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Evangelicalism needs to recapture a robust doctrine of psychosomatic (soul and body) union in the image of God. It is only then will we realize that true ministry faithfully serves both body and soul as eternally bound together in both dignity and destiny.
The sad reality is that Evangelicalism as a movement has created an unnatural divorce between soul and body in a way that makes it possible to love someone's soul while trampling their body. Salvation and service are explained in solely soul-ish ways, while the body is an...
appendage with limitations and needs that, while necessary to live, are inconsequential to the fulness of life as God has intended.
Evangelicalism drove a wedge between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, prioritizing the former over the latter in the work...
Evangelicalism drove a wedge between the Great Commission and the Great Commandment, prioritizing the former over the latter in the work...
of the church, even though the Great Commission clearly tells the church to teach disciples from all nations to obey *everything* Christ has commanded concerning the linkage between body and soul.
Evangelicalism invented a space to be able to say that the salvation of souls...
Evangelicalism invented a space to be able to say that the salvation of souls...
doesn't entail the freedom of bodies, and that the church's ministry of reconciliation of souls has no implication or imperative of the reconciliation of bodies.
A robust doctrine of the psychosomatic union in the image of God is one of a handful of necessary correctives...
A robust doctrine of the psychosomatic union in the image of God is one of a handful of necessary correctives...
to Evangelicalism's tragic error that pitted soul and body against one another. Indeed, the gospel of Jesus Christ as the New Testament describes it encompasses cosmic renewal, in which soul and body are perfectly renewed after the consummate image of God in an entire...
cosmos of shalom and righteousness under King Jesus. That is the gospel that not only announces but summons men and women, boys and girls, to live soul and body under the reign of the risen Christ breaking in to the world even now. We give our bodies as a living sacrifice in...
light of the mercies of God found in Jesus.
The church, as an outpost of the kingdom of God in this present evil age, must minister to soul and body to be faithful to the commission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey everything he has commanded.
The church, as an outpost of the kingdom of God in this present evil age, must minister to soul and body to be faithful to the commission of Jesus to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey everything he has commanded.
Neglecting the needs of the body to prioritize the soul is not an acceptable form of Christian ministry because it is not ministry to whole people. Nor is it more pious to ignore the material/bodily/social issues to uphold the "spiritual." True spirituality is that of the...
Holy Spirit, whose modus operandi is to refashion soul and body after the image of the God-man. A true "spirituality of the church" is aligned to the psychosomatic ministry of the Holy Spirit.
In sum, when Evangelicalism finally recaptures and leans into this robust doctrine...
In sum, when Evangelicalism finally recaptures and leans into this robust doctrine...
of psychosomatic union in the image of God, true healing in the most tragic of wounds in its body will begin to happen. A healthy movement is one that holds together soul and body as what constitutes the nephesh chayyah (living being) of humanity made in the image of God.
