Is Physical Fitness Important?
Rev Charlie (June 2026)
It could be said that the Western world is facing two parallel epidemics: one of obesity and another of vanity. On one hand, our population is becoming progressively heavier due to poor diet, unlimited access to high‑calorie foods, and increasingly sedentary lifestyles. On the other hand, the pressure to achieve a perfectly sculpted “beach body” is intensifying, fuelled by the often unrealistic standards of fitness influencers and the wider culture of social media. As Christians, we must look to God’s word to discern how to navigate these competing pressures. But does Scripture have anything to say about physical fitness?
The short answer is that the Bible rarely speaks directly about physical fitness, but this should not come as a surprise. In the ancient world, most people lived physically demanding lives: working manual jobs, walking everywhere, and eating unprocessed, locally produced food. Producing and consuming enough calories to survive was a major challenge, which is why 80-90% of the population lived in agrarian settings. High physical activity combined with low caloric intake meant there was no need for “exercise” as a separate discipline. For these reasons and more, we should not expect Scripture to offer specific teaching on physical fitness, any more than we would expect it to address the responsible use of social media.
That said, the Bible does speak about physical care, both indirectly and directly. In the opening chapters of Genesis, God entrusts humanity with the responsibility of stewarding his creation. That stewardship begins with the part of creation each of us has the greatest influence over, namely our own bodies. Caring for our physical health, then, is one expression of honouring the God who made us, with physical fitness being a major component of overall health.
Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength’ (Mark 12:30). Loving God with our strength must surely involve the way we use and care for our physical bodies. Likewise, Paul urges believers to ‘offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God’ (Romans 12:1). Our bodies, then, are not incidental to our discipleship; they are resources entrusted to us for God’s glory. Just as we would not allow our church buildings to fall into disrepair, we should seek to maintain our physical health so that we have the strength and energy to serve the Lord faithfully for as long as possible.
But our bodies are not merely a resource, they are a gift, and the means by which we interact with the physical world and enjoy every aspect of creation. If we wish to live life to the full it is incumbent upon us, wherever possible, to care for our bodies and maintain our physical fitness. The second greatest commandment, ‘love your neighbour as yourself,’ assumes a healthy love of self, a love that rightly includes care for our physical bodies.
There is, I believe, a biblical call to maintain our physical fitness, however, this good and godly aim can quickly become a dangerous and shortsighted obsession. Pursuing exercise purely for aesthetic reasons can slide into vanity, and some even flaunt their physical prowess as though it were a mark of moral superiority. Most concerning of all are those who use fitness as a way to deny the reality of ageing, decay, and eventual death. ‘Age is just a number,’ they insist; but if that were true, we would see centenarians winning Olympic medals.
Some are unable to maintain their physical fitness due to illness or severe disability, and everyone who is blessed to live long enough will eventually experience the deterioration of their body, no matter how active a life they have led. The extraordinary claim of Christianity is that Jesus died and rose that we might experience resurrection life with him forever. Those who know and love Jesus look forward to the day when they receive a new body that is free from illness, pain and death. That is why Paul said, ‘For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come’ (1 Timothy 4: 8).
As Christians, we should seek to maintain a fit and healthy body for as long as we can, so that we may enjoy God’s good world and serve him with energy and joy. Yet we must also be realistic. Even in the best of circumstances, our bodies will last little more than a century, and at the end of that brief span we will die. The good news of the Gospel is that all who repent and put their faith in Jesus will inherit eternal life and receive a resurrection body that is perfectly suited to experience the renewed physical creation God has promised. Our spiritual condition is therefore infinitely more important than our physical condition.
