Against Heresies: Book V

AMONG THE OTHER TRUTHS PROCLAIMED BY THE APOSTLE: there is also this one: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." This is the passage that all the heretics use to support their folly, attempting to annoy us and to argue that the handiwork of God is not saved. They do not consider this fact: there are three parts that, as I have shown, make up the complete person—flesh, soul, and spirit. One of these indeed preserves and shapes the person—this is the spirit; another is united and formed—that is the flesh; and then there is the one between these two—that is the soul, which sometimes follows the spirit and is uplifted by it, but at other times sympathizes with the flesh and falls into carnal lusts. Those who do not have that which saves and forms us into eternal life shall be, and shall be called, merely flesh and blood; for these are the ones who do not have the Spirit of God within them. Therefore, people like this are referred to by the Lord as "dead," for He says, "Let the dead bury their dead," because they do not have the Spirit that gives life to man.

ON THE OTHER HAND: all those who fear God and trust in His Son’s arrival, and who establish the Spirit of God in their hearts through faith, shall be rightly called “pure,” “spiritual,” and “those living to God,” because they possess the Spirit of the Father, who purifies man and raises him up to the life of God. For just as the Lord has testified that “the flesh is weak,” He also says that “the spirit is willing.” This latter is capable of accomplishing its own intentions. Therefore, if anyone uses the eager willingness of the Spirit as a kind of catalyst to the weakness of the flesh, it inevitably follows that what is strong will overcome the weak, so that the weakness of the flesh will be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit; and the person in whom this happens cannot be carnal, but spiritual, because of the communion with the Spirit. This is why the martyrs offer their testimony and scorn death, not because of the weakness of the flesh, but because of the readiness of the Spirit. For when the weakness of the flesh is absorbed, it reveals the Spirit as powerful; and again, when the Spirit absorbs the weakness of the flesh, it takes the flesh as part of itself, and from both of these, a living man is formed—living because he partakes of the Spirit, but still a man because of the substance of flesh.

THE FLESH: therefore, when without the Spirit of God, is dead, lacking life, and cannot inherit the kingdom of God: it is like irrational blood, similar to water poured out upon the ground. And so he says, “As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy.” But where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living person; there is the rational blood preserved by God for avenging those that shed it; there is the flesh inhabited by the Spirit, forgetful of what belongs to it, and adopting the quality of the Spirit, being made to conform to the Word of God. For this reason, the apostle declares, “As we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven.” What, then, is the earthly? That which was created. And what is the heavenly? The Spirit. As he says, when we were without the heavenly Spirit, we formerly walked in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Therefore, as without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle urges us through faith and pure conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, so that we do not become without the Divine Spirit and lose the kingdom of heaven; and he proclaims that flesh and blood, on their own, cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

IF: however, we must speak precisely, we would say that the flesh does not inherit, but is inherited; as the Lord declares, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance;” as if in the future kingdom, the earth, from which the substance of our flesh originates, is to be possessed by inheritance. This is the reason He desires the temple (meaning, the flesh) to be clean, so that the Spirit of God may take delight in it, as a groom with a bride.

Just as the bride cannot wed, but is wedded, when the groom comes and takes her, so also the flesh cannot by itself inherit the kingdom of God; but it can be taken as an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living person inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited. The former commands, wields power over, and manages the inherited items at his discretion; but the latter are under control, are directed, and are governed by the one who has obtained the inheritance.

What, then, is it that lives? Doubtlessly, the Spirit of God. What are the possessions of the deceased? Certainly the various parts of the man, which decay in the earth.

But these are inherited by the Spirit when they are transferred into the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, too, Christ died, so that the Gospel covenant being revealed and known to the entire world, might first of all set free His servants; and then afterward, as I have already shown, might make them heirs of His property, when the Spirit possesses them by inheritance.

For the one who lives inherits, but the flesh is inherited. In order that we may not lose life by losing the Spirit that possesses us, the apostle, encouraging us to stay connected with the Spirit, has reasoned, in those words previously mentioned, “That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” Just as if he were to say, “Do not be mistaken; for unless the Word of God dwells with you, and the Spirit of the Father is within you, and if you live frivolously and carelessly as if you were only this, namely, mere flesh and blood, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”