even own the body that I spend time using, feeding, exercising and grooming. However difficult this idea is to deal with, if I would consider myself a follower of Christ, the reality that I am confronted with is that I am owned by someone who isn’t me.
This idea is easier to understand once we realise that we are not possessed by Christ as if we were some sort of self-aware trading card, rather we are members of Christ’s body (1 Cor 6:15). In the same way that your arm, liver or spleen belongs to you, we belong to Christ. Because we are members of Christ’s body it is important that the way we use our bodies reflects this.
It is no wonder why Paul takes such a strong stance on sexual immorality; in verse 1 Cor 6:15 Paul asks ‘Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!’ Later in verse 18 he writes ‘Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.’ You see when we reject God’s rule in our sex lives not only are we sinning against ourselves, but we also sin against Christ (whom we are part of) as well as other Christians (who are also part of Christ’s body).
Much as we might like to think that it is, our body is not for our own gratification, rather our body is a temple for the Holy Spirit (v19), that is, the Holy Spirit resides in our bodies. Now if God’s spirit lives within us, we need to make sure that our bodies and the things that we do with it, bring glory to him.
Don’t misunderstand; I am in no way saying that Christians should be striving for bodies that artists would use as templates when they are chiselling marble statues or that we need to decorate our temples with the trendiest threads so God will be happy with an aesthetically pleasing temple, such a notion is ridiculous.
What does glorify God? Leaving behind the sinfulness of our past such as sexual immorality, idolatry, thievery, adultery, homosexuality, greediness, drunkenness, reviling, and swindling are mentioned by Paul just prior to this passage (in 1 Cor 6:9-10) and name only a handful of things we used to do. Ultimately, Christians need to realise that what we do with our bodies is of great consequence. Should Christians stay up till all hours finishing assignments? Should we be dependent on caffeine? Do we need to think about the clothes we put on in the morning? To answer these questions we need to figure out what impact it will be having on ‘The body of Christ’, is it helpful or is it detrimental?’ After all ‘[our] bodies are members of Christ.’ (15)
Lachlan Orr << When Christians Collide | Return to the Index | Evangeli-what? >>