Against Heresies: Book V

Let our opponents—those who speak against their own salvation—inform us on this point: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow’s dead son, who was being carried out to burial near the city gate; and Lazarus, who had been in the tomb for four days—in what bodies did they rise again? Certainly, in the same ones in which they had died. For if it were not in the very same bodies, then those same individuals who had died did not rise again.

THE SCRIPTURE SAYS: “The Lord took the hand of the dead man and said to him, Young man, I say to you, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother.” Again, He called Lazarus with a loud voice, saying, “Lazarus, come forth;” and the one who was dead came forth, bound with bandages, feet and hands.” This symbolized a man who had been bound in sins.

And therefore, the Lord said, “Loose him, and let him go.” Just as those who were healed were made whole in the very parts that had previously been afflicted, and the dead rose in the same bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health and life granted by the Lord—who demonstrates eternal things through temporary ones, and shows that He alone can extend both healing and life to His creation, so that His words about its future resurrection may also be believed—so at the end, when the Lord speaks with “the last trumpet,” the dead shall be raised, as He declares: “The hour will come in which all the dead in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man, and will come forth; those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

VAIN AND TRULY MISERABLE ARE THOSE WHO CHOOSE NOT TO SEE WHAT IS SO OBVIOUS AND CLEAR: but avoid the light of truth, blinding themselves like the tragic Œdipus. Like those unskilled in wrestling, when they compete with others, holding on tightly to some part of their opponent's body, they actually fall because of what they grasp. Yet when they fall, they imagine they are victorious, simply because they stubbornly kept their grip on the part they grabbed at first, and besides falling, they become subjects of ridicule. This is similar to the heretics’ favorite saying: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." By taking two expressions of Paul's without understanding the apostle's meaning or critically examining the force of the terms, they cling to the mere expressions themselves and, as a result of their influence, bring about their own downfall, undermining the entire dispensation of God as much as they can.

3. They will claim that this passage refers strictly to the flesh itself, not to fleshly works, as I have indicated, thus suggesting that the apostle is contradicting himself. For immediately afterward, in the same Epistle, he decisively states regarding the flesh: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this mortal has put on immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O death, where is your victory?” These words will be appropriately said at the time when this mortal and corruptible flesh, which is subject to death and is oppressed by a certain dominion of death, rising up into life, will put on incorruption and immortality.

FOR THEN: indeed, death will truly be vanquished when that flesh, which is held down by it, emerges from under its dominion. And again, to the Philippians he says: “But our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, just as He is able according to the working of His own power.” What, then, is this “body of humiliation” that the Lord will transform to conform to “the body of His glory?” Clearly, it is this body made of flesh, which is indeed humbled when it falls into the earth.

Its transformation occurs in such a way that, while it is mortal and corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible, not due to its own inherent nature but through the mighty working of the Lord, who can bestow immortality on the mortal and incorruption on the corruptible.

Therefore, he says, “that mortality may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the guarantee of the Spirit.” He uses these words clearly in reference to the flesh; for the soul is not mortal, nor is the spirit.

What is mortal will be swallowed up by life when the flesh is dead no longer, but remains living and incorruptible, praising God, who has prepared us for this very thing.

Therefore, so that we may be prepared for this, he appropriately says to the Corinthians, “Glorify God in your body.” Now God is the one who brings about immortality.

HE STATES CLEARLY AND WITHOUT ANY DOUBT TO THE CORINTHIANS THAT HE IS REFERRING TO THE BODY OF FLESH AND NOTHING ELSE: "Always carrying in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be shown in our body. For we who live are continually given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh." He mentions that the Spirit engages with the flesh in the same Epistle, "You are the letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts." If, then, fleshly hearts can partake of the Spirit now, it is not surprising that they will receive life from the Spirit in the resurrection.

The apostle talks about this resurrection in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Being conformed to His death, if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." In what other mortal flesh can life be shown if not in the same flesh that is put to death because of the confession of God? As he himself says, "If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human reasons, what benefit is it to me if the dead are not raised? If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. We are also false witnesses about God, because we've testified that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if the dead are not raised. If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.

But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain, and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are to be pitied more than all people.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep; for as death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man."

IN ALL THESE PASSAGES: therefore, as I have already said, these people must either claim that the apostle expresses opinions that contradict himself regarding the statement, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” or, on the other hand, they will be forced to make distorted and twisted interpretations of all the passages, so as to overturn and change the meaning of the words. For what sensible thing can they say if they try to interpret otherwise what he writes: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality;” and, “That the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh;” and all the other passages in which the apostle clearly and plainly declares the resurrection and incorruption of the flesh? And thus they will be compelled to put a false interpretation on passages like these, those who do not choose to understand one correctly.