Can Your Body Make You Sin? Guardrails for Your Thinking
When I was in school, David Powlison taught us when considering any principle to not start with the exceptions or the hard case, but instead, start with what is normal or common. In light of today’s question, this is a great reminder. Is it possible that your body can make you sin? Can your body force you to sin? What biblical principles help answer this question? This week I have been with some friends who have been discussing this. Before the discussion, I wrote this piece. Now, I am publishing it. :) My answer really didn’t change as a result – for which I am glad.
1. Your body is separate from your soul.
The Bible talks in a number of texts about the separation of the body and the soul. Sometimes, we refer to this division of body and soul under the terms outer man and inner man as well as material and immaterial. Further, we sometimes refer to this as embodied souls – a unified person of body and soul made in the image of God, yet the body and soul both refer to different aspects of being human. The following texts help establish this reality.
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:6)
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
And the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
2. The desires in your heart determine what you do.
Jesus and James clearly and specifically teach that the desires in your heart determine what you do. Let’s begin with Jesus:
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:33-37)
Jesus teaches that the heart has operational control of the individual. All behavior comes from the heart – specifically out of what one treasures, which is referring to what one desires.
James, Jesus’ half brother, teaches the same. He writes:
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)
Notice, the solicitation to sin comes from the desires that draw a person away and entices them. That desire that rules the heart creates the opportunity to sin. Further, later in the book, James writes:
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. (James 4:1-2)
As early as Proverbs, Solomon taught the same principle:
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)
Your heart is the spring from which everything else flows.
3. Your body mediates the heart while increasing pressure on it at the same time.
Back to James. Notice how he begins chapter one.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:2-5)
Here, God allows us in His providential plan to go through trials. These trials provide pressure, which in turn, helps us grow to become more like Christ. The pressure-filled circumstance helps us as we begin to grow. We develop in our spiritual maturity through this process, which helps us demonstrate the future redemption that all creation will experience in the future (cf., James 1:18).
When a body is weak, sick, or undergoing suffering, the pressure upon the heart helps build the individual’s faith. However, the same pressure that builds faith is also the pressure that provides the context for sinning as well.
In other words, when you go through pressure-filled circumstances, your heart chooses to honor Jesus Christ (which the text refers to the pressure as a trial) or your heart under the influence of your desires provides a solicitation to sin (which the text calls a temptation). Your body reflects the choice. Either your body demonstrates the faithfulness of your heart to Christ, or your body demonstrates the lack of faithfulness of your heart to Christ by sinning. As an embodied soul, your heart/soul will manifest itself in your body.
Of course, in some instances, you could initially have a solicitation to sin (temptation), recognize it for what it is, repent of it, and honor God in the situation (trial).
4. Therefore, as a person with an embodied soul, you respond from your soul which then gets lived out through the body.
In Romans, the Apostle Paul refers to this as yielding your members as members either of righteousness or unrighteousness (cf., Romans 6:13-14). You determine what you do.
Here is the answer and some implications for our question: Can Your Body Make You Sin?
No, it does not. Your body is simply the outer man or material servant of the heart. What the heart chooses in an act of worship to Christ or self gets expressed through the body. Your emotions, attitude, thoughts, and affections all reflect how your heart is responding to your circumstances. What you say and what you do also demonstrate the same thing.
If you have a weak body, a sick body, or otherwise suffering body (like a traumatic brain injury), your body provides pressure on your heart. Your body may be dark. It may provide a highly pressure-filled circumstance through which your heart either responds in faithfulness to Jesus Christ or not.
Here’s the key point: your body may place much pressure upon your heart which makes it difficult to remain faithful to Jesus Christ; however, your body cannot make you unfaithful. Essentially, your heart responds to the influence or pressure from your body either for the glory of God or not. As such, your body does not have functional control over your heart; instead, it simply reflects the desires of the heart.
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