From the Discourse
on the Resurrection.2844
| 2844
[Compare Athenagoras, vol. ii. p. 149, and other Fathers
passim.] |
————————————
Part I.
I. God did not make
evil,2845
| 2845
[See p. 363, supra.] |
nor is He at
all in any way the
author of
evil; but whatever
failed to keep the
law,
which He in all
justice ordained, after being made by Him with the
faculty of free-will, for the purpose of guarding and keeping it, is
called
evil. Now it is the gravest fault to disobey
God, by
overstepping the bounds of that
righteousness which is consistent with
free-will.
II. Now the question has already been
raised,2846
| 2846
Cf. Anastasius, in Doctrina Patrum de Verbi Incarnatione,
c. 25.—Jahn. |
and
answered,
2847
| 2847
By Epiphanius, Hær., lxiv. n. 22.—Migne. |
that the
“coats of skins”
2848
are not bodies. Nevertheless,
let us speak of it again, for it is not enough to have mentioned it
once. Before the
preparation of these coats of skins, the first
man himself acknowledges that he has both
bones and
flesh; for when he
saw the
woman brought to him: “This is now,” he
cried,
2849
“
bone
of my
bone and
flesh of my
flesh.” And again: She
shall be called
Woman, because she was taken out of man.
2850
| 2850 [See
vol. iv. p. 38, this series.] |
For this
cause shall a man leave his
father and mother, and shall be joined unto
his
wife, and they two shall be one
flesh.” For I cannot
endure the trifling of some who shamelessly do
violence to Scripture,
in order that their opinion, that the resurrection is without
flesh,
may find support; supposing rational
bones and
flesh, and in different
ways changing it backwards and forwards by allegorizing. And
Christ confirms the taking of these things as they are written, when,
to the
question of the
Pharisees about putting away a
wife, He
answers: “Have ye not read that He which made them at the
beginning made them male and
female; and said, For this cause shall a
man leave his
father,”
2851
and so on.
III. But it is evidently absurd to think that the
body will not co-exist with the soul in the eternal state, because it
is a bond and fetters; in order that, according to their view, we who
are to live in the kingdom of light may not be for ever condemned to be
bondmen of corruption. For as the question has been sufficiently
solved, and the statement refitted in which they defined the flesh to
be the soul’s chain, the argument also is destroyed, that the
flesh will not rise again, lest, if we resume it, we be prisoners in
the kingdom of light.
IV. In order, then, that man might not be an
undying or ever-living evil, as would have been the case if sin were
dominant within him, as it had sprung up in an immortal body, and was
provided with immortal sustenance, God for this cause pronounced him
mortal, and clothed him with mortality. For this is what was
meant by the coats of skins, in order that, by the dissolution of the
body, sin might be altogether destroyed from the very roots, that there
might not be left even the smallest particle of root from which new
shoots of sin might again burst forth.
V. For as a fig-tree, which has grown in the
splendid buildings2852
of a
temple, and has reached a great
size, and is spread over all the joints of the
stones with
thickly-branching roots, ceases not to grow, till, by the loosening of
the
stones from the place in which it sprung up, it is altogether torn
away; for it is possible for the
stones to be fitted into their own
places, when the
fig tree is taken away, so that the
temple may be
preserved, having no longer to support what was the cause of its own
destruction; while the
fig-
tree, torn away by the roots,
dies; in the
same way also,
God, the builder, checked by the seasonable application
of
death, His own
temple, man, when he had fostered
sin, like a
wild
fig-
tree, “killing,”
2853
in the words of Scripture, “and
making alive,” in order that the
flesh, after
sin is withered and
dead, may, like a restored
temple, be
raised up again with the same
parts, uninjured and
immortal, while
sin is utterly and entirely
destroyed. For while the body still lives, before it has passed
through
death,
sin must also
live with it, as it has its roots
concealed within us even though it be externally checked by the
wounds inflicted by
corrections and warnings; since, otherwise, it would not happen that we
do wrong after
baptism, as we should be entirely and absolutely free
from
sin. But now, even after believing, and after the time of
being touched by the
water of
sanctification, we are oftentimes found
in
sin. For no one can
boast of being so free from
sin as not
even to have an
evil thought. So that it is come to pass that
sin
is now restrained and lulled to
sleep by
faith, so that it does not
produce injurious fruits, but yet is not torn up by the roots.
For the present we restrain its sprouts, such as
evil imaginations,
“lest any root of
bitterness springing up
trouble”
2854
us, not
suffering its
leaves to unclose and open into shoots; while the Word,
like an
axe,
cuts at its roots which grow below. But hereafter
the very thought of
evil will disappear.
VI. But come now, since there is need of
many examples in matters of this kind, let us examine them particularly
from this point of view, without desisting till our argument ends in
clearer explanation and proof. It appears, then, as if an eminent
craftsman were to cast over again a noble image, wrought by himself of
gold or other material, and beautifully proportioned in all its
members, upon his suddenly perceiving that it had been mutilated by
some infamous man, who, too envious to endure the image being
beautiful, spoiled it, and thus enjoyed the empty pleasure of indulged
jealousy. For take notice, most wise Aglaophon, that, if the
artificer wish that that upon which he has bestowed so much pains and
care and labour, shall be quite free from injury, he will be impelled
to melt it down, and restore it to its former condition. But if
he should not cast it afresh, nor reconstruct it, but allow it to
remain as it is, repairing and restoring it, it must be that the image,
being passed through the fire and forged, cannot any longer be
preserved unchanged, but will be altered and wasted. Wherefore,
if he should wish it to be perfectly beautiful and faultless, it must
be broken up and recast, in order that all the disfigurements and
mutilations inflicted upon it by treachery and envy, may be got rid of
by the breaking up and recasting of it, while the image is restored
again uninjured and unalloyed to the same form as before, and made as
like itself as possible. For it is impossible for an image under
the hands of the original artist to be lost, even if it be melted down
again, for it may be restored; but it is possible for blemishes and
injuries to be put off, for they melt away and cannot be restored;
because in every work of art the best craftsman looks not for blemish
or failure, but for symmetry and correctness in his work. Now
God’s plan seems to me to have been the same as that which
prevails among ourselves. For seeing man, His fairest work,
corrupted by envious treachery, He could not endure, with His love for
man, to leave him in such a condition, lest he should be for ever
faulty, and bear the blame to eternity; but dissolved him again into
his original materials, in order that, by remodelling, all the
blemishes in him might waste away and disappear. For the melting
down of the statue in the former case corresponds to the death and
dissolution of the body in the latter, and the remoulding of the
material in the former, to the resurrection after death in the latter;
as also saith the prophet Jeremiah, for he addresses the Jews in
these words, “And I went down to the potter’s house; and,
behold, he wrought a work upon the stones. And the vessel which
he made in his hands was broken; and again he made another vessel, as
it pleased him to make it. And the word of the Lord came to me,
saying, Cannot I do to you as this potter, O house of Israel?
Behold, as the clay of the potter are ye in my hands.”2855
VII. For I call your attention to this, that, as I
said, after man’s transgression the Great Hand was not content to
leave as a trophy of victory its own work, debased by the Evil One, who
wickedly injured it from motives of envy; but moistened and reduced it
to clay, as a potter breaks up a vessel, that by the remodelling of it
all the blemishes and bruises in it may disappear, and it may be made
afresh faultless and pleasing.
VIII. But it is not satisfactory to say that
the universe will be utterly destroyed, and sea and air and sky will be
no longer. For the whole world will be deluged with fire from
heaven, and burnt for the purpose of purification and renewal; it will
not, however, come to complete ruin and corruption. For if it
were better for the world not to be than to be, why did God, in making
the world, take the worse course? But God did not work in vain,
or do that which was worst. God therefore ordered the creation
with a view to its existence and continuance, as also the Book of
Wisdom confirms, saying, “For God created all things that
they might have their being; and the generations of the world were
healthful, and there is no poison of destruction in
them.”2856
And
Paul
clearly testifies this, saying, “For the earnest expectation of
the creature
2857
| 2857
[Greek, creation, κτίσις. The English
version faulty and confusing.] |
waiteth for
the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature
2858
| 2858
[Greek, creation, κτίσις. The English
version faulty and confusing.] |
was made
subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected
the same in
hope: because the creature
2859
| 2859
[Greek, creation, κτίσις. The English
version faulty and confusing.] |
itself also shall be
delivered from
the
bondage of
corruption into the glorious
liberty of the
children of
God.”
2860
For the
creation was made subject to
vanity, he says, and he expects that it
will be set free from such servitude, as he intends to call this
world
by the name of
creation. For it is not what is unseen but what is
seen that is subject to
corruption. The
creation, then, after
being restored to a better and more seemly
state, remains, rejoicing
and exulting over the
children of
God at the resurrection; for whose
sake it now
groans and
travails,
2861
| 2861 The
reading and punctuation of Jahn are here adopted. |
waiting itself also for our redemption
from the
corruption of the body, that, when we have risen and shaken
off the mortality of the
flesh, according to that which is written,
“Shake off the
dust, and arise, and sit down, O
Jerusalem,”
2862
and have
been set free from
sin, it also shall be freed from
corruption and be
subject no longer to
vanity, but to
righteousness. Isaiah says,
too, “For as the new
heaven and the new
earth which I make,
remaineth before me, saith the
Lord, so shall your
seed and your name
be;”
2863
and again,
“Thus saith the
Lord that
created the
heaven, it is He who
prepared the
earth and
created it, He determined it; He
created it not
in
vain, but formed it to be inhabited.”
2864
For in reality
God did not
establish the universe in
vain, or to no purpose but
destruction, as
those
weak-
minded men say, but to exist, and be inhabited, and
continue. Wherefore the
earth and the
heaven must exist again
after the conflagration and shaking of all things.
IX. But if our opponents say, How then is
it, if the universe be not destroyed, that the Lord says that
“heaven and earth shall pass away;”2865
and the
prophet, that “the
heaven
shall
perish as
smoke, and the
earth shall grow old as a
garment;”
2866
we answer,
because it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change of the
world
from its present condition to a better and more glorious one,
destruction; as its earlier form is lost in the change of all things to
a
state of greater splendour; for there is no contradiction nor
absurdity in the Holy Scriptures. For not “the
world”
but the “fashion of this
world” passeth away,
2867
it is said;
so it is usual for the Scriptures to call the change from an earlier
form to a better and more
comely state,
destruction; just as when one
calls by the name of
destruction the change from a childish form into a
perfect man, as the stature of the
child is turned into
manly
size and
beauty. We may expect that the
creation will pass away,
as if it were to
perish in the burning, in order that it may be
renewed, not however that it will be
destroyed, that we who are
renewed
may dwell in a
renewed world without
taste of
sorrow; according as it
is said, “When Thou lettest Thy
breath go forth, they shall be
made, and Thou shalt
renew the face of the
earth;”
2868
God
henceforth
providing for the due temperature of that which surrounds
it. For as the
earth is to exist after the present age,
2869
there must be
by all means
inhabitants for it, who shall no longer be liable to
death, nor shall marry, nor
beget children, but
live in all
happiness,
like the
angels, without change or
decay. Wherefore it is
silly
to discuss in what way of
life our bodies will then exist, if there is
no longer
air, nor
earth, nor anything else.
X. But in addition to what has been said,
there is this point worth consideration, since it misleads very much,
if we may be outspoken about matters of such importance,
Aglaophon. For you said that the Lord declared plainly2870
that those who
shall obtain the resurrection shall then be as the
angels.
2871
You
brought this objection: The
angels, being without
flesh, are on
this account in the utmost
happiness and
glory. We must then, as
we are to be made equal to the
angels, be like them stripped of
flesh,
and be
angels. But you overlooked this, my excellent
friend, that
He who
created and set in order the universe out of nothing,
ordained
the
nature of
immortal beings to be distributed not only among
angels
and
ministers, but also among
principalities, and
thrones, and
powers. For the race of
angels is one, and that of
principalities
and powers another; because
immortal beings are not all of one order,
and constitution, and
tribe, and
family, but there are differences of
race and
tribe. And neither do the
cherubim, departing from their
own
nature, assume the form of
angels; nor, again, do
angels assume the
form of the others. For they cannot be anything but what they are
and have been made. Moreover, man also having been
appointed by
the original order of things to inhabit the
world, and to rule over all
that is in it, when he is
immortal, will never be changed from being a
man into the form either of
angels or any other; for neither do
angels
undergo a change from their original form to another. For
Christ
at His coming did not
proclaim that the human
nature should, when it is
immortal, be remoulded or
transformed into another
nature, but into
what it was before the fall. For each one among
created things
must remain in its own proper place, that none may be wanting to any,
but all may be full:
heaven of
angels,
thrones of powers,
luminaries of
ministers; and the more
divine spots, and the
undefiled
and untainted luminaries,
with seraphim, who attend the
Supreme Council, and uphold the universe;
and the
world of men. For if we granted that men are changed into
angels, it would follow that we say that
angels also are changed into
powers, and these into one thing and the other, until our argument
proceed too
far for
safety.
XI. Neither did God, as if He had made man
badly, or committed a mistake in the formation of him, determine
afterwards to make an angel, repenting of His work, as the worst of
craftsmen do; nor did He fashion man, after He had wished originally to
make an angel, and failed; for this would be a sign of weakness,
etc. Why even then did He make man and not angels, if He wished
men to be angels and not men? Was it because He was unable?
It is blasphemy to suppose so. Or was He so busy in making the
worse as to loiter about the better? This too is absurd.
For He does not fail in making what is good, nor defers it, nor is
incapable of it; but He has the power to act how and when He pleases,
inasmuch as He is Himself power. Wherefore it was because He
intended man to be man, that He originally made him so. But if He
so intended—since He intends what is good—man is
good. Now man is said to be composed of soul and body; he cannot
then exist without a body, but with a body, unless there be produced
another man besides man. For all the orders of immortal beings
must be preserved by God, and among these is man.
“For,” says the Book of Wisdom, “God created
man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own
eternity.”2872
The
body then
perishes not; for man is composed of
soul and
body.
XII. Wherefore observe that these are the
very things which the Lord wished to teach to the Sadducees, who did
not believe in the resurrection of the flesh. For this was the
opinion of the Sadducees. Whence it was that, having contrived
the parable about the woman and the seven brethren, that they might
cast doubt upon the resurrection of the flesh, “There came to
Him,”2873
it is said,
“the
Sadducees also, who say that there is no
resurrection.”
Christ, then, if there had been no
resurrection of the
flesh, but the
soul only were
saved, would have
agreed with their opinion as a right and excellent one. But as it
was, He answered and said, “In the resurrection they neither
marry, nor are given in
marriage, but are as the
angels in
heaven,”
2874
not on
account of having no
flesh, but of not marrying nor being
married, but
being henceforth
incorruptible. And He speaks of our being near
the
angels in this respect, that as the
angels in
heaven, so we also in
paradise, spend our time no more in
marriage-
feasts or other
festivities. but in seeing
God and cultivating
life, under the
direction of
Christ. For He did not say “they shall be
angels,” but like
angels, in being, for instance,
crowned, as it
is written, with
glory and honour; differing a little from the
angels,
2875
while near to
being
angels. Just as if He had said, while observing the fair
order of the
sky, and the stillness of the
night, and everything
illumined by the heavenly
light of the
moon, “the
moon shines
like the sun.” We should not then say that He asserted that
the
moon was absolutely the sun, but like the sun. As also that
which is not
gold, but approaching the
nature of
gold, is said not to
be
gold, but to be like
gold. But if it were
gold, it would be
said to be, and not to be like,
gold. But since it is not
gold,
but approaching to the
nature of it, and has the
appearance of it, it
is said to be like
gold; so also when He says that the
saints shall. in
the resurrection be like the
angels, we do not understand Him to assert
that they will then be actually
angels, but approaching to the
condition of
angels. So that it is most unreasonable to say,
“Since
Christ declared that the
saints in the resurrection appear
as
angels, therefore their bodies do not rise,” although the very
words employed give a clear
proof of the real
state of the case.
For the term “resurrection” is not applied to that which
has not fallen, but to that which has fallen and rises again; as when
the
prophet says, “I will also raise up again the
tabernacle of
David which has fallen down.”
2876
Now the much-desired
tabernacle
of the
soul is fallen, and sunk down into “the
dust of the
earth.”
2877
For
it is not that which is not dead, but that which is dead, that is laid
down. But it is the
flesh which
dies; the
soul is
immortal.
So, then, if the
soul be
immortal, and the body be the
corpse, those
who say that there is a resurrection, but not of the
flesh, deny any
resurrection; because it is not that which remains standing, but that
which has fallen
2878
| 2878
[A play on the Greek ἀνάστασις, but
good exegesis.] |
and
been laid down, that is set up; according to that which is written,
“Does not he who falls rise again, and he who turns aside
return?”
2879
XIII. Since flesh was made to border on
incorruption and corruption, being itself neither the one nor the
other, and was overcome by corruption for the sake of pleasure, though
it was the work and property of incorruption; therefore it became
corruptible, and was laid in the dust of the earth. When, then,
it was overcome by corruption, and delivered over to death through
disobedience, God did not leave it to corruption to be triumphed over
as an inheritance; but, after
conquering death by the resurrection, delivered it again to
incorruption, in order that corruption might not receive the property
of incorruption, but incorruption that of corruption. Therefore
the apostle answers thus, “For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”2880
Now the
corruptible and
mortal putting on immortality, what else is it but that
which is “sown in
corruption and
raised in
incorruption,”
2881
—for the
soul is not corruptible
or
mortal; but this which is
mortal and corrupting is of
flesh,—in order that, “as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly?”
2882
For
the image of the earthy which we have borne is this, “
Dust thou
art, and unto
dust shalt thou return.”
2883
But the image of the heavenly
is the resurrection from the dead, and incorruption, in order that
“as
Christ was
raised up from the dead by the
glory of the
Father, so we also should
walk in
newness of
life.”
2884
But
if any one were to think that the earthy image is the
flesh itself, but
the heavenly image some other
spiritual body besides the
flesh; let him
first consider that
Christ, the heavenly man, when He appeared, bore
the same form of limbs and the same image of
flesh as ours, through
which also He, who was not man, became man, that “as in
Adam all
die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive.”
2885
For if
He bore
flesh for any other reason than that of setting the
flesh free,
and raising it up, why did He bear
flesh superfluously, as He purposed
neither to
save it, nor to raise it up? But the Son of
God does
nothing superfluously. He did not then take the form of a
servant
uselessly, but to raise it up and
save it. For He truly was made
man, and
died, and not in mere
appearance, but that He might truly be
shown to be the first begotten from the dead, changing the earthy into
the heavenly, and the
mortal into the
immortal. When, then,
Paul
says that “
flesh and
blood cannot
inherit the
kingdom of
God,”
2886
he does not
give a disparaging opinion of the
regeneration of the
flesh, but would
teach that the
kingdom of
God, which is
eternal life, is not
possessed
by the body, but the body by the
life. For if the
kingdom of
God,
which is
life, were
possessed by the body, it would happen that the
life would be consumed by
corruption. But now the
life possesses
what is dying, in order that “
death may be
swallowed up in
victory”
2887
by
life, and the corruptible may be seen to be the possession of
incorruption and immortality, while it becomes unbound and free from
death and
sin, but the
slave and
servant of immortality; so that the
body may be the possession of incorruption, and not incorruption that
of the body.
XIV. If, then, out of such a drop, small,
and previously without any existence, in its actual state of moistness,
contractedness, and insignificance, in fact out of nothing, man is
brought into being, how much rather shall man spring again into being
out of a previously existing man? For it is not so difficult to
make anything anew after it has once existed and fallen into decay, as
to produce out of nothing that which has never existed. Now, in
case we choose to exhibit the seminal fluid discharged from a man, and
place by it a corpse, each by itself, which of them, as they both lie
exposed to view, will the spectators think most likely to become a
man—that drop, which is nothing at all, or that which has already
shape, and size, and substance? For if the very thing which is
nothing at all, merely because God pleases, becomes a man, how much
rather shall that which has existence and is brought to perfection
become again a man, if God pleases? For what was the purpose of
the theologian Moses, in introducing, under a mystical sense, the Feast
of Tabernacles in the Book of Leviticus? Was it that we may keep
a feast to God, as the Jews with their low view of the Scriptures
interpret it? as if God took pleasure in such tabernacles, decked out
with fruits and boughs and leaves, which immediately wither and lose
their verdure. We cannot say so. Tell me, then, what was
the object of the Feast of Tabernacles? It was introduced to
point to this real tabernacle of ours, which, after it was fallen down
to corruption through the transgression of the law, and broken up by
sin, God promised to put together again, and to raise up in
incorruptibility, in order that we may truly celebrate in His honour
the great and renowned Feast of Tabernacles at the resurrection; when
our tabernacles are put together in the perfect order of immortality
and harmony, and raised up from the dust in incorruption; when the dry
bones,2888
according
to the most true
prophecy, shall hear a voice, and be brought to their
joints by
God, the Creator and
Perfect Artificer, who will then
renew
the
flesh and
bind it on, no more with such ties as those by which it
was at first held together, but by such as shall be for ever undecaying
and indissoluble. For I once saw
2889
| 2889
[See part ii. cap. viii., p. 375, infra.What he
testifies may be accepted, at least, as his genuine
conviction.] |
on Olympus, which is a
mountain of
Lycia,
fire bursting up from the ground spontaneously on the summit of
the
mountain; and by it was standing an Agnos
tree, so flourishing,
green, and shady, that one might suppose a never-failing
stream of
water had
nourished its growth, rather than what was really the case. For
which cause, therefore, though the natures of things are corruptible,
and their bodies consumed by
fire, and it is
impossible for things
which are once of an inflammable
nature to remain unaffected by
fire;
yet this
tree, so
far from being
burnt, is actually more vigorous and
green than usual, though it is naturally inflammable, and that too when
the
fire is glowing about its very roots. I certainly cast some
boughs of
trees from the adjoining
wood on to the place where the
fire
burst forth, and they immediately caught
fire and were
burnt to
ashes. Now, then, tell me why it is that that which cannot bear
even to feel the
heat of the sun, but withers up under it unless it be
sprinkled with
water, is not consumed when beset by such
fiery heat,
but both lives and thrives? What is the meaning of this
marvel?
God appointed this as an example and introduction to the
day that is coming, in order that we may know more certainly that, when
all things are deluged with
fire from
heaven, the bodies which are
distinguished by chastity and
righteousness will be taken up by Him as
free from all injury from the
fire as from cold
water. For truly,
O beneficent and bountiful
Lord, “the creature that serveth Thee,
who art the
Maker, increaseth his
strength against the
unrighteous for
their
punishment, and abateth his
strength for the benefit of such as
put their
trust in Thee;”
2890
and at Thy
pleasure fire cools, and
injures nothing that Thou determinest to be
preserved; and again,
water
burns more fiercely than
fire, and nothing opposes Thine unconquerable
power and might. For Thou createdst all things out of nothing;
wherefore also Thou changest and transformest all things as Thou wilt,
seeing they are Thine, and Thou alone art
God.
XV. The apostle certainly, after assigning
the planting and watering to art and earth and water, conceded the
growth to God alone, where he says, “Neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the
increase.”2891
For
he knew that
Wisdom, the first-
born of
God, the
parent and artificer of
all things, brings forth everything into the
world; whom the ancients
called
Nature and Providence, because she, with constant provision and
care, gives to all things
birth and growth. “For,”
says the
Wisdom of
God, “my
Father worketh hitherto, and I
work.”
2892
Now it
is on this account that
Solomon called
Wisdom the artificer of all
things, since
God is in no respect
poor, but able richly to
create, and
make, and vary, and increase all things.
XVI. God, who created all things, and provides and
cares for all things, took dust from the ground, and made our outer
man.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
