Against Heresies: Book V

FOR JUST AS THE FLESH IS CAPABLE OF CORRUPTION: it is also capable of incorruption; and just as it is subject to death, it is also open to life. These two states replace each other; both cannot exist in the same place, as one forces out the other, and the presence of one eliminates the other. If, then, when death takes hold of a man, it drives life away and proves him to be dead, much more does life, when it takes control of the man, drive out death and restore him as living to God. For if death brings mortality, why shouldn't life, when it arrives, make man alive? Just as the prophet Esaias says, “Death was devoured when it prevailed.” And again, “God has wiped away every tear from every face.” Thus, that former life is expelled because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.

THE BREATH OF LIFE: which made man a living being, is one thing, and the life-giving Spirit is another, which made him spiritual. This is why Isaiah said, “This is what the Lord says, who made heaven and established it, who founded the earth and all that is in it, and gave breath to the people on it, and Spirit to those walking on it.” He shows that breath is indeed given to all people on earth, but the Spirit belongs only to those who overcome earthly desires.

Therefore, Isaiah himself, distinguishing between these things, exclaims again, “For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have made every breath.” He attributes the Spirit as belonging uniquely to God, who, in the last times, pours it upon the human race through the adoption of sons, but shows that breath was common throughout creation and identifies it as something created. What has been made is different from the maker. The breath is temporary, but the Spirit is eternal.

The breath grows stronger for a short time and lasts for a while; after that, it leaves, abandoning its former dwelling without breath.

But when the Spirit fills a person completely, it stays and never leaves. “But what is spiritual is not first,” says the apostle, speaking as if about us humans; “but what is physical comes first, then what is spiritual,” according to logic. It was necessary that a human being should first be made and that this being should receive the soul; afterward, it could receive the fellowship of the Spirit.

Therefore, “the first Adam was made” by the Lord “a living soul, the second Adam a life-giving spirit.” As the one who was made a living soul lost life when he turned to evil, so also, when the same person turns back to good and receives the life-giving Spirit, they will find life.

FOR IT IS NOT ONE THING THAT DIES AND ANOTHER THAT IS BROUGHT TO LIFE: just as it is not one thing that is lost and another that is found, but the Lord came seeking that same sheep which was lost. What was it that was dead? Undoubtedly, it was the substance of the flesh, the same that had lost the breath of life and had become lifeless and dead. This same was what the Lord came to bring to life, so that as in Adam we all die, being of an earthly nature, in Christ we may all live, being spiritual, not discarding God's handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Put to death, therefore, your earthly nature." And he explains what these are: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desire; and covetousness, which is idolatry." The laying aside of these is what the apostle preaches, and he declares that those who do such things, being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.

For their soul, tending toward what is worse and descending to earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to these lusts, namely, "earthly," which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast off the old man with his deeds." But when he says this, he does not remove the ancient formation of man; otherwise, it would be necessary for us to rid ourselves of it by committing suicide.

THE APOSTLE HIMSELF: who was formed in a womb and born from it, wrote to us and admitted in his Epistle to the Philippians that "to live in the flesh was the fruit of his work," expressing himself in this way. The ultimate outcome of the Spirit's work is the salvation of the flesh. What other visible outcome is there of the invisible Spirit than making the flesh mature and capable of incorruption? If he says, "To live in the flesh, this is the result of labor for me," he certainly did not dismiss the substance of flesh in the passage where he said, "Put off the old man with his works." Instead, he indicates that we should abandon our former way of living, which grows old and becomes corrupt. This is why he continues to say, "And put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him." Thus, when he says "which is renewed in knowledge," he shows that the same man who was once ignorant, specifically of God, is renewed by the knowledge that pertains to Him. For the knowledge of God renews man. And when he says "after the image of the Creator," he presents the idea of the same man being restored, who was initially made in the likeness of God.

THE APOSTLE HIMSELF STATES IN THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS THAT HE WAS THE SAME PERSON WHO HAD BEEN BORN FROM THE WOMB: from the ancient substance of flesh: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles," it was not, as I have already noted, one person who had been born from the womb and another who preached the Gospel of the Son of God.

Rather, it was the same individual who was once ignorant and used to persecute the Church. When the revelation was made to him from heaven and the Lord spoke with him, as I mentioned in the third book, he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate. His former ignorance was replaced by his new knowledge, just as the blind men whom the Lord healed lost their blindness but received perfect vision in the same eyes with which they previously could not see.

The darkness was simply driven away by the power of vision, while the substance of the eyes was retained, so that, by means of those eyes through which they were once blind, they could give thanks to Him who restored their sight. In the same way, the man with the withered hand and all who were healed did not change the parts of their bodies that had come from the womb at birth but simply received them anew in a healthy state.

FOR THE MAKER OF ALL THINGS: the Word of God, who also formed man from the beginning, when He found His creation harmed by wickedness, performed all kinds of healing on it. At times, He did so for each individual part, as it is found in His own creation; and at other times, He restored man completely, making him perfect for Himself for the resurrection. What was His purpose in healing different parts of the flesh and restoring them to their original condition if those parts healed by Him were not able to obtain salvation? For if it was merely a temporary benefit that He provided, He granted nothing of importance to those who were healed by Him. Or how can they argue that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life that comes from Him, when it received healing from Him? For life is brought about through healing, and incorruption through life. Therefore, He who gives healing also grants life; and He who gives life also encompasses His creation with incorruption.