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| A Sufficient Cause for the Resurrection of the Flesh Occurs in the Future Judgment of Man. It Will Take Cognisance of the Works of the Body No Less Than of the Soul. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter
XIV.—A Sufficient Cause for the Resurrection of the Flesh Occurs
in the Future Judgment of Man. It Will Take Cognisance of the Works of
the Body No Less Than of the Soul.
Such, then, being the outlines of the divine
energies which God has displayed as much in the parables of
nature as in His spoken word, let us now approach His very edicts
and decrees, since this is the division which we mainly adopt in our
subject-matter. We began with the dignity of the flesh, whether
it were of such a nature that when once destroyed it was capable of
being restored. Then we pursued an inquiry touching the power of God,
whether it was sufficiently great to be habitually able to confer this
restoration on a thing which had been destroyed. Now, if we have proved
these two points, I should like you to inquire into the (question
of) cause, whether it be one of sufficient weight to claim the
resurrection of the flesh as necessary and as conformable in every way
to reason; because there underlies this demurrer: the flesh may be
quite capable of being restored, and the Deity be perfectly able to
effect the restoration, but a cause for such recovery must needs
pre-exist. Admit then a sufficient one, you who learn of a God who is
both supremely good as well as just7369
7369 He refers to
Marcion. | —supremely good from His own
(character), just in consequence of ours. For if man had never sinned,
he would simply and solely have known God in His superlative goodness,
from the attribute of His nature. But now he experiences Him to be a
just God also, from the necessity of a cause; still, however, retaining
under this very circumstance His excellent goodness, at the same time
that He is also just. For, by both succouring the good and punishing
the evil, He displays His justice, and at the same time makes both
processes contribute proofs of His goodness, whilst on the one hand He
deals vengeance, and on the other dispenses reward. But with
Marcion7370
7370 He here refers his
reader to what he has written against Marcion, especially in his books
i. and ii. | you will have the
opportunity of more fully learning whether this be the whole character
of God. Meanwhile, so perfect is our (God), that He is rightly Judge,
because He is the Lord; rightly the Lord, because the Creator; rightly
the Creator, because He is God. Whence it happens that that heretic,
whose name I know not, holds that He properly is not a Judge, since He
is not Lord; properly not Lord, since He is not the Creator. And
so I am at a loss to know how He is God, who is neither the Creator,
which God is; nor the Lord, which the Creator is. Inasmuch, then, as it
is most suitable for the great Being who is God, and Lord, and
Creator to summon man to a judgment on this very question, whether he
has taken care or not to acknowledge and honour his Lord and Creator,
this is just such a judgment as the resurrection shall achieve. The
entire cause, then, or rather necessity of the resurrection, will be
this, namely, that arrangement of the final judgment which shall be
most suitable to God. Now, in effecting this arrangement, you
must consider whether the divine censure superintends a judicial
examination of the two
natures of man—both his soul and his flesh. For that which is a
suitable object to be judged, is also a competent one to be raised. Our
position is, that the judgment of God must be believed first of all to
be plenary, and then absolute, so as to be final, and therefore
irrevocable; to be also righteous, not bearing less heavily on any
particular part; to be moreover worthy of God, being complete and
definite, in keeping with His great patience. Thus it follows that the
fulness and perfection of the judgment consists simply in representing
the interests of the entire human being. Now, since the entire man
consists of the union of the two natures, he must therefore appear in
both, as it is right that he should be judged in his entirety; nor, of
course, did he pass through life except in his entire state. As
therefore he lived, so also must he be judged, because he has to be
judged concerning the way in which he lived. For life is the
cause of judgment, and it must undergo investigation in as many natures
as it possessed when it discharged its vital functions.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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