This short essay was submitted on November 21, 2019 for my Christian Ethics Of Love course.
As discussed in question 25, article 5 of Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas argues a man should love his own body out of charity. There are two ways to refer to the body: according to its nature, or according to the corruption that sin and punishment has caused on it. This distinction is important, because Aquinas then speaks of the important fact that the nature of our bodies are created by God, and He never creates things that are bad. Our bodies can therefore be used as “weapons of justice for God” through stewardship of His creation, emoting joy and passion, worshipping God, and the like. Through our bodies we can express the happiness and fullness of life that comes with a relationship with God, while also being His instrument of good works on earth. In these actions, our bodies are considered to be a sharer in eternal happiness and should be loved accordingly with charity. The dualism in the life of man is sin and life according to the Spirit, not the body and the soul, since you can sin with both your body and soul, as well as live according to the Spirit with your body and soul. It is not the body as a whole that we must deny and suppress, but rather it is only the sin and punishment of our earthly being we must wish to be freed from, a freedom that comes with charity.
In a similar fashion to the rest of his writings in Summa Theologiae, Aquinas concludes this discussion on loving the body with counterarguments to the objections stated at the beginning of the article. The first objection states that one would not want to love the body since the sins of the earthly being keeps one from being with Christ. Aquinas quotes St. Paul in this objection, who cried, “Who will free me from the body of this death?” Aquinas responds to this by giving context: St. Paul did not want to be freed from the body as far as its nature is concerned, but rather the taint of sin that weighs down the soul. The second objection relates the friendship of charity with God, which is based on the enjoyment of God that the body cannot partake in. It follows then that the body should not be loved with charity. Aquinas shuts down this objection by reiterating that our bodies can be used in glorious ways that enables us to arrive at the perfect enjoyment of God. From our souls, the Spirit moves us to do actions with our bodies, and in that way is a sharer in eternal happiness. It should be loved accordingly with charity. Lastly, the third objection speaks of the criterion of friendship, which includes a reciprocity in love that the body is unable to do. However, a return of love is only necessary in a friendship with another person, not towards oneself.
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