Care for your stomach too!

"Care for the whole person" would be an appropriate headline for the fifth chapter in the first letter Paul wrote to Timothy. I have chosen one verse. It is an example of Paul’s care for Timothy. He did not only care for Timothy’s role as an example or for his spiritual health, but also for his physical health:

Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
1 Timothy 5:23

It is not only in his concern for Timothy Paul expresses his holistic view of a human being. I find it in many of his letters, and here is another example:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23

More than 45 years of Bible reading has made it increasingly difficult for me to understand how Gnostic thinking could gain entry into Christian doctrine. Gnosticism represents a dualistic view of man: The soul represents something superior, while the body represents something inferior. Throughout the church history, these thoughts have surfaced from time to time. Occasional I meet people who utter statements revealing that such thoughts are alive even in our time. It is sad, because we are created in God’s image as “whole people”. He who made us, loves us as whole people, because he is body, soul and Spirit and remains “One”, and he says:

As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13: 34b

Then caring for the whole person is a natural response.

‘Manna’ for today:

It is about caring for the whole person

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