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| Chapter XXIII
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Chapter
XXIII.
We, therefore, do not maintain that the body which
has undergone corruption resumes its original nature, any more than the
grain of wheat which has decayed returns to its former condition.
But we do maintain, that as above the grain of wheat there arises a
stalk, so a certain power4163
is implanted in the
body, which is not destroyed, and from which the body is raised up in
incorruption. The philosophers of the Porch, however, in
consequence of the opinions which they hold regarding the
unchangeableness of things after a certain cycle, assert that the body,
after undergoing complete corruption, will return to its original
condition, and will again assume that first nature from which it passed
into a state of dissolution, establishing these points, as they think,
by irresistible arguments.4164
| 4164 διαλεκτικαῖς
ἀνάγκαις. | We, however,
do not betake ourselves to a most absurd refuge, saying that with God
all things are possible; for we know how to understand this word
“all” as not referring either to things that are
“non-existent” or that are inconceivable. But we
maintain, at the same time, that God cannot do what is disgraceful,
since then He would be capable of ceasing to be God; for if He do
anything that is disgraceful, He is not God. Since, however, he
lays it down as a principle, that “God does not desire what is
contrary to nature,” we have to make a distinction, and say that
if any one asserts that wickedness is contrary to nature, while we
maintain that “God does not desire what is contrary to
nature,”—either what springs from wickedness or from an
irrational principle,—yet, if such things happen according to the
word and will of God, we must at once necessarily hold that they are
not contrary to nature. Therefore things which are done by God,
although they may be, or may appear to some to be incredible,
are not contrary to nature. And if we must press the force of
words,4165
| 4165 εἰ δὲ χρὴ
βεβιασμένως
ὀνομάσαι. | we would say that,
in comparison with what is generally understood as
“nature,” there are certain things which are beyond
its power, which God could at any time do; as, e.g., in raising man
above the level of human nature, and causing him to pass into a better
and more divine condition, and preserving him in the same, so long as
he who is the object of His care shows by his actions that he desires
(the continuance of His help).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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