In this blessed lecture, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains the true spiritual understanding of the body. He affirms that the body itself is not sin but a divine gift and a temple of the Holy Spirit, which can be either sanctified or corrupted depending on how it is used. The Bible, when speaking against “the flesh,” refers to the undisciplined body that resists the spirit, not the body as God created it.

Main points:

• The body is not sin in itself: God created man as body and spirit and saw that it was “very good.” Christ Himself took flesh, affirming its holiness.

• Temple of the Holy Spirit: The body that houses the Holy Spirit is sacred. Scripture says, “Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit,” so it cannot be evil by nature.

• Glorifying God with the body: We are called to glorify God not only in spirit but also in body—through prayer, fasting, prostration, and good deeds.

• Warning against bodily desires: Those who live according to the flesh—through gluttony, impurity, or addiction—are spiritually dead. The body must submit to the spirit.

• Sanctifying the members: The eyes, tongue, and hands must all be kept pure, for sin can enter through small parts of the body. A pure eye makes the whole body full of light.

• Unity of body and spirit: Man is not only spirit nor only body but a unified whole. The body must join the spirit in worship and service.

• Striving with the body: The saints glorified God through their bodies and souls alike—through labor, fasting, vigilance, and martyrdom.

• Honor of saints’ bodies: God has blessed the bodies of saints, making them sources of miracles even after death, such as Elisha’s bones that raised the dead.

• True beauty: Not outward appearance but the beauty of a humble, gentle spirit devoted to God.

• Spiritual conclusion: The body and spirit together must be consecrated to God. When the body obeys the spirit, man becomes a living temple of holiness, and his whole being glorifies God.

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