We hear much today about identity: identity politics, identity theft, identity class, or even identity gender. In Genesis 15, the LORD makes an amazing statement to Abram regarding his personal identity. Assuring the patriarch of the covenant promise, the Lord said to him, “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.” (Genesis 15:15) So, what does this have to do with Abram’s identity? It clearly links his identity with both body and soul. A major part of your identity is the body God gave you.

At this point in the divine narrative, there is limited revelation as to what happens to one at death. But God’s statement clearly refutes the dualistic idea that labels all matter as evil and the spirit as good. Platonism, as it came to be known, diminished physical reality and the goodness of God’s creation and eventually developed into the heresy of Gnosticism. Since the physical is evil, the Gnostics sought to detach the heavenly Christ from the earthly Jesus.

However, God’s promise to Abram demonstrates the unity of both spirit and body in one person. In saying Abram would “go to his fathers in peace,” there is an obvious reference to his spiritual part. As Paul would later write, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Then the Lord also promised Abram, “you shall be buried in a good old age,” linking both spirit and body together in one person.

At the fall, man’s body came under sin’s curse and became destined for decay and death. But the redemption we have in Jesus Christ promises that not just our spirits are saved; our bodies will also be redeemed. We will have a body like Jesus’ glorious body which the disciples touched and handled. It should be a source of great joy to know that both a spiritual and a physical reality awaits us in a new heaven and earth.

When the LORD created us, He gave us bodies that perfectly align with His will for our lives. All of us are unique in spirit, soul and body. This unity of person reminds us that our bodies are a stewardship entrusted to us by our Creator to be used for His glory. The unity of the spiritual and physical in us will continue throughout eternity. As Job said, “And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.” (Job 19:26)