By contrast, the secret of the standard, historically proven spiritual disciplines is precisely that they do respect and count on the bodily nature of human personality. They all deeply and essentially involve bodily conditions and activities. Thus they show us effectively how we can “offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto God” and how our “spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1) really is inseparable from the offering up of our bodies in specific physical ways. Paul’s teachings, especially when added to his practices, strongly suggest that he understood and practiced something
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