Chapter XXII.

Let no one, however, suspect that, in speaking as we do, we belong to those who are indeed called Christians, but who set aside the doctrine of the resurrection as it is taught in Scripture.  For these persons cannot, so far as their principles apply, at all establish that the stalk or tree which springs up comes from the grain of wheat, or anything else (which was cast into the ground); whereas we, who believe that that which is “sown” is not “quickened” unless it die, and that there is sown not that body that shall be (for God gives it a body as it pleases Him, raising it in incorruption after it is sown in corruption; and after it is sown in dishonour, raising it in glory; and after it is sown in weakness, raising it in power; and after it is sown a natural body, raising it a spiritual),—we preserve both the doctrine1085    βούλημα. of the Church of Christ and the grandeur of the divine promise, proving also the possibility of its accomplishment not by mere assertion, but by arguments; knowing that although heaven and earth, and the things that are in them, may pass away, yet His words regarding each individual thing, being, as parts of a whole, or species of a genus, the utterances of Him who was God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, shall by no means pass away.  For we desire to listen to Him who said:  “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”1086    Cf. Matt. xxiv. 35; cf. Mark xiii. 31.

Μὴ ὑπονοείτω δέ τις ἡμᾶς ταῦτα λέγοντας ἀπ' ἐκείνων εἶναι τῶν λεγομένων μὲν Χριστιανῶν ἀθετούντων δὲ τὸ περὶ ἀναστάσεως κατὰ τὰς γραφὰς δόγμα. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τὸν οἱονεὶ ἀπὸ κόκκου "σίτου ἤ τινος τῶν λοιπῶν" ἀνιστάμενον στάχυν ἢ δένδρον οὐδαμῶς παραστῆσαι ἔχουσιν, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ἀρέσκοντι ἑαυτῶν· ἡμεῖς δὲ πειθόμενοι ὅτι τὸ σπειρό μενον "οὐ ζωοποιεῖται, ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ", καὶ ὅτι "οὐ τὸ γενησόμενον σῶμα" σπείρεται–ὁ γὰρ "θεὸς αὐτῷ δίδωσι σῶμα, καθὼς ἠθέλησε", μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι "ἐν φθορᾷ" ἐγείρων αὐτὸ "ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ" καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι "ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ" ἐγείρων αὐτὸ "ἐν δόξῃ" καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι "ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ" ἐγείρων αὐτὸ "ἐν δυνάμει" καὶ μετὰ τὸ σπαρῆναι "σῶμα ψυχικὸν" ἐγείρων αὐτὸ "πνευματικόν"–, τηροῦμεν καὶ τὸ βούλημα τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ θεοῦ, παριστάντες αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν οὐκ ἀποφάσει ἀλλὰ καὶ λόγῳ· εἰδότες ὅτι κἂν "οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ" παρέλθῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλ' οἱ περὶ ἑκάστου "λόγοι" ὄντες ὡς ἐν ὅλῳ μέρη ἢ ὡς ἐν γένει εἴδη τοῦ "ἐν ἀρχῇ" λόγου "πρὸς τὸν θεὸν" θεοῦ λόγου οὐδαμῶς παρελεύσονται. Θέλομεν γὰρ ἀκούειν τοῦ εἰπόντος· "Ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσιν."