Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus

We have thus come to believe that our bodies also rise again. For although they undergo decay, they do not perish completely; the earth receives the remains and preserves them like fertile seeds mixed with more fertile ground. Just as a bare grain is sown and, by God's command, germinates and rises again, clothed and glorious, but only after it has died, decayed, and mixed with the earth; in the same way, we have not held a futile belief in the resurrection of the body. Although it dissolves at the appointed time due to the original disobedience, it is placed into the earth to be remade; not as this corruptible body, but pure and no longer subject to decay. Each body will have its own soul restored to it, and when clothed with it, the body will not experience sorrow, but will rejoice, remaining forever in a state of purity, with a just and faithful companion. It will possess in every respect what pertains to it with complete accuracy; it will not receive bodies different from what they were, nor be relieved from suffering or disease, nor made glorious, but as they left this life, in sins or righteous deeds: as they were, so they will be clothed when life resumes; and as they were in unbelief, so they will be faithfully judged.