The Human Body was made Good and Holy
By Msgr. John Wynand Katende
Posted on: Saturday, 25th October 2025
Updated on: Wednesday, 29th October 2025
“God created mankind in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
Since time immemorial, humankind has struggled with the proper appreciation of the body cum its relationship to the soul. Ancient Greek philosophers viewed the spirit as noble but the body as evil. The 12th century Christian Albigensians, who were quite puritanical in their outlook, believed that God had created only the spiritual world, while the devil was responsible for the material world. They viewed the spiritual world as good and the material world as evil.
Many prevalent ideas existing today, concerning human sexuality, are rooted in the dualism thought of French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650), among others. This means that there is no real integration between the body and the soul.
Gender ideology is radically opposed to a sound understanding of human nature. It leads to forms of cultural influence that promote a notion of personal identity which is left to the choice of the individual and that deny the anthropological basis of the family as founded on the biological difference and reciprocal complimentality between male and female.
The Christian vision is that humans have a body like the animals, but are able to reason and will, totally unlike them. The body is a sign that points to a spiritual reality. It, actually, has data to tell us about what it means to be human.
The Catholic Church teaches that the body is an integral and indispensable aspect of what it means to be a human person. The body and soul come into existence together, in an individual human being at the time of conception. At conception, God wills that the human body is good and sexually differentiated as male or female.
Our bodies do not make us sin, as some people believe. God made us free, and we sin freely. Many times when we choose to sin, especially sexual sin, we forget exactly what our bodies are, and the unity of the soul and the body.In the deepest reality of the human person, we cannot understand the spiritual without the body. We cannot know God without the unity of the Incarnation and our own body/soul unity:
The body, in fact, and only the body, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. St. Paul teaches that the body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can glorify God in our bodies. God commands us to take proper care of our bodies by nourishing them, being hygienic and treating them when we fall sick.
St. Pope John Paul II, whose memory we observe on 22nd October, left us with a great legacy on the teaching on the “Theology of the body”. He provides an in-depth look at human sexuality and also focuses on explaining man and woman as they were created, and God’s plan for both sexes. Accordingly, proper knowledge on marriage and human sexuality is of great importance in our daily lives, civilization, culture, community, family, and the Church.
We are taught that the human body is holy because God made it, and everything God makes has a purpose. We are to bring glory to God with our bodies, so we can't compartmentalize our lives and think that we can divorce our bodies and live as if only our spirit matters. The human body is owned twice by God; once because he created it and again because he redeemed it. Every day, our bodies enable us to proclaim the goodness and love of our God. Contraception and sex activity outside marriage is sinful because they render human sexuality a mere tool or utility.
When God chose to save us, He took on a human body; showing that the body is valuable to God, and echoing the claims of Genesis that everything He created is good. Jesus so highly values the human body that much of His ministry on earth is actively feeding people and healing diseases. He often urged His disciples to observe rest for their tired bodies.
Mary of Nazareth offered her body to bear the Savior of the world. Jesus applied His body for the saving mission, through word and deeds. He sacrificed His Body for our salvation. We eat His Body for our spiritual nourishment. We worship God with our redeemed bodies and souls. The martyrs and those who embrace celibacy/chastity for the sake of the kingdom of God, truly imitate Christ.