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| Explanation of What is Meant by the Body, Which is to Be Raised Again. Not the Corporeality of the Soul.
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Chapter XXXV.—Explanation of What is Meant by the Body,
Which is to Be Raised Again. Not the Corporeality of the
Soul.
But He also teaches us, that “He is rather
to be feared, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell,”
that is, the Lord alone; “not those which kill the body, but are
not able to hurt the soul,”7512
that is to
say, all human powers. Here, then, we have a recognition of the natural
immortality of the soul, which cannot be killed by men; and of the
mortality of the body, which may be killed: whence we learn that
the resurrection of the dead is a resurrection of the flesh; for unless
it were raised again, it would be impossible for the flesh to be
“killed in hell.” But as a question may be here captiously
raised about the meaning of “the body” (or “the
flesh”), I will at once state that I understand by the human body
nothing else than that fabric of the flesh which, whatever be the kind
of material of which it is constructed and modified, is seen and
handled, and sometimes indeed killed, by men. In like manner, I should
not admit that anything but cement and stones and bricks form the
body of a wall. If any one imports into our argument some body
of a subtle, secret nature, he must show, disclose, and prove to me
that that identical body is the very one which was slain by human
violence, and then (I will grant) that it is of such a body that (our
scripture) speaks. If, again, the body or corporeal nature of
the soul7513
| 7513 Tertullian
supposed that even the soul was in a certain sense of a corporeal
essence. [Compare the speculations of Crusius in Auberlen, Divine
Revelation, (Translation of A.B. Paton, Edinburgh, Clarks,
1867).] | is cast in my
teeth, it will only be an idle subterfuge! For since both substances
are set before us (in this passage, which affirms) that “body and
soul” are destroyed in hell, a distinction is obviously made
between the two; and we are left to understand the body to be that
which is tangible to us, that is, the flesh, which, as it will be
destroyed in hell—since it did not “rather fear”
being destroyed by God—so also will it be restored to life
eternal, since it preferred to be killed by human hands. If, therefore,
any one shall violently suppose that the destruction of the soul and
the flesh in hell amounts to a final annihilation of the two
substances, and not to their penal treatment (as if they were to be
consumed, not punished), let him recollect that the fire of hell is
eternal—expressly announced as an everlasting penalty; and let
him then admit that it is from this circumstance that this never-ending
“killing” is more formidable than a merely human murder,
which is only temporal. He will then come to the conclusion that substances
must be eternal, when their penal “killing” is an eternal
one. Since, then, the body after the resurrection has to be killed by
God in hell along with the soul, we surely have sufficient information
in this fact respecting both the issues which await it, namely
the resurrection of the flesh, and its eternal “killing.”
Else it would be most absurd if the flesh should be raised up and
destined to “the killing in hell,” in order to be put an
end to, when it might suffer such an annihilation (more directly) if
not raised again at all. A pretty paradox,7514
to
be sure, that an essence must be refitted with life, in order that it
may receive that annihilation which has already in fact accrued to it!
But Christ, whilst confirming us in the selfsame hope, adds the
example of “the sparrows”—how that “not one of
them falls to the ground without the will of God.”7515
He says this, that you may believe
that the flesh which has been consigned to the ground, is able in like
manner to rise again by the will of the same God. For although this is
not allowed to the sparrows, yet “we are of more value than many
sparrows,”7516
for the very reason
that, when fallen, we rise again. He affirms, lastly, that “the
very hairs of our head are all numbered,”7517
and in the affirmation He of course includes the promise of their
safety; for if they were to be lost, where would be the use of having
taken such a numerical care of them? Surely the only use lies (in this
truth): “That of all which the Father hath given to me, I should
lose none,”7518
—not even a
hair, as also not an eye nor a tooth. And yet whence shall come
that “weeping and gnashing of teeth,”7519
| 7519 Matt. viii. 12; xiii. 42; xxii. 13; xxv.
30. | if not from eyes and
teeth?—even at that time when the body shall be slain in
hell, and thrust out into that outer darkness which shall be the
suitable torment of the eyes. He also who shall not be clothed at the
marriage feast in the raiment of good works, will have to be
“bound hand and foot,”—as being, of course, raised in
his body. So, again, the very reclining at the feast in the
kingdom of God, and sitting on Christ’s thrones, and standing at
last on His right hand and His left, and eating of the tree of
life: what are all these but most certain proofs of a bodily
appointment and destination?E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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