Session 1: Who Made My Body?
Creation and the Goodness of the Body
The body is not a mistake or a problem to solve. It is created by God as good, finite, and worthy of care.
In a culture that encourages constant evaluation and improvement of the body, Scripture offers a different vision: that the body is part of God’s good creation. It is not something we have made for ourselves, nor something we must perfect in order to be acceptable.
To be human is to be embodied: to live within limits, needs, and dependence. The body reminds us that we are creatures, not self-made beings.
Receiving the body as created does not mean ignoring struggle or pain. It means beginning from the truth that the body is not our enemy, but part of our life before God.
Catechism
Q: Who made my body?
A: God created my body in wisdom and goodness, and called it good.
Q: What is my body for?
A: My body is given to me to live before God, receive daily life, and love others.
Q: Is my body a problem to fix?
A: No. My body is not a problem, but a creaturely gift to be received with care.
Q: Does my body determine my worth?
A: No. My worth comes from God, not from my appearance, size, or ability.
Reflection
What messages—cultural, social, or personal—have taught you that your body is a problem to solve?
How might it change your understanding of yourself to begin from the idea that your body is created and good?
Scripture
Genesis 1:21, 31: "27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...31 And God saw everything he had made, and behold, it was very good."
Psalm 139: 13–16: "You formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance."
Theological Insight
The Reformers emphasized that all of life belongs to God, not only spiritual matters. Our bodies are not self-made projects, but part of our created existence before God.
Reformation scholarship notes that the Reformers did not reject creation but affirmed the goodness of embodied life as part of God's design (see Lindberg, European Reformations). Understanding the body as created and finite reflects this broader theological vision.
To be a creature is to live with limits and dependence. Rather than seeing this as failure, the Christian tradition understands it as the condition of life before God.
Practice
Take a few moments to notice your body without evaluating it.
Then write or name three ways your body supports your life each day (for example: breathing, moving, resting, sensing).
End with a simple prayer:
"God, help me to receive my body as part of your good creation."