Transforming the Body: Salvation as Restoration to the Proper Use of the Body in Romans

I. Introduction

Beginning especially with Richard Hays’s monograph in 1983, The Faith of Jesus Christ, New Testament scholars have taken special interest in the narrative character of Paul’s letters and the underlying narrative(s) upon which Paul constructs his exhortations to churches. While Hays focused on the narrative of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, other scholars, such as Ben Witherington and James Dunn, have taken narrative analysis in other directions to determine to what extent it might prove fruitful for coming to grips with Paul’s thought. Is it that Paul has a narrative "thought-world?" Can we isolate one or two of a greater number of narrative threads that run through his letters?

This relatively new line of inquiry has understandably been utilized to attempt to solve long-standing problems in Romans and Galatians, such as debates about "righteousness" language, the nature of faith, Jew-gentile relations, and the constitution of the people of God. It seems, however, that one major narrative strand has been relatively neglected, one that may provide a path into the main lines of the drama in Romans: that of the use or functioning of the human body about which Paul has (surprisingly) much to say.

Romans tells the story of the rescue of the human body and Paul portrays salvation as the restoration to the proper use of the human body. This narrative thread begins with the abandonment by humanity of its proper functioning as the glory of God. That is, the purpose of humanity was to function in such ways that made manifest—that embodied—the reign of the one true God. With the surrender by humanity of this role has come an attendant divine giving over of the body to dishonorable use and the captivity of humanity to sin so that sin has now taken up residence in human bodies. Christ has come to rectify this situation, coming in the form of a human in this condition of captivity and putting to death the entity called "sin-in-the-flesh." He was raised a life-giving Spirit and now gives life to bodies with the end in view that humanity can be set right to the proper functioning of the human body—a return to what is called the "glory of the children of God."

II. The captivity of the body to sin and death

Any good narrative begins with a seemingly insurmountable problem, which provides the compulsion for the story. Paul portrays the problem, in Romans, as the enslavement of the human body to sin and death. Humanity has abandoned its proper function as the glory of God with devastating consequences for the human body. All of humanity, therefore, bears the judgment of God, which is the handing over of humanity to further misuse of the body resulting in the captivity of the human body to sin and death.

In 1:18-3:19 Paul rehearses how it is that the wrath of God has been revealed against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of humanity. His aim is to demonstrate to his readers in the church(es) in Rome that none of them has any claim to the inside track with God over against any other group. All humanity, rather, has become corrupted and is accountable to God.

Paul signals the original intention of humanity in v. 23 when he speaks of humanity having "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God." He indicates that God’s created design for humanity was for humans to function as the glory of God, embodying in their conduct and their corporate relations with each other the image of God on earth. This function of humanity entailed conduct in the body that had a telos, behavior that pointed beyond humanity to the creator. It was the glory of humanity to be the glory of God, to acknowledge and make manifest that the one who created and upheld all of creation, including humanity, of course, was indeed the one true God, who, confesses Paul, "is blessed forever, Amen" (v. 25).

The abandonment of this function according to creation is chronicled in the two "exchange" statements in 1:23, 25. In v. 23 Paul states that humanity has "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man" and of a variety of other things within creation. This exchange is re-stated in v. 25, where Paul notes that humanity "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." While commentators have noted that Paul’s critique is more or less the indictment of humanity for idolatry, Paul’s discussion amounts to a thicker description of idolatry than is often recognized.

This is not a narrow reference to a perversion of cultic practice—worshiping idols instead of the one true God—but rather has to do with the broader conduct of humanity in relation to its creator. In the full range of human behavior, humanity was to function as the image and glory of God, the representation of the one true God on earth—and the broad range of human activity was to be its worship. In v. 23a, therefore, Paul is making reference to this function according to original created intention.

Humanity has abandoned its intended function of pointing beyond itself to the one true God and instead has taken on the role of pointing to or representing something within creation. No longer does humanity image God, conducting itself as the glory of God in all of its activity, but now images something in the created order—whether something human or animal. This, as Paul goes on to show, is a tragic move with devastating consequences. This exchange entails viewing the human body not as the representation of God designed to relate to others and care for creation after the character of God, but as pointing beyond itself to something within creation, or perhaps pointing to itself as the ultimate end of creation, which is a surrender of the true glory of humanity for shame.

This exchange is stated again in v. 25, where Paul notes that humanity has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. The dative phrase ἐν τῷ ψεύδει ("by a lie") is usually translated so that it points to the exchange of the truth of God for a lie, though it is more likely the exchange or abandonment of the truth of God "by the lie," alluding to the lie of the serpent believed by the deceived Eve. Either way, what has been given up here is the truth of God, which is paralleled in v. 23 by the "glory of the incorruptible God," so that "the truth of God" also appears to be a functional term, pointing to the true function of the human—the proper embodied conduct that fills out the richness of the term "image/glory of God."

Paul depicts what is involved in the abandonment of the truth of God with the two participles in v. 25—ἐσεβάσθησαν and ἐλάτρευσαν; humanity worships and serves the creature rather than the creator. Again, this is not a narrow reference to cultic activity, but has a broader reference to God’s intention for humanity’s entire existence as one of worship and service to the one true God. According to Genesis 2:15, Adam and Eve were in the garden to לְעָבְדָהּ and לְשָׁמְרָהּ. These infinitives are often translated as "to cultivate" and "to keep." But a number of scholars make a good case that they ought to be translated as "worship" and "obey." In this way, the two infinitives in the Genesis text provide a holistic vision of human conduct in God’s good creation as worship and service. Their proper care for and fructifying of creation and their honorably relating to one another were modes of human conduct that constituted worship and service to God.

In this light, the participles in Rom 1:25, in perhaps an allusion to Gen 2:15, again point to the profundity of the exchange by humanity. No longer does human behavior point beyond itself to the one true God so that the creator God is magnified; humanity now envisions itself as representing something else within creation—humanity itself, perhaps, or some creature, some set of social practices that point to membership in a social class or ethnic group, or some set of ideals invented by humankind. The broad scope of human conduct is depicted by Paul, following Scripture, as worship, pointing to something beyond itself, the embodiment of a transcendent reality. This worshiping function has been utterly perverted in that humanity now envisions itself as the representative of, and its conduct as giving glory to, that which has no glory in itself. Humanity now embodies the reality that the creature is the ultimate.

The results of this exchange, according to Paul, have had devastating consequences for the human body. Because humanity, in a cosmic act of betrayal, envisions itself as the image of something within creation, God has given humanity over to the perverted functioning of the body (1:24, 26, 28). In v. 24, Paul states that "God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." In v. 26, Paul states that God gave women and men over to the degrading and dishonorable uses of their bodies, and this is epitomized in same-sex erotic relationships, which, for Paul’s inherited Jewish worldview would represent the ultimate bodily malfunction—that women and men, designed by God to relate bodily to one another and corporately to bear the image of God on earth would turn away from that intended function.

The result of this exchange and subsequent perverted functioning ultimately is the enslavement to sin and death. Paul states in v. 27b that humanity has received "in themselves the proper result of their error." While some read this final phrase as having specific reference to some punishment for homosexual behavior, it appears that for Paul the error in view is the profound functional exchange made by all of humanity (v. 25). As Richard Hays states, "the creature’s original impulse toward self-glorification ends in self-destruction."

III. The body is not rectified through law-shaped identity

Paul’s burden in Romans 1-3, and throughout the letter, is to argue that identity shaped by νόμος is no solution to the problem of the captivity of the human body to sin and death. In fact, what is quite striking is that Paul actually states things so strongly; not only is identity shaped by νόμος not a solution, but in its exclusivity it constitutes a way of being human that also falls short of rightly representing or imaging the one true God.

First, Paul indicates that Israel has also made the exchange, not only pagans. Israel no longer embodies worship of the one true God, but has exchanged this for the image of something within creation. One such indication that this is the case is in Rom 2:29, where Paul re-describes the "true Ioudaios" in terms of his praise or approval coming from God and not from men. Paul is portraying contemporary Judaism as being in the image of, or representing, something man-made, something within creation, the embodiment of a way of life that looks beyond itself to the approval of men, not of God. Perhaps Paul might say that their conduct and identity amounts merely to the embodiment of an earthly people, an embodiment of a certain idealistic conception of the nation, not the embodiment of the people of God who were to function corporately as the glory of God. Their emphasis on "works"—deeds done in order to establish an identity—leads them to "boast"—to hold to their identity as "insiders" over against those that they can now label as "outsiders." And even though this boast isn’t before God, they are boasting in something other than God, which is a worship that is unacceptable.

A second indication that νόμος-shaped identity is a worship exchange is found in Rom 3:29 where Paul strongly implies that the conviction among Ioudaioi of priority before God because of ethnicity is an idolatrous move in that it makes God into just another tribal deity, much like the gods of other nations. To claim that only one earthly people of one ethnic identity has a unique claim on God and uniquely enjoys God’s blessing is to inappropriately image the God who is the Great King over all the earth—not only of the Jews. Identity shaped by νόμος, therefore, is no solution to the dilemma of human enslavement because it has become part and parcel of the problem.

A second reason that identity shaped by νόμος is no solution to the captivity of the body to sin and death is found in Paul’s claim that the criterion at the final judgment is truly human behavior, not conformity to any one ethnic identity—even if such an identity is determined by and oriented according to νόμος. Paul’s discussion of the judgment of God according to deeds in Rom 2:6-8 has been, of course, the occasion of no small amount of theological wrangling. Leaving much of that to one side, however, for our purposes it will do to focus on Paul’s more immediate point. In the context Paul is making the point that God’s judgment is impartial. God does not judge humanity by its conformity to any one ethnic, social, or national identity, but according to one’s conduct vis-à-vis humanity’s created design. That is, on the basis of the conformity by the person to God’s intention for humanity to image God, to be the glory of God versus the corruption that Luther articulated as humanity’s being curved in on itself. Does the conduct of the body point to the glory of the one true God, or does the body glorify itself, or something within creation—which is no glory at all?

Paul’s delineation of two alternatives in vv. 7-8 flows from his statement of the impartial nature of God’s judgment in v. 6: God will render to each person according to his deeds, which, while the term isn’t stated here, is a judgment upon one’s conduct in the body. In v. 7, Paul states that those who properly image God—those who "by perseverance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality" God will grant eternal life. The terms Paul uses here, "glory," "honor," and "immortality" point to the proper use of the human body, the function of the body that is consistent with God’s original design for creation. According to Paul, to those whose ambition is for God’s purposes for his creation—those whose bodily conduct lifts up and magnifies the name of the one true God, God will grant eternal life (v. 7). This is defined further in v. 10 as participation in the eschatological order of restoration—glory, honor, and peace. They will be exalted and honored before God, being restored to their true and full humanity, enjoying God’s shalom in the new creation.

The terms Paul uses to describe the alternative group in the judgment, however, depict those who embody corrupted humanity, those who have failed to image God rightly in the body, but who have conducted themselves in such ways that vaunt the self or point to themselves as the ultimate, intending to embody the glory of their own selves. Paul states in v. 8, "to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth (cf. 1:18) but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and indignation" (v. 8).

According to Paul, to seek to solve the problem of the enslavement of the human body to sin and death by taking on identity shaped by νόμος is a dead end, since God’s eschatological judgment is on the basis of conformity to truly human conduct, not any one ethnic or social identity.

The problem, then, in Romans, is the captivity of the human body to sin and death, and this problem affects all humanity, not just gentiles. Identity shaped by νόμος, therefore, is no solution. In closing out Romans 1-3, Paul makes these points forcefully. After Paul states in v. 12 that humanity no longer functions rightly but has become "useless," he cites a litany of Scripture texts loaded with specific references to the misuse of body parts; "their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing . . ., their feet are swift to shed blood . . ., there is no fear of God before their eyes" (vv. 13-18).

And finally, in a very familiar passage, Paul states plainly that all humanity—both Ioudaioi and gentiles—has failed to function rightly as the image and glory of God: "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). Humanity has utterly failed to function rightly as the image and glory of God, conducting themselves as if they were in the image of something else, whether that is in the image of some pagan deity so that humanity is debased, or in the image of some tribal god in the sense that Ioudaioi are exclusivists who judge and stand over against the rest of humanity. This exchange of worship and created function by humanity has resulted in the debasement of the human body, its inevitable corruptions, and its enslavement to sin and death.

IV. Rectification comes through Jesus Christ

Paul’s burden in Romans is to draw out the communal implications of God’s having set all things right in Christ, and not through the adoption of any one ethnic identity—in this case, an identity called Ioudaismos, shaped and determined by νόμος. Because of this failure of identity shaped by νόμος to bring about rectification (3:19-20), Paul begins to draw out in 3:21 what God has done to rectify the situation of humanity’s enslavement to sin and death. Quite apart from any strategy of νόμος-based identity to bring about rectification, God has acted in Christ to rectify the world. What is striking for our purposes is that this rectification has quite specific reference to human bodies

Paul states explicitly that the rectification of God takes place through the "faithfulness of Jesus Christ" (διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χρίστου) and that this rectification is effective for all those who respond to God in faith (v. 22). The rectification of God—God’s making all things right—is in Christ Jesus. In order to prove his point that rectification comes from participating in the faithfulness of Jesus and not from the adoption of any other sort of identity, Paul cites Abraham, noting that he was not rectified on the basis of any sort of deeds done that established an identity before God, but merely from his faithful response to God. What is interesting for our purposes—that of tracing the trajectory of "the body" through Romans—is that Paul’s utilization of Abraham in Romans 4 has specific reference to Abraham’s bodily activity.

After making a largely negative point in 4:1-16—that God’s setting right Abraham did not arise from Abraham’s deeds of establishing an identity—Paul elaborates positively how it is that Abraham has rightly embodied what God desires of humanity, serving as an epitome of the human response to the promise of God to restore creation.

Paul notes that upon Abraham’s reception of the promise of God, he responded in faith despite the overwhelming immediate evidence that the promise was beyond the realm of human possibility. He regarded his own body and saw that it was about as good as dead—i.e., very likely not able to generate life—and then turned to contemplate his wife’s body, also very unlikely to participate with him in generating life. But, rather than being swayed by this physical evidence, Abraham embodied truly human conduct that "gave glory to God" (v. 20), pointing back to the original intention of humanity to rightly and truly image God, to glorify God with the body.

Abraham, therefore, serves as the perfect centerpiece for the rich variety of soteriological narrative threads that Paul weaves through this letter. Not only was Abraham set in the right before God by faith apart from Jewish identity, but he epitomizes how that right-making is embodied.

Romans 5-8 is thick and tangled stuff, but much of Paul’s discussion hangs on God’s rescuing the body from sin and returning it to its proper function as the glory of God. In Rom 5:1-2, Paul states that because of the salvation that God has provided in Christ, we now participate in the shalom of God, which is to say that by faith we enjoy in time the inaugurated restoration of creation. But Paul goes further in 5:2b to state that "we exult in hope of the glory of God." As we have seen, "glory" language in Romans has much to do with the original intention according to creation of God’s design for humanity. Paul is pointing, therefore, to the ultimate rescue which is to come in the future of God fully restoring humanity to its intended function—that of being the glory of God on earth.

Of course, current Christian experience is much like the posture of Abraham. We participate, by faith, in the eschatological order of restoration—God’s shalom—but we also participate in this broken world ruled by sin and death. Just as Abraham rightly imaged God by believing the promise while being conscious of his "as good as dead" body, so we, too, rightly image God by holding fast to the promise of God to fully restore us to our proper condition while living out our days in bodies that will eventually die.

How is it that we participate in God’s rectification program? In Romans 6-8 Paul develops how it is that because of our union with Christ we have freedom from the reign of sin and death and have the power by the Spirit of God to participate in the eschatological order of restoration to the glory of God. Because of our participation with Christ, "the body dominated by sin (τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας) might be destroyed" (Rom 6:6). Sin and death have indeed become parasites on God’s good creation, including their taking up residence within human bodies. But because in Christ’s death we ourselves have died, we have been freed from the domination of sin over us. Our participation in the death and resurrection of Christ provides for our participation in God’s restored humanity.

Paul makes the same point in 7:4, claiming that "you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ." Paul’s aim here, of course is to explain how the Law did not accomplish God’s purpose of setting humanity free from the dominion of sin and death, since it was hijacked by those evil powers to do their evil work, fostering their domination over humanity instead of working for its restoration (cf. 7:2). What the Law could not do, however, God accomplished in Christ, having sent his Son in order to fully take on himself the condition of humanity as enslaved to sin in order to completely undo it. Thus Paul’s cry in v. 24, "who will set me free from this body dominated by death?" is answered in v. 25: "thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

The solution for which Paul gives thanks to God is stated plainly in 8:3. Νόμος as unable to rectify the body, setting it free from sin because of the flesh (cf. 6:19), and because it was given into a situation dominated by sin and death. But God accomplished the freedom of the body from sin and death by sending the son of God "in the likeness of sinful flesh"—that is, by the participation of Christ in our condition of having a body dominated by sin and death. And in his death, "he condemned sin in the flesh" so that the rectifying work of νόμος might be fulfilled in us, "who walk according to the spirit" (8:4).

Paul brings his argument to a climax in 8:12-29, where he notes that those who participate in the life of Christ in the present by putting to death sin in the flesh and living according to the restored humanity will enjoy resurrection to a fully restored humanity in the future. Those who suffer with Christ will be glorified with him (v. 17), which points to that fully restored state wherein humanity truly and completely reflects the glory of God. That the redemption to the right use of the human body is in view is demonstrated in v. 23, where Paul states that what we are waiting for is "the redemption of our body," and, just as Christ is the prototypical human, we are waiting to be fully restored "to the image of His Son" (v. 29).

God’s rectifying of the body takes place, therefore, through participation with Christ by the Spirit, through whom God has set bodies free from the dominion of sin and death. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the guarantee that those who are in Christ will also have life given to their mortal bodies.

IV. Rectification is unto the proper function of the body

The narrative thread that we have been tracing goes underground, as it were, in Romans 9-11, where Paul must articulate for his readers how it is that God’s restoration of humanity is taking place outside of his relationship with the nation of Israel. This problem was raised for Paul by his discussion in Romans 5-8, where he undermined the effectiveness of the Law of Moses to deal with the eradication of sin and death from the human body. Paul then returns to his discussion of the restoration to the proper use of the human body in very practical terms by exhorting his readers in Rom 12:1 to present their bodies to God as living sacrifices. Paul here picks up the language of worship in which he discussed the broad range of human behavior in the earlier portions of Romans. Now that God has dealt with the problem of sin in the flesh, humanity is now empowered to conduct itself rightly before God, being restored to right use of the body, which is true worship.

What this entails, however, is hinted at in earlier portions of the letter. According to Rom 5:2, as hinted at above, we rejoice because we have the hope of the full restoration "of the glory of God," a phrase used by Paul to indicate the return of humanity to its original function, reflecting the reign of the one true God over his creation. Because we live with this hope, and because this is the reality of what God is doing in the world, Paul exhorts his readers in 6:12 to refuse to "let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its lusts."

Paul portrays the human body as the main battleground now that God’s restoration of humanity and the eradication of sin and death from his creation has begun. How do those in Christ embody this proleptically restored humanity? Not by adopting νόμος-shaped identity and walking in Ioudaismos, which Paul equates with the oldness of the letter, but by serving in the newness of the Spirit (7:6). Paul’s exhortation throughout Romans 6-8, therefore, is that his readers stop utilizing their bodies as agents of ἀδικία ("unrigheousness"/"anti-rectification"), and begin presenting their bodies as agents of rectification, forming new habits of conduct that embody the restoration. All those who are in Christ participate already in the shalom of God by faith, and that new reality determines their bodily conduct.

Interestingly, for Paul this involves proper conduct at a corporate level, since his discussion after his exhortation to embody a restored worship in 12:1-2 immediately draws the parallel between the individual person with many body parts and the corporate "body" with individual people being members. Paul calls for the church(es) in Rome to live together in harmony, and this will involve various groups within the community in Rome refusing to pass judgment on bodily practices that reflect their differing ethnicities. Just as Christ welcomed both Ioudaios and gentile, so, too, Ioudaioi and gentiles in Rome are to welcome one another (15:7). And, says Paul, this type of embodied reconciliation reflects the restored humanity, since it is to be done "to the glory of God the Father."

So, to work for relationships characterized by harmony in the church(es) in Rome is what Paul expects of his readers, which will be their way of embodying truly human behavior, bodily conduct that is true worship. Interestingly, their unity as a community will involve what they put into their bodies, namely, their conduct with differing eating customs (Rom 14:1-15:3). What Paul wants from his readers in Rome is to pursue harmony and unity so that "with one accord you may with one mouth—one body part!—glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

V. Conclusion

Salvation, therefore, in Romans is depicted as restoration to the right use of the human body. This has been an underdeveloped theme in NT scholarship to this point, though it holds much promise theologically, pastorally, and for the development of Christians ethics across a range of issues. There may also be some payoff exegetically at a number of points throughout the letter. For example, the question that Paul asks vis-à-vis Abraham in 4:1 may be read as follows: "what shall we say that Abraham our forefather has found with regard to embodied existence?" Further, this may provide fruitful material for reflection on Paul’s argument in Romans 7. Is it that Paul is recounting the experience of Adam or of Israel? Or, is Paul reflecting on the experience of human bodies under the reign of sin and death? Finally, and perhaps most significantly, those of us who are evangelicals may need to recognize that part of our heritage has been a gospel that emphasizes the promise of escape from the body instead of restoration of the body. That this is such a strong impulse in Romans—the NT document that many of us look to as the clearest statement of the gospel of Christ—ought to cause us to reflect on how biblically faithful is our understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.