Chapter X.—The body saved, and will therefore rise.

The resurrection is a resurrection of the flesh which died. For the spirit dies not; the soul is in the body, and without a soul it cannot live. The body, when the soul forsakes it, is not. For the body is the house of the soul; and the soul the house of the spirit. These three, in all those who cherish a sincere hope and unquestioning faith in God, will be saved. Considering, therefore, even such arguments as are suited to this world, and finding that, even according to them, it is not impossible that the flesh be regenerated; and seeing that, besides all these proofs, the Saviour in the whole Gospel shows that there is salvation for the flesh, why do we any longer endure those unbelieving and dangerous arguments, and fail to see that we are retrograding when we listen to such an argument as this: that the soul is immortal, but the body mortal, and incapable of being revived? For this we used to hear from Pythagoras and Plato, even before we learned the truth. If then the Saviour said this, and proclaimed salvation to the soul alone, what new thing, beyond what we heard from Pythagoras and Plato and all their band, did He bring us? But now He has come proclaiming the glad tidings of a new and strange hope to men. For indeed it was a strange and new thing for God to promise that He would not keep incorruption in incorruption, but would make corruption incorruption. But because the prince of wickedness could in no other way corrupt the truth, he sent forth his apostles (evil men who introduced pestilent doctrines), choosing them from among those who crucified our Saviour; and these men bore the name of the Saviour, but did the works of him that sent them, through whom the name itself has been spoken against. But if the flesh do not rise, why is it also guarded, and why do we not rather suffer it to indulge its desires? Why do we not imitate physicians, who, it is said, when they get a patient that is despaired of and incurable, allow him to indulge his desires? For they know that he is dying; and this indeed those who hate the flesh surely do, casting it out of its inheritance, so far as they can; for on this account they also despise it, because it is shortly to become a corpse. But if our physician Christ, God, having rescued us from our desires, regulates our flesh with His own wise and temperate rule, it is evident that He guards it from sins because it possesses a hope of salvation, as physicians do not suffer men whom they hope to save to indulge in what pleasures they please.22    [N.B.—These fragments are probably genuine.]

Ἀνάστασίς ἐστι τοῦ πεπτωκότος σαρκίου: πνεῦμα γὰρ οὐ πίπτει. Ψυχὴ ἐν σώματί ἐστιν, οὐ ζῇ δὲ ἄψυχον: σῶμα, ψυχῆς ἀπολειπούσης, οὐκ ἔστιν. Οἶκος γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ψυχῆς, πνεύματος δὲ ψυχὴ οἶκος. Τὰ τρία δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐλπίδα εἰλικρινῆ καὶ πίστιν ἀδιάκριτον ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἔχουσι σωθήσεται. Θεωροῦντες γοῦν καὶ τοὺς κοσμικοὺς λόγους, καὶ κατ' αὐτοὺς οὐχ εὑρίσκοντες ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν παλιγγενεσίαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι τὸν σωτῆρα διὰ παντὸς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου δεικνύντα τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν, τί λοιπὸν ἀνεχόμεθα τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ σκανδάλων λόγων, καὶ λανθάνομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιστρέφοντες εἰς τοὐπίσω, ὁπόταν ἀκούσωμεν ὅτι ἡ μὲν ψυχὴ ἀθάνατός ἐστι, τὸ δὲ σῶμα φθαρτὸν καὶ οὐκέτι δυνάμενον ἀναζῆσαι; Ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ μαθεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρὰ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Πλάτωνος ἠκούομεν. Εἰ οὖν ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ μόνης τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ζωὴν εὐηγγελίζετο, τί καινὸν ἡμῖν ἔφερε παρὰ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ τὸν τούτων χορόν; Νῦν δὲ τὴν καινὴν καὶ ξένην εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἦλθεν ἀνθρώποις ἐλπίδα. Ξένον δὲ ἄρα ἦν καὶ καινὸν τὸ τὸν θεὸν ὑπισχνεῖσθαι μὴ τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τηρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν φθορὰν ἀφθαρσίαν ποιεῖν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλως λυμαίνεσθαι τὸν λόγον δυνάμενος ὁ τῆς πονηρίας ἄρχων ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ, κακὰς καὶ λοιμώδεις διδασκαλίας εἰσάγοντας, ἐκλεξάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν σταυρωσάντων τὸν σωτῆρα ἡμῶν, οἵτινες τὸ μὲν ὄνομα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἔφερον, τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτοὺς ἐποίουν, δι' οὓς καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι ἠκολούθησεν ἡ βλασφημία. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀνίσταται ἡ σάρξ, διὰ τί καὶ φυλάσσεται καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον αὐτῇ συγχωροῦμεν χρήσασθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ οὐ μιμούμεθα τοὺς ἰατρούς, οἵτινες, ἐπειδὰν ἀπεγνωσμένον ἔχωσιν ἄνθρωπον σώζεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, ἐπιτρέπουσιν αὐτῷ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ὑπηρετεῖν; Ἴσασι γὰρ ὅτι ἀπόλλυται. Ὅπερ ἀμέλει ποιοῦσιν οἱ τὴν σάρκα μισοῦντες, ἐκβάλλοντες αὐτὴν τῆς κληρονομίας, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς: διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὡς νεκρὰν ἐσομένην ἀτιμάζουσιν αὐτήν. Εἰ δὲ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἰατρὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἡμῶν ἀποσπάσας, διαιτᾶται τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν σώφρονι καὶ ἐγκρατεῖ διαίτῃ τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν, δῆλον ὡς ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἔχουσαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτὴν φυλάσσει, καθάπερ τοὺς ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἔχοντας ἀνθρώπους οἱ ἰατροὶ οὐκ ἐῶσιν ὑπηρετεῖν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς.