THE HUMAN BODY AND HOW SIN DWELLS ON IT

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When we consider the human body and its relationship with sin, it’s perhaps the most straightforward of the three aspects of our being: body, soul, and spirit. However, it is also deeply profound because of how sin permeates our physical nature. This article will explore how sin affects the body, how it came to dwell there, and what the Bible teaches about our physical state in relation to sin.

To begin, it’s essential to clarify that humans are spiritual beings with physical bodies. This distinction is critical. You are not a body with a spirit; rather, you are a spirit that possesses a body. Your body serves as a vessel that enables interaction with the physical world, while your spirit is your connection to the heavenly, spiritual realm.

In God’s original design, the human body was meant to house a spiritual being—one created in His image. The body was formed to interact with the earthly realm, while the spirit was meant to interact with the heavenly realm. The body, in all its complexity and magnificence, is a masterpiece of God’s creation.

As Psalm 139:13-14 beautifully says: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

However, while our bodies were made untainted, sin entered the equation, and things took a drastic turn. Sin contaminated the human body, causing it to age, weaken, get sick, and ultimately die. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:18:

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

But how did sin come to dwell in our bodies? Let’s explore that further.

To understand how sin entered the human body, we must first look at Satan’s fall. Revelation 12:3-4 describes how Satan conquered the earth and deceived a third of the angels, leading them in rebellion against God. This group of angels, as described in Jude 6, left their first estate in heaven and fell to earth. Satan sought to establish his kingdom on earth, intending to overthrow both the earthly and heavenly realms.

But while he could gain some dominion over the earth, Satan could not conquer heaven. This cosmic conflict, the battle between earthly and heavenly dominion, is a foreshadowing of humanity’s dual nature:

Our spirit, made from heaven, reflects our heavenly nature.
Our body, formed from the dust, represents our earthly nature.

Humanity was created with both of these natures. We were first created as spirits in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). Then, God fashioned physical bodies for us from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). The purpose of the body is to allow the spirit to interact with the physical world.

The body, therefore, was initially pure and perfect, just as the spirit was. However, sin entered the body when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The introduction of sin into the body had devastating effects, which we still experience today.

Satan, who could only corrupt the earthly realm, could not touch humanity’s spirit. Our spirits, being from heaven, were beyond his reach. But the body, being of the earth, was vulnerable. By introducing a hybrid knowledge—good and evil—Satan was able to corrupt Adam and Eve’s bodies.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is symbolic of a person or a being (Psalm 1:3) and the knowledge it offers is both spiritual and physical in nature. When Adam and Eve partook of this knowledge, their bodies became infected with sin, like a virus that could not be cured by earthly means. Sin, which once entered the body, would reside there permanently, causing the eventual decay and death of all who are born of flesh (Romans 3:23).

When Adam and Eve sinned, the contamination of their bodies was passed down to their children and to all subsequent generations. David expresses this in Psalm 51:5: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

This reveals a sobering reality: we inherit our sin nature from our parents because we inherit their flesh. Our physical bodies carry the genetic and sinful makeup of those who came before us. Just as we inherit physical traits like eye color and height, we also inherit the brokenness of sin in our bodies.

However, our spirit is different. As Ecclesiastes 12:7 explains, our spirits come directly from God: “and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

We do not inherit our spirit from our parents, but from God Himself.

The body’s contamination by sin makes it unfit for eternal life. It ages, gets sick, and eventually returns to dust. But the spirit, which was dead because of sin, is the one that is made alive by our Lord Jesus Christ who gave us Eternal Life. As Paul explains in Romans 7:24, this tension between the sin in our bodies and the Life within our spirit is one of the greatest struggles of human existence: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

Some might wonder, do clones have souls and spirits? This question touches on the nature of human creation. If we follow the biblical teaching, the spirit comes from God. A clone, being a physical copy, might share the genetic makeup of a human, but it is only through God’s act of creation that a spirit is imparted. Without God giving life, the body remains just a shell. Therefore, clones have no spirit. They only have a body and a soul (mind, will and emotions).

While sin now dwells in the body, the hope of believers is that one day we will be given Glorified Bodies, free from sin and decay. It is when our spirit who has Eternal Life, will engulf our body. This will happen when the Lord Jesus returns. Those who believe in Him will be glorified (1 Corinthians 15:51-53):

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

This is the hope that we hold onto. Though sin dwells in our earthly bodies, the promise of a new, glorified body awaits those who belong to Christ.

Sin entered the human body through disobedience, and it continues to affect every human being born of flesh. While the body remains corrupted by sin, our spirit, given by God, holds the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Though we struggle with sin in our physical bodies, we await the day when we will receive new, glorified bodies free from the presence of sin, to dwell forever with the Lord.

Until then, we live in the tension of our dual nature, continually putting to death the desires of the flesh and seeking the things of the spirit.