In the opening chapter to his letter to Timothy, Paul warns him against heretics, or false teachers. People who claim to know the truth about Jesus, but, moved by arrogance, their truth was created to fit their agenda.
Paul's main opponent at this time was Gnosticism. What is Gnosticism? I'm glad you asked.
Gnostics, as I understand them, set out to answer big questions like: Where did the world come from? And if God is good, why is there evil in the world? Questions we still struggle with today. There answer was this, matter existed before creation, that matter was imperfect or evil, and that is what the universe was created with and since God was good, He could not touch the evil matter, so a distant representative for God created the world, one that knew very little about God.
That means we were created with evil stuff and our bodies were evil, so it doesn't matter what our bodies do, it's only our souls that matter. So... Viva Las Vegas! (I know that good people live in Las Vegas, I'm just using the stereotype of the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" commercials, which is paid for by the people of Las Vegas.)
Or they went to the other extreme, people were not allowed to marry and followed strict dietary laws, since the body was evil it's desires needed to be ignored. So... Viva La Monastery! (I realize some are called to Monastic life, I have a great deal of respect for them and do not wish to trivialize their oaths in any way... Although it is not for this guy!)
Paul wasn't buying it. He believed that we were created by God and that God looked at us and called us "good." He also believed that when we are resurrected like Jesus, our bodies will be resurrected like his, not just our souls.
Humans don't need to live in either of the two extremes, the Vegas life or the Monastery life, to be saved. We just need to believe in the grace and mercy of God.
God is good, and the blood of Jesus made us good too.
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