Against Heresies: Book V

THE APOSTLE PAUL HAS: moreover, clearly pointed out that humans have been left to their own weaknesses so that, being uplifted, they might not fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second letter to the Corinthians: "And to prevent me from being lifted up by the greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to beat me. I asked the Lord three times to take it away from me.

But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; for strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I will gladly take pride in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." What then? (as some may ask) Did the Lord want His apostles to undergo such suffering and endure such weakness? Yes, it was so; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, making him a better person who, through his weakness, becomes familiar with the power of God.

How could a person have learned that they are naturally weak and mortal, while God is immortal and powerful, unless they had learned through experience what exists in both? There is nothing wrong with learning about one's weaknesses through endurance; rather, it even has the beneficial effect of preventing one from having an undue opinion of their own nature.

But being lifted up against God and taking His glory for oneself, making a person ungrateful, has brought much evil upon them.

Thus, I say, a person must learn both things through experience, so they may not lack truth and love towards themselves or their Creator.

But the experience of both gives them true knowledge about God and humanity, and increases their love towards God.

Now, where there is an increase of love, a greater glory is achieved by the power of God for those who love Him.

THOSE MEN: therefore, dismiss the power of God and do not consider what the word declares when they focus on the weakness of the flesh, but do not consider the power of Him who raises it from the dead. For if He does not bring life to what is mortal and does not transform the perishable into imperishable, He is not a God of power.

But that He is powerful in all these aspects, we ought to realize from our beginning, since God, taking dust from the earth, formed man.

And surely it is much more difficult and unbelievable to create from non-existent bones, nerves, veins, and the rest of man’s structure, and to make man a living and rational being, than to restore what was once created and then returned to dust for the reasons already mentioned, having thus passed into those elements from which man, who had no previous existence, was formed. For He who initially created being from nothing, just when He wished, shall much more restore those who previously existed when it is His will that they should inherit the life granted by Him.

And that the flesh shall also be found capable of receiving the power of God, which at the beginning received the skillful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for seeing, another the ear for hearing, another the hand for touching and working, another the sinews stretched out everywhere, holding the limbs together, another the arteries and veins as channels for blood and air, another the various internal organs, and another the blood, which is the bond linking soul and body.

But why go on like this? Numbers would fail to express the countless parts in the human body, which was made solely by the great wisdom of God.

But those things which share in the skill and wisdom of God also share in His power.

THE FLESH: therefore, is not devoid of participation in the constructive wisdom and power of God.

But if the power of Him who gives life is made perfect in weakness—that is, in the flesh—let them tell us, when they argue the incapacity of flesh to receive the life given by God, whether they say these things as living people now, and sharers of life, or admit that, having no part in life at all, they are currently dead.

And if they really are dead, how is it that they move, speak, and do other actions that are not those of the dead, but of the living? But if they are now alive, and if their whole body shares in life, how can they claim that the flesh is not qualified to share in life, when they admit that they have life now? It's like if someone were to take a sponge full of water or a torch on fire and declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water, or the torch of the fire.

In this same way, these people, by claiming they are alive and carry life in their bodies, contradict themselves later when they say these bodies can't receive life.

But if the present temporary life, which is so much less than eternal life, can still manage to enliven our mortal bodies, why shouldn't eternal life, which is much more powerful, enliven the flesh, which has already interacted with and been used to sustaining life? For that the flesh can truly share in life is shown by the fact that it is alive; for it lives on as long as it is God’s will for it to do so.

It is clear, too, that God has the power to give life to it, since He grants life to us who are alive. And, therefore, since the Lord has the power to infuse life into what He has created, and since the flesh is capable of being made alive, what remains to prevent its sharing in incorruption, which is a blissful and eternal life granted by God?