Theology of the Body

To Be Imitators of God & To walk in LoveRobert Colquhoun 23.2.06

What is Theology of the Body?

• Collection of 129 audiences by John Paul II dealing with sex, marriage, chastity, celibacy, ethos of the heart, Church, contraception, morality, Biblical exegesis, every human and Jesus Christ.

• Life Transforming message that transcends and counteracts societal trends. Not just a teaching on sex and marriage but a whole way of doing theology.

What Theology of the Body (TOTB) is all about

• Deepest desires of human heart- way to experience happiness and freedom

• Desire for loving communion

• Truth for God’s original design for human sexuality

• Origin, history and destiny of humanity

• Sacramental Nature of Marriage

What Theology of the Body (TOTB) is all about

• Is there a purpose to life?• Why were we created male/female? Does it

really matter if we are one sex or the other?• What exactly is love?• Is it possible to be pure of heart?• Why were man and woman called to communion

in the beginning? What does the marital union say about God and his plan for our lives?

Essential Teaching of TOTB

• The body, and it alone is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine.

• The Sacramental nature of human sexuality- it makes present what it symbolises.

Why does our society need the message of TOTB?

• In the UK 167,000 marriages end in Divorce each year.

• 800,000 children are in no contact with their father.

• In UK 186,400 induced abortions each year (and rising).

How Important is the Body in Christianity?

• Extremely! The Incarnation and Resurrection show that God tried and tested his own designs and brought them to perfection.

• Christianity lies between the extremes of materialism and Manicheeism.

• Human Person in Image of God (Gen. 1.26).• Recognition of our own mortality (Gen 3.19)• We believe in the resurrection of the body.

General Principles of TOTB

• No one can use another person as a means to an end (eg utility or pleasure)

• The opposite of to love is to use (not hate)• Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of

every single person• Family has the mission to guard, reveal and

communicate love. Future of humanity passed by way of family.

• Body speaks a language that wants to totally give itself to others.

General Principles Of TOTB

• Chastity is a moral virtue and gift of the Holy Spirit. Under the virtue of temperance, integration of sexuality leading to unity of the bodily and spiritual being.

• Chastity is not abstinence.• Celibacy can be a way of loving God with

an undivided heart.

General Principles of TOTB

• Why is marital sex between a man and woman morally good?– It is free, total, faithful and fruitful way in which

persons image the love of the three person God.– It is a communion of life and love. It is an example of

the total gift of self (Lk 17:33).– It foreshadows the unity of God and man in heaven,

as a sign to all of the eternal bliss that awaits us.

The fallacy of Consumer Sex

• Treating sex as a commodity is a gross violation of the great gift God has given us (eg pornography, prostitution, IVF, sale of family planning/equipment devices).

• Be suspicious of anyone attempting to make a profit out of anything to do with sexual intercourse!

Summary of Ephesians

• Lead a life worthy of the vocation to which you are called (4:1-2)

• Do not go on living the empty headed life that the Gentiles live (4:17-8)

• Be imitators of God… and work in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us (5:1-2)

• Among you there must be not even a mention of sexual impurity in any of its forms or greed (5:3)

Summary of Ephesians

• Be careful of the lives you lead (5:5)

• Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ (5:21)

• Husbands love their wives as Christ loved the Church (5:25)

• A man never hates his own body (5:29)

Theology of the Body is the New Sexual Revolution

• Young generation found out the hard way- hook ups, safe sex and safer sex did not give us the love that we craved for.

• Romance without regret does exist. One must be prepared to sacrifice.

• The peace and joy that comes from chastity is worth more than the pleasures of the world.