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| Of the Catholic Church, the Remission of Sins, and the Resurrection of the Flesh.
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Chapter 10.—Of
the Catholic Church, the Remission of Sins, and the Resurrection of
the Flesh.
—Inasmuch, I repeat, as this is
the case, we believe also in The Holy
Church, [intending thereby] assuredly the
Catholic. For both heretics and schismatics style their
congregations churches. But heretics, in holding false opinions
regarding God, do injury to the faith itself; while schismatics, on
the other hand, in wicked separations break off from brotherly
charity, although they may believe just what we believe. Wherefore
neither do the heretics belong to the Church catholic, which loves
God; nor do the schismatics form a part of the same, inasmuch as it
loves the neighbor, and consequently readily forgives the
neighbor’s sins, because it prays that forgiveness may be
extended to itself by Him who has reconciled us to Himself, doing
away with all past things, and calling us to a new life. And until
we reach the perfection of this new life, we cannot be without
sins. Nevertheless it is a matter of consequence of what sort those
sins may be.
22. Neither ought we only to treat
of the difference between sins, but we ought most thoroughly to
believe that those things in which we sin are in no way forgiven
us, if we show ourselves severely unyielding in the matter of
forgiving the sins of others.1635
Thus, then, we believe also in
The Remission of Sins.
23. And inasmuch as there are three
things of which man consists,—namely, spirit, soul, and
body,—which again are spoken of as two, because frequently the
soul is named along with the spirit; for a certain rational portion
of the same, of which beasts are devoid, is called spirit: the
principal part in us is the spirit; next, the life whereby we are
united with the body is called the soul; finally, the body itself,
as it is visible, is the last part in us. This “whole creation”
(creatura), however, “groaneth and travaileth until
now.”1636
Nevertheless, He has given it the first-fruits of the Spirit, in
that it has believed God, and is now of a good will.1637
| 1637 Reading spiritus. Taking
spiritus, the sense might be = Nevertheless, the spirit hath
imparted the first-fruits, in that it has believed God, and is now
of a good will. | This
spirit is also called the mind, regarding which an apostle speaks
thus: “With the mind I serve the law of God.”1638
Which
apostle likewise expresses himself thus in another passage: “For
God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit.”1639
Moreover, the soul, when as yet it
lusts after carnal good things, is called the flesh. For a certain
part thereof resists1640
| 1640 Instead of caro nominatur.
Pars enim ejus quœdam resistit, etc., some good mss. read caro nominatur et resistit,
etc. = is called the flesh, and resists, etc. | the Spirit, not in virtue of
nature, but in virtue of the custom of sins; whence it is said,
“With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law
of sin.” And this custom has been turned into a nature, according
to mortal generation, by the sin of the first man. Consequently it
is also written in this wise, “And we were sometime by nature the
children of wrath,”1641
that is, of vengeance, through
which it has come to pass that we serve the law of sin. The nature
of the soul, however, is perfect when it is made subject to its own
spirit, and when it follows that spirit as the same follows God.
Therefore “the animal man1642
| 1642 Animalis homo, literally = "the" soulish man. | receiveth not the things which are
of the Spirit of God.”1643
But the soul is not so speedily
subdued to the spirit unto good action, as is the
spirit to God unto true faith and goodwill; but sometimes its
impetus, whereby it moves downwards into things carnal and
temporal, is more tardily bridled. But inasmuch as this same soul
is also made pure, and receives the stability of its own nature,
under the dominance of the spirit, which is the head for it, which
head of the said soul has again its own head in Christ, we ought
not to despair of the restoration of the body also to its own
proper nature. But this certainly will not be effected so speedily
as is the case with the soul; just as the soul too, is not restored
so speedily as the spirit. Yet it will take place in the
appropriate season, at the last trump, when “the dead shall rise
uncorrupted, and we shall be changed.”1644
And accordingly we believe also in
The Resurrection of the Flesh, to wit, not
merely that that soul, which at present by reason of carnal
affections is called the flesh, is restored; but that it shall be
so likewise with this visible flesh, which is the flesh according
to nature, the name of which has been received by the soul, not in
virtue of nature, but in reference to carnal affections: this
visible flesh, then, I say, which is the flesh properly so called,
must without doubt be believed to be destined to rise again. For
the Apostle Paul appears to point to this, as it were, with his
finger, when he says, “This corruptible must put on
incorruption.”1645
For when he says this, he,
as it were, directs his finger toward it. Now it is that which is
visible that admits of being pointed out with the finger; since the
soul might also have been called corruptible, for it is itself
corrupted by vices of manners. And when it is read, “and this
mortal [must] put on immortality,” the same visible flesh is
signified, inasmuch as at it ever and anon the finger is thus as it
were pointed. For the soul also may thus in like manner be called
mortal, even as it is designated corruptible in reference to vices
of manners. For assuredly it is “the death of the soul to
apostatize from God;”1646
| 1646 The text gives, Mors quippe
animæ est apostatare a Deo. The reference, perhaps, is
to Ecclus. x. 12, where the
Vulgate has, initium superbiœ hominis, apostatare a
Deo. | which is its first sin in
Paradise, as it is contained in the sacred writings.
24. Rise again, therefore, the body
will, according to the Christian faith, which is incapable of
deceiving. And if this appears incredible to any one, [it is
because] he looks simply to what the flesh is at present, while he
fails to consider of what nature it shall be hereafter. For at that
time of angelic change it will no more be flesh and blood, but only
body.1647
| 1647 Augustin refers to this statement
in the passage quoted from the Retractations in the
Introductory Notice above. | For when
the apostle speaks of the flesh, he says, “There is one flesh of
cattle, another of birds, another of fishes, another of creeping
things: there are also both celestial bodies and terrestrial
bodies.”1648
Now what
he has said here is not “celestial flesh,” but “both
celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies.” For all flesh is also
body; but every body is not also flesh. In the first instance, [for
example, this holds good] in the case of those terrestrial bodies,
inasmuch as wood is body, but not flesh. In the case of man, again,
or in that of cattle, we have both body and flesh. In the case of
celestial bodies, on the other hand, there is no flesh, but only
those simple and lucent bodies which the apostle designates
spiritual, while some call them ethereal. And consequently, when he
says, “Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God,”1649
that does
not contradict the resurrection of the flesh; but the sentence
predicates what will be the nature of that hereafter which at
present is flesh and blood. And if any one refuses to believe that
the flesh is capable of being changed into the sort of nature thus
indicated, he must be led on, step by step, to this faith. For if
you require of him whether earth is capable of being changed into
water, the nearness of the thing will make it not seem incredible
to him. Again, if you inquire whether water is capable of being
changed into air, he replies that this also is not absurd, for the
elements are near each other. And if, on the subject of the air, it
is asked whether that can be changed into an ethereal, that is, a
celestial body, the simple fact of the nearness at once convinces
him of the possibility of the thing. But if, then, he concedes that
through such gradations it is quite a possible thing that earth
should be changed into an ethereal body, why does he refuse to
believe, when that will of God, too, enters in addition, whereby a
human body had power to walk upon the waters, that the same change
is capable of being effected with the utmost rapidity, precisely in
accordance with the saying, “in the twinkling of an eye,”1650
and
without any such gradations, even as, according to common wont,
smoke is changed into flame with marvellous quickness? For our
flesh assuredly is of earth. But philosophers, on the ground of
whose arguments opposition is for the most part offered to the
resurrection of the flesh, so far as in these they assert that no
terrene body can possibly exist in heaven, yet concede that any
kind of body may be converted and changed into every [other] sort
of body. And when this resurrection of the body has taken place,
being set free then from the condition of time, we shall fully
enjoy Eternal Life in ineffable love and
steadfastness, without corruption.1651
| 1651 Instead of a temporis
conditione liberati, æterna vita ineffabili caritate atque
stabilitate sine corruptione perfruemur, several mss. read, corpus a temporis conditione
liberatum æterna vita ineffabili caritate perfruetur = the
body, set free from the condition of time, shall fully enjoy
eternal life in ineffable love. | For “then shall be brought to
pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where is, O death, thy sting? Where is, O death, thy
contention?”1652
25. This is the faith which in few
words is given in the Creed to Christian novices, to be held by
them. And these few words are known to the faithful, to the end
that in believing they may be made subject to God; that being made
subject, they may rightly live; that in rightly living, they may
make the heart pure; that with the heart made pure, they may
understand that which they believe. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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