Journeeman.

Title: The Truth Behind the Augustine Quote: Body, Soul, and the Search for Balance.

The quote ‘Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever, and take care of your soul as if you were to die tomorrow’ is often attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo. However, despite its widespread popularity, there is no concrete evidence to suggest that Augustine actually said or wrote these exact words. In fact, scholarly sources classify it as ‘apocryphal’ or ‘spurious,’ meaning it’s popularly linked to him but unverified.

While the exact phrase ‘Take care of your body as if you were going to live forever, and take care of your soul as if you were to die tomorrow’ may not be directly attributable to Augustine, his writings consistently emphasise the importance of caring for both our physical and spiritual well-being. As he wrote in On the Trinity, Book 10, ‘The body is not to be despised… it is the temple of the soul,’ highlighting the need to respect and care for our physical selves as a vessel for the divine. At the same time, Augustine urged us to live with a sense of urgency, reminding us in Sermon 81: ‘Repent one day before your death… but who knows if that day is today?’ This call to spiritual vigilance is a reminder that our souls require constant attention and preparation. Ultimately, Augustine believed that our hearts would only find true rest in God, as he expressed in his Confessions I.1: ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’ These words remind us that our ultimate goal should be to nurture our souls and seek union with God.

Augustine’s concern for the soul’s well-being is further evident in his Tractates on the Gospel of John, where he reflects on Jesus’ warning in Mark 8:36 (or Matthew 16:26): ‘For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?’ In this passage, Augustine emphasises the futility of pursuing worldly gain at the expense of our eternal salvation. He contrasts the fleeting nature of material wealth, fame, and power with the enduring value of the soul, urging believers to prioritise their spiritual health and make decisions that favour their soul’s salvation over temporary gain. This emphasis on detachment from worldly things and the need for inner vigilance and ethical integrity aligns with the sentiment of the popular paraphrase about caring for the soul ‘as if to die tomorrow’ and the body ‘as if to live forever.’

Personally, while I appreciate Augustine’s emphasis on the importance of both body and soul, I find myself disagreeing with the notion that they are separate entities, perhaps stemming from his Platonist influences. I believe that our body, soul, spirit, and mind are all interconnected and relational, forming a holistic whole. The concept of the resurrection, as taught in the Bible, further supports this idea, suggesting that we will be resurrected as whole persons, with a connection to our physical bodies and memories. Moreover, I believe that the ‘here and now’ is inextricably linked to the eternal ‘then and there,’ meaning that our present actions and experiences have a direct impact on our eternal destiny.

This understanding, particularly my perspective on the contamination of sacred space, leads me to a different perspective on how we should care for our bodies. While Augustine may have been influenced by Platonism, I find the apostle Paul’s description of the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit particularly compelling because it emphasises God’s active presence within us. Just as God invested in sacred space throughout the Old Testament, from the Garden of Eden, where He met with humanity in the evening, to the Ark and then to the Holy of Holies, setting them apart for His presence; and just as Jesus Christ is the ultimate incarnation of sacred space, fully embodying God’s presence on earth, so too does He invest in our bodies, both individually and collectively, making them sacred spaces set aside for Himself. While these sacred spaces are categorically different, they all share one essential element: the very presence of God. Therefore, let us treat our bodies with reverence and care, recognising that they are filled with the essence of who we are, who we will be, and what it means to be human, in readiness for God’s purposes. Let us honour God by caring for these sacred spaces, nurturing them with healthy habits, and using them to serve Him and others, knowing that what we do in the ‘here and now’ echoes into eternity.

In the end, my perspective is not driven by a fear of materialism, but by a desire to affirm God’s embrace of the entire created order. The work of Jesus Christ is complete in the complete – encompassing all that is in Him, including the physical, material world. To suggest that the body is somehow separate from or inferior to the soul is to deny the fullness of God’s creation and the scope of Christ’s redemptive work.