The word can be used as singular or it can be used to denote a group of singular units as one. The body of man is only one component of man. The Apostle Paul names at least three components of a man in (Thes. 5:23). “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is evidence to me that God saved the whole man; all three components. When I come in contact with you I recognize you by your body. It can be by sight or sound or other senses of the body. I don’t have the ability to see your soul or your spirit. I can only see the evidence of them.

Brethren, I pray you will be charitable and allow me to discuss the body and its use here.

We all have a body. God gave us one and even the Lord Himself took upon Him a body. (Heb. 10:5) “Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He, saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared me.” His was prepared and ours was formed of the dust of the earth. The first man had a body.

This body, because of sin will die and return to the dust. (Job 19:26) “And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job seems to be assured that he would see God in the flesh. Let us be ever so thankful for what Paul taught us in (Phil. 3:21) “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” Our body will be fashioned like unto His glorious body. His body had no sin about it neither did it see corruption. (I John 3:2) “Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Won’t it be wonderful to be like Jesus?

The Roman letter seems to confirm this. (8:23) “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The whole man was embraced in the redemption.

To use this body to serve God requires some effort on our part. (I Cor. 9:27) The Apostle had this to say. “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” Notice he says bring it unto subjection, indicating it is not always in subjection. I feel it is made subject to that spiritual man. Even the body is made up of different components. In (Eph. 6) the Apostle Paul mentions several body parts in describing the armour of God. “Loins girt about with the truth – breastplate of righteousness - feet shod - and helment of salvation.” God used these body parts to illustrate His defense for us as we fight this warfare while on our journey. He gave us this armour that protects the entire body. He gave us only one offensive weapon, even the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

(Eph. 4:12) “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” The Church, being made up of many is referred to as the body of Christ.

God gave us a work to do and a body to do it with. It is even the place where the Spirit of God dwells. (I Cor. 6:19) “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.” Brethren, shouldn’t this cause us to be more careful what we do with and to our bodies, realizing that the Holy Ghost is in you and ever present with you. It is a witness of all that the body does.

(Rom. 12:1) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” I think this is what the Apostle was referring to when he said I bring it into subjection. God gave us a body and instructed us to present it a living sacrifice to Him, (not a dead sacrifice) and He says this is our reasonable service.

(I Cor. 6:20) “For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” He just gave us our work to be done in our body and in our spirit. He also declares that they both belong to Him.

Brethren, if this body belongs to God, and it does, maybe we ought to exercise more caution in how we present it to Him. As we go through daily life we should remember that the Holy Ghost dwells in this temple. Would God be pleased with the manner we present our bodies? Are you comfortable in His house and His presence? Remember, it belongs to Him and we are to use it to glorify God. Let us be careful what we expose it to and how we treat it, knowing it is the temple of the Holy Ghost.