Chapter III.—If the members rise, must they discharge the same functions as now?

They say, then, if the body shall rise entire, and in possession of all its members, it necessarily follows that the functions of the members shall also be in existence; that the womb shall become pregnant, and the male also discharge his function of generation, and the rest of the members in like manner. Now let this argument stand or fall by this one assertion. For this being proved false, their whole objection will be removed. Now it is indeed evident that the members which discharge functions discharge those functions which in the present life we see, but it does not follow that they necessarily discharge the same functions from the beginning. And that this may be more clearly seen, let us consider it thus. The function of the womb is to become pregnant; and of the member of the male to impregnate. But as, though these members are destined to discharge such functions, it is not therefore necessary that they from the beginning discharge them (since we see many women who do not become pregnant, as those that are barren, even though they have wombs), so pregnancy is not the immediate and necessary consequence of having a womb; but those even who are not barren abstain from sexual intercourse, some being virgins from the first, and others from a certain time. And we see men also keeping themselves virgins, some from the first, and some from a certain time; so that by their means, marriage, made lawless through lust, is destroyed.2    That is to say, their lives are a protest against entering into marriage for any other purpose than that of begetting children. And we find that some even of the lower animals, though possessed of wombs, do not bear, such as the mule; and the male mules do not beget their kind. So that both in the case of men and the irrational animals we can see sexual intercourse abolished; and this, too, before the future world. And our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, for no other reason than that He might destroy the begetting by lawless desire, and might show to the ruler3    i.e., to the devil. [St. John xii. 31, John xiv. 30, John xvi. 11.] that the formation of man was possible to God without human intervention. And when He had been born, and had submitted to the other conditions of the flesh,—I mean food, drink, and clothing,—this one condition only of discharging the sexual function He did not submit to; for, regarding the desires of the flesh, He accepted some as necessary, while others, which were unnecessary, He did not submit to. For if the flesh were deprived of food, drink, and clothing, it would be destroyed; but being deprived of lawless desire, it suffers no harm. And at the same time He foretold that, in the future world, sexual intercourse should be done away with; as He says, “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but the children of the world to come neither marry nor are given in marriage, but shall be like the angels in heaven.”4    Luke xx. 34, 35. Let not, then, those that are unbelieving marvel, if in the world to come He do away with those acts of our fleshly members which even in this present life are abolished.

Φασὶ τοίνυν: Εἰ ὁλόκληρον ἀναστήσεται τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὰ μόρια αὐτοῦ πάντα ἕξει, ἀνάγκη δὲ καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν μορίων ὑπάρξαι: μήτραν μὲν κυΐσκειν, σπερματίζειν δὲ μόριον ἀνδρός, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ ὁμοίως. Ἔστω δὲ ἐφ' ἑνὸς πᾶς λόγος ἱστάμενος. Τούτου γὰρ ἀποδεικνυμένου ψευδοῦς οἰχήσεται πᾶς ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν. Τὸ μὲν οὖν τὰ μόρια ἐνεργοῦντα ταῦτα ἐνεργεῖν ἅπερ ἐνταῦθα φαίνεται δῆλον, τὸ δὲ κατ' ἀνάγκην αὐτὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐνεργεῖν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον. Ἵνα δὲ σαφὲς ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον, οὕτω σκοπήσομεν. Μήτρας ἐστὶν ἐνέργεια τὸ κυΐσκειν καὶ μορίου ἀνδρικοῦ τὸ σπερμαίνειν. Ὥσπερ δέ, εἰ ταῦτα μέλλει ἐνεργεῖν ταύτας τὰς ἐνεργείας, οὕτως οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον αὐτοῖς ἐστι τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐνεργεῖν (ὁρῶμεν γοῦν πολλὰς γυναῖκας μὴ κυϊσκούσας, ὡς τὰς στείρας, καὶ μήτρας ἐχούσας), οὕτως οὐκ εὐθέως καὶ τὸ μήτραν ἔχειν καὶ κυΐσκειν ἀναγκάζει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ μὴ στεῖραι μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, παρθενεύουσαι δέ, κατήργησαν καὶ τὴν συνουσίαν: ἕτεραι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ χρόνου. Καὶ τοὺς ἄρσενας δὲ τοὺς μὲν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς παρθενεύοντας ὁρῶμεν, τοὺς δὲ ἀπὸ χρόνου, ὥστε δι' αὐτῶν καταλύεσθαι τὸν δι' ἐπιθυμίας ἄνομον γάμον. Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ζῶά τινα εὑρίσκομεν ἄτοκα, καίτοι μήτρας ἔχοντα, ὡς καὶ ἡμίονον, καὶ οἱ ἄρσενες δὲ οὐ γεννῶσιν ἡμίονοι: ὥστε καὶ διὰ ἀνθρώπων καὶ διὰ ἀλόγων καταργουμένην τὴν συνουσίαν καὶ πρὶν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος ὁρᾶσθαι. Καὶ ὁ κύριος δὲ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς οὐ δι' ἄλλο τι ἐκ παρθένου ἐγεννήθη, ἀλλ' ἵνα καταργήσῃ γέννησιν ἐπιθυμίας ἀνόμου καὶ δείξῃ τῷ ἄρχοντι καὶ δίχα συνουσίας ἀνθρωπίνης δυνατὴν εἶναι τῷ θεῷ τὴν ἀνθρώπου πλάσιν. Καὶ γεννηθεὶς δὲ καὶ πολιτευσάμενος τὴν λοιπὴν τῆς σαρκὸς πολιτείαν, λέγω δὴ ἐν τροφαῖς καὶ ποτοῖς καὶ ἐνδύμασι, ταύτην δὲ τὴν διὰ συνουσίας μόνον οὐκ εἰργάσατο, ἀλλὰ τὰς τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπιθυμίας ἃς μὲν ἀναγκαίας ὑπάρχειν κατεδέξατο, ἃς δὲ μὴ ἀναγκαίας οὐ προσήκατο. Τροφῆς μὲν γὰρ καὶ ποτοῦ καὶ ἐνδύματος ὑστερουμένη σὰρξ καὶ διαφθαρείη ἄν, συνουσίας δὲ στερουμένη ἀνόμου οὐδὲν ὅ τι πάσχει κακόν. Ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν καταργεῖσθαι διὰ συνουσίας μῖξιν ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι προεμήνυσεν, ὥς φησιν: Οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου γαμοῦσι καὶ γαμίσκονται, οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίσκονται, ἀλλ' ἔσονται ὡς ἄγγελοι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. Μὴ θαυμαζέτωσαν οὖν οἱ τῆς πίστεως ἐκτός, εἰ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καταργουμένην ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τούτοις σάρκα καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι καταργήσει.