it is possible to learn: for that for the sake of which the rest came into being, this is the most precious of all to the one who made it. Yes, they say; but the flesh is sinful, so that it even forces the soul to sin along with it, accusing it in vain and attributing the sins of both to it alone. For where will the flesh be able to sin by itself, unless it has the soul leading and summoning it? For just as when a yoke of oxen is released from one another, neither of the oxen can plow on its own, so neither can soul and body, released from their union, do anything by themselves. But if the flesh alone is sinful, for its sake alone the Savior came, as he says: I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Since, therefore, the flesh has been shown to be precious in God's sight and glorious beyond all created things, it will justly be saved by him. One must say, therefore, to those who say that, even if it happens to be a creation of God and most precious to him above all things, it does not immediately also have the promise of the resurrection. And yet how is it not absurd for the Maker to neglect that which came into being with so great a counsel and is precious beyond all other things, so that it should cease to be? Then the sculptor and the painter, if they wish the images they have made to endure, so that they may be glorified through them, they renew them when they are perishing; but would God have overlooked his own possession and creation, as though it were not, and no longer for it to exist? We call someone a laborer in vain, as if one having built a house then tears it down, or overlooks it when it has been torn down, being able to raise it up; and shall we not accuse God, because he acts in vain? But the incorruptible is not such a one, nor is the mind of the universe by nature foolish. Let the faithless hold their peace, if they themselves have unbelief! But indeed he has both called it to the resurrection and promises eternal life. For where he proclaims the good news of saving man, he also proclaims the good news to the flesh. For what is man, but a rational animal composed of soul and body? Is the soul by itself, then, a man? No; but the soul of a man. May the body, then, be called a man? No; but it is called the body of a man. If, therefore, on its own neither of these is a man, but that which is from the union of both is called a man, and God has called man to life and resurrection, he has not called the part but the whole, which is the soul and the body. Since how is it not absurd, when both are in the same condition and in the same place, to save the one, but not the other? For since it is not impossible, as has been shown, for the flesh to have regeneration, what is the distinction, that the soul should be saved, but the flesh not? Or do they make God envious? But he is good and wishes all to be saved; and indeed not only our soul with our flesh heard him and his preaching, and believed in Christ Jesus, but both were washed and both righteousness

μαθεῖν πάρεστιν· οὗ γὰρ ἕνεκεν γέγονε τὰ λοιπά, τοῦτο πάντων τῷ ποιήσαντι τιμιώτατον. Ναί, φασίν· ἀλλὰ ἁμαρ τωλὸς ἡ σάρξ, ὥστε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀναγκάζειν συναμαρτά νειν αὐτῇ, μάτην κατηγοροῦντες αὐτῆς καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων ἁμαρτήματα μόνῃ περιτιθέντες. Ποῦ γὰρ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἁμαρτῆσαι ἡ σὰρξ δυνήσεται, ἐὰν μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχῃ προ ηγουμένην καὶ προκαλουμένην αὐτήν; Ὥσπερ γὰρ ζεῦγος βοῶν λυθέντων ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τοῦ ζυγοῦ τῶν βοῶν οὐδέτερος αὐτῶν κατ' ἰδίαν ἀροῦν δύναται, οὕτως οὐδὲ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα λυθέντα τῆς συζυγίας καθ' ἑαυτὰ ποιῆσαί τι δύνανται. Eἰ δὲ καὶ ἡ σὰρξ μόνη ἁμαρτωλός, μόνης ταύτης ἕνεκεν ἦλθεν ὁ σωτήρ, καθώς φησιν· Oὐκ ἦλθον καλέσαι δικαίους ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν. Ἐπειδὴ οὖν τιμία παρὰ θεῷ καὶ ἔνδοξος παρὰ πάντα τὰ ποιήματα δέδεικται ἡ σάρξ, δικαίως ἂν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ σωθήσεται. Λεκτέον οὖν πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας ὅτι, εἰ καὶ τὰ μά λιστα τοῦ θεοῦ ποίημα τυγχάνει οὖσα καὶ τιμία αὐτῷ παρὰ πάντα, οὐκ εὐθέως καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἔχει. Καίτοι πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον τὸ μετὰ τηλικαύτης βουλῆς γενόμενον καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ λοιπὰ τίμιον περιορᾶν τὸν ποιήσαντα εἰς τὸ μηκέτι εἶναι; Eἶτα ὁ μὲν πλάστης καὶ ζωγράφος, εἰ τὰς εἰκόνας, ἃς ἂν ποιήσωσι, διαμένειν ἐθέλουσιν, ἵνα δι' αὐτῶν δοξάζωνται, φθειρομένας αὐτὰς ἀνακαινοποιοῦσιν· ὁ δὲ θεὸς τὸ αὐτοῦ κτῆμα καὶ πλάσμα περιεῖδεν ἂν ὡς τὸ μὴ ὄν, μη κέτι δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι; Ματαιοπόνον ἀποκαλοῦμεν, ὥσπερ εἴ τις οἰκίαν οἰκοδομήσας ἔπειτα καταλύοι, ἢ καταλελυμένην περιορῴη, δυνάμενος ἀναστῆσαι· τὸν δὲ θεὸν οὐκ αἰτια σόμεθα, ὅτι μάτην ποιεῖ; Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ ἄφθαρτος τοιοῦτος, οὐκ ἄφρων ὁ τῶν ὅλων πέφυκε νοῦς. Eὐφημείτωσαν οἱ ἄπι στοι, εἰ τὸ μὴ πιστεύειν ἔχουσιν αὐτοί! Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ κέ κληκεν αὐτὴν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ ἐπαγγέλλεται τὴν αἰω νίαν ζωήν. Ἔνθα γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εὐαγγελίζεται σῶσαι, καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ εὐαγγελίζεται. Τί γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ἢ τὸ ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος συνεστὸς ζῶον λογικόν; Μὴ οὖν καθ' ἑαυτὴν ψυχὴ ἄνθρωπος; Oὔκ· ἀλλ' ἀνθρώπου ψυχή. Μὴ οὖν καλοῖτο σῶμα ἄνθρωπος; Oὔκ· ἀλλ' ἀνθρώπου σῶμα καλεῖται. Eἴπερ οὖν κατ' ἰδίαν μὲν τούτων οὐδέτερον ἄνθρω πός ἐστι, τὸ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἀμφοτέρων συμπλοκῆς καλεῖται ἄν θρωπος, κέκληκε δὲ ὁ θεὸς εἰς ζωὴν καὶ ἀνάστασιν τὸν ἄν θρωπον, οὐ τὸ μέρος ἀλλὰ τὸ ὅλον κέκληκεν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα. Ἐπεὶ πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον, ἀμφοτέρων ὄντων κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ, τὸ μὲν σώζειν, τὸ δὲ μή; Oὐκ ὄντος γὰρ ἀδυνάτου, καθάπερ δέδεικται, τὴν σάρκα ἔχειν τὴν παλιγγενεσίαν, τίς ἡ διάκρισις, ὥστε τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν σώζεσθαι, τὴν δὲ σάρκα μή; Ἢ φθονερὸν ποιοῦσι τὸν θεόν; Ἀλλὰ ἀγαθός ἐστι καὶ σώζεσθαι πάντας θέλει· καὶ δὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ τοῦ κηρύγματος αὐτοῦ οὐχὶ μόνον ἤκουσεν ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ ἡ σάρξ, καὶ ἐπίστευσαν εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰη σοῦν, ἀλλ' ἀμφότερα ἐλούσαντο καὶ ἀμφότερα τὴν δικαιοσύνην