"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
Romans 8:10-13
The whole spirit-body conflict is a big deal for us since one of the reasons we are on the earth is to get bodies. Our spirit-selves are already seekers of good, and devotees of God as our Heavenly Father, but when we come here we gain another part of our selves--one which has an immense potential for joy and happiness, but which also can cause us a lot of pain and grief.
Here, we get some advice on the eternal nature of the body, through Christ (since he overcame death, our bodies will be resurrected and live forever), and also on how to unify our bodies with our spirits. "Mortify" means to put to death or to subdue. In this case, clearly, it doesn't mean to kill, but the idea is that our bodies with all of these new-to-us desires and passions need to serve the spiritual part of ourselves rather than the other way around.
This doesn't mean that bodies don't matter, or that they should be smothered and completely ignored though. Our bodies are a gift... a new technology for us, if you will. :) And like other technologies, they can be used wisely or unwisely. When we let our bodily desires smother our spirits, we die spiritually, and when we harm our bodies, then we are causing a bigger rift, not a smaller one. The idea is to unite, so that both our spirits and our bodies are working for the same thing. We could compare it to training a horse perhaps. We call it being "broken," which seems a harsh word, but if done well and humanely, the only thing broken might be stubbornness and pride, as the horse and the human rider both learn to work together, providing benefits to each other that they wouldn't otherwise have.
Unlike "breaking" a horse though, there isn't a way to trade our bodies in for a different one if this one proves too unruly. :) This is our own personal body... the only one we get. And if we treat it well, and find positive, righteous ways to fulfil its needs, then it in turn will serve us well, and we will learn to work together and even to become unified. Luckily, we have good examples in the scriptures of people who went through the same process and showed us the way. Today, let's work on making sure the right part of ourselves is in control, and that we are learning to unite the disparate parts of ourselves in a positive, caring way.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
Romans 8:10-13
The whole spirit-body conflict is a big deal for us since one of the reasons we are on the earth is to get bodies. Our spirit-selves are already seekers of good, and devotees of God as our Heavenly Father, but when we come here we gain another part of our selves--one which has an immense potential for joy and happiness, but which also can cause us a lot of pain and grief.
Here, we get some advice on the eternal nature of the body, through Christ (since he overcame death, our bodies will be resurrected and live forever), and also on how to unify our bodies with our spirits. "Mortify" means to put to death or to subdue. In this case, clearly, it doesn't mean to kill, but the idea is that our bodies with all of these new-to-us desires and passions need to serve the spiritual part of ourselves rather than the other way around.
This doesn't mean that bodies don't matter, or that they should be smothered and completely ignored though. Our bodies are a gift... a new technology for us, if you will. :) And like other technologies, they can be used wisely or unwisely. When we let our bodily desires smother our spirits, we die spiritually, and when we harm our bodies, then we are causing a bigger rift, not a smaller one. The idea is to unite, so that both our spirits and our bodies are working for the same thing. We could compare it to training a horse perhaps. We call it being "broken," which seems a harsh word, but if done well and humanely, the only thing broken might be stubbornness and pride, as the horse and the human rider both learn to work together, providing benefits to each other that they wouldn't otherwise have.
Unlike "breaking" a horse though, there isn't a way to trade our bodies in for a different one if this one proves too unruly. :) This is our own personal body... the only one we get. And if we treat it well, and find positive, righteous ways to fulfil its needs, then it in turn will serve us well, and we will learn to work together and even to become unified. Luckily, we have good examples in the scriptures of people who went through the same process and showed us the way. Today, let's work on making sure the right part of ourselves is in control, and that we are learning to unite the disparate parts of ourselves in a positive, caring way.
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