Chapter 3.—The One Death and Resurrection of The Body of Christ Harmonizes with Our Double Death and Resurrection of Body and Soul, to the Effect of Salvation. In What Way the Single Death of Christ is Bestowed Upon Our Double Death.

5. But for our present need we must discuss, so far as God gives us power, in what manner the single of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ answers to, and is, so to say, in harmony with our double to the effect of salvation. We certainly, as no Christian doubts, are dead both in soul and body: in soul, because of sin; in body, because of the punishment of sin, and through this also in body because of sin. And to both these parts of ourselves, that is, both to soul and to body, there was need both of a medicine and of resurrection, that what had been changed for the worse might be renewed for the better. Now the death of the soul is ungodliness, and the death of the body is corruptibility, through which comes also a departure of the soul from the body. For as the soul dies when God leaves it, so the body dies when the soul leaves it; whereby the former becomes foolish, the latter lifeless. For the soul is raised up again by repentance, and the renewing of life is begun in the body still mortal by faith, by which men believe on Him who justifies the ungodly;443    Rom. iv. 5    Habitus and it is increased and strengthened by good habits from day to day, as the inner man is renewed more and more.444    2 Cor. iv. 16 But the body, being as it were the outward man, the longer this life lasts is so much the more corrupted, either by age or by disease, or by various afflictions, until it come to that last affliction which all call death. And its resurrection is delayed until the end; when also our justification itself shall be perfected ineffably. For then we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.445    1 John iii. 1 But now, so long as the corruptible body presseth down the soul,446    Wisd. ix. 15 and human life upon earth is all temptation,447    Job. vii. 1 in His sight shall no man living be justified,448    Ps. cxliii. 2 in comparison of the righteousness in which we shall be made equal with the angels, and of the glory which shall be revealed in us. But why mention more proofs respecting the difference between the death of the soul and the death of the body, when the Lord in one sentence of the Gospel has made either death easily distinguishable by any one from the other, where He says, “Let the dead bury their dead”?449    Matt. viii. 22 For burial was the fitting disposal of a dead body. But by those who were to bury it He meant those who were dead in soul by the impiety of unbelief, such, namely, as are awakened when it is said, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”450    Eph. v. 14 And there is a death which the apostle denounces, saying of the widow, “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.”451    1 Tim. v. 6 Therefore the soul, which was before ungodly and is now godly, is said to have come alive again from the dead and to live, on account of the righteousness of faith. But the body is not only said to be about to die, on account of that departure of the soul which will be; but on account of the great infirmity of flesh and blood it is even said to be now dead, in a certain place in the Scriptures, namely, where the apostle says, that “the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.”452    Rom. viii. 10 Now this life is wrought by faith, “since the just shall live by faith.”453    Rom. i. 17 But what follows? “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit which dwelleth in you.”454    Rom. viii. 10, 11

6. Therefore on this double death of ours our Saviour bestowed His own single death; and to cause both our resurrections, He appointed beforehand and set forth in mystery and type His own one resurrection. For He was not a sinner or ungodly, that, as though dead in spirit, He should need to be renewed in the inner man, and to be recalled as it were to the life of righteousness by repentance; but being clothed in mortal flesh, and in that alone dying, in that alone rising again, in that alone did He answer to both for us; since in it was wrought a mystery as regards the inner man, and a type as regards the outer. For it was in a mystery as regards our inner man, so as to signify the death of our soul, that those words were uttered, not only in the Psalm, but also on the cross: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”455    Ps. xxii. 1, and Matt. xxvii. 46 To which words the apostle agrees, saying, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin;” since by the crucifixion of the inner man are understood the pains of repentance, and a certain wholesome agony of self-control, by which death the death of ungodliness is destroyed, and in which death God has left us. And so the body of sin is destroyed through such a cross, that now we should not yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.456    Rom. vi. 6, 13 Because, if even the inner man certainly is renewed day by day,457    2 Cor. iv. 16 yet undoubtedly it is old before it is renewed. For that is done inwardly of which the same apostle speaks: “Put off the old man, and put on the new;” which he goes on to explain by saying, “Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth.”458    Eph. iv. 22–25 But where is lying put away, unless inwardly, that he who speaketh the truth from his heart may inhabit the holy hill of God?459    Ps. xv. 1, 3 But the resurrection of the body of the Lord is shown to belong to the mystery of our own inner resurrection, where, after He had risen, He says to the woman, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father;”460    John xx. 17 with which mystery the apostle’s words agree, where he says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God; set your thoughts461    Sapite on things above.”462    Col. iii. 1, 2 For not to touch Christ, unless when He had ascended to the Father, means not to have thoughts463    Sapere of Christ after a fleshly manner. Again, the death of the flesh of our Lord contains a type of the death of our outer man, since it is by such suffering most of all that He exhorts His servants that they should not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.464    Matt. x. 28 Wherefore the apostle says, “That I may fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.”465    Col. i. 24 And the resurrection of the body of the Lord is found to contain a type of the resurrection of our outward man, because He says to His disciples, “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”466    Luke xxiv. 39 And one of the disciples also, handling His scars, exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”467    John xx. 28 And whereas the entire integrity of that flesh was apparent, this was shown in that which He had said when exhorting His disciples: “There shall not a hair of your head perish.”468    Luke xxi. 18 For how comes it that first is said, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father;”469    John xx. 17 and how comes it that before He ascends to the Father, He actually is touched by the disciples: unless because in the former the mystery of the inner man was intimated, in the latter a type was given of the outer man? Or can any one possibly be so without understanding, and so turned away from the truth, as to dare to say that He was touched by men before He ascended, but by women when He had ascended? It was on account of this type, which went before in the Lord, of our future resurrection in the body, that the apostle says, “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s.”470    1 Cor. xv. 23 For it was the resurrection of the body to which this place refers, on account of which he also says, “Who has changed our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.”471    Phil. iii. 21 The one death therefore of our Saviour brought salvation to our double death, and His one resurrection wrought for us two resurrections; since His body in both cases, that is, both in His death and in His resurrection, was ministered to us by a kind of healing suitableness, both as a mystery of the inner man, and as a type of the outer.

CAPUT III.

5. Una mors et resurrectio corporis Christi, duplici nostrae morti ac resurrectioni corporis et animae concinit ad salutem. Duplae morti nostrae quomodo simpla mors Christi impensa. Verum quod instat in praesentia , quantum donat Deus, edisserendum est quemadmodum simplum Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi duplo nostro congruat, et quodam 0890 modo concinat ad salutem. Nos certe, quod nemo christianus ambigit, et anima et corpore mortui sumus: anima, propter peccatum; corpore, propter poenam peccati, ac per hoc et corpore propter peccatum. Utrique autem rei nostrae, id est, et animae et corpori, medicina et resurrectione opus erat, ut in melius renovaretur quod erat in deterius commutatum. Mors autem animae impietas est; et mors corporis, corruptibilitas, per quam fit et animae a corpore abscessus. Sicut enim anima Deo deserente, sic corpus anima deserente moritur: unde illa fit insipiens; hoc, exanime. Resuscitatur enim anima per poenitentiam, et in corpore adhuc mortali renovatio vitae inchoatur a fide; qua creditur in cum qui justificat impium (Rom. IV, 5), bonisque moribus augetur et roboratur de die in diem, cum magis magisque renovatur interior homo (II Cor. IV, 16). Corpus vero tanquam homo exterior, quanto est haec vita diuturnior, tanto magis magisque corrumpitur, vel aetate, vel morbo, vel variis afflictionibus, donec veniat ad ultimam quae ab omnibus mors vocatur. Ejus autem resurrectio differtur in finem; cum et ipsa justificatio nostra perficietur ineffabiliter. Tunc enim similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus cum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Nunc vero quamdiu corpus quod corrumpitur aggravat animam (Sap. IX, 15), et vita humana super terram tota tentatio est (Job VII, 1), non justificabitur in conspectu ejus omnis vivens (Psal. CXLII, 2), in comparatione justitiae qua aequabimur Angelis, et gloriae quae revelabitur in nobis. De morte autem animae a morte corporis distinguenda, quid plura documenta commemorem; cum Dominus in una sententia evangelica utramque mortem cuivis facile discernendam posuerit, ubi ait: Sine mortuos sepelire mortuos suos (Matth. VIII, 22)? Sepeliendum quippe corpus mortuum erat: sepultores autem ejus per infidelitatis impietatem in anima mortuos intelligi voluit, quales excitantur cum dicitur, Surge, qui dormis, et exsurge a mortuis, et illuminabit te Christus (Ephes. V, 14). Detestatur autem quamdam mortem Apostolus, dicens de vidua: Quae autem in deliciis agit, vivens mortua est (I Tim. V, 6). Anima igitur jam pia, quae fuit impia, propter justitiam fidei dicitur ex morte revixisse atque vivere. Corpus autem non tantum moriturum propter animae abscessum qui futurus est, sed propter tantam infirmitatem carnis et sanguinis, quodam in loco in Scripturis etiam mortuum dicitur, loquente Apostolo: Corpus quidem, inquit mortuum est propter peccatum, spiritus autem vita est propter justitiam. Haec vita ex fide facta est; quoniam justus ex fide vivit (Rom. I, 17). Sed quid sequitur? Si autem Spiritus ejus qui suscitavit Jesum 0891 a mortuis, habitat in vobis; qui suscitavit Christum Jesum o mortuis, vivificabit et mortalia corpora vestra per inhabitantem Spiritum ejus in vobis (Rom. VIII, 10, 11).

6. Huic ergo duplae morti nostrae Salvator noster impendit simplam suam: et ad faciendam utramque resuscitationem nostram, in sacramento et exemplo praeposuit et proposuit unam suam. Neque enim fuit peccator aut impius, ut ei tanquam spiritu mortuo in interiore homine renovari opus esset, et tanquam resipiscendo ad vitam justitiae revocari: sed indutus carne mortali, et sola moriens, sola resurgens, ea sola nobis ad utrumque concinuit, cum in ea fieret interioris hominis sacramentum, exterioris exemplum. Interioris enim hominis nostri sacramento data est illa vox, pertinens ad mortem animae nostrae significandam, non solum in Psalmo, verum etiam in cruce: Deus meus, Deus meus, utquid me dereliquisti (Psal. XXI, 1, et Matth. XXVII, 46)? Cui voci congruit Apostolus dicens: Scientes quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est, ut evacuetur corpus peccati, ut ultra non serviamus peccato. Crucifixio quippe interioris hominis poenitentiae dolores intelliguntur, et continentiae quidam salubris cruciatus, per quam mortem mors impietatis perimitur, in qua nos reliquit Deus . Et ideo per talem crucem evacuatur corpus peccati, ut jam non exhibeamus membra nostra arma iniquitatis peccato (Rom. VI, 6, 13). Quia et interior homo si utique renovatur de die in diem (II Cor. IV, 16), profecto vetus est antequam renovetur. Intus namque agitur quod idem apostolus dicit: Exuite vos veterem hominem, et induite novum. Quod ita consequenter exponit: Quapropter deponentes mendacium, loquimini veritatem (Ephes. IV, 22-25). Ubi autem deponitur mendacium, nisi intus, ut inhabitet in monte sancto Dei qui loquitur veritatem in corde suo (Psal. XIV, 1, 3)? Resurrectio vero corporis Domini ad sacramentum interioris resurrectionis nostrae pertinere ostenditur, ubi postquam resurrexit, ait mulieri: Noli me tangere; nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem meum (Joan. XX, 17). Cui mysterio congruit Apostolus dicens: Si autem consurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est ad dexteram Dei sedens; quae sursum sunt, sapite (Coloss. III, 1, 2). Hoc est enim Christum non tangere, nisi cum ascenderit ad Patrem, non de Christo sapere carnaliter. Jam vero ad exemplum mortis exterioris hominis nostri Dominicae carnis mors pertinet, quia per talem passionem maxime hortatus est servos suos, ut non timeant eos qui corpus occidunt, animam autem non possunt occidere (Matth. X, 28). Propter quod dicit Apostolus: Ut suppleam quae desunt pressurarum Christi in carne mea (Coloss. I, 24). Et ad exemplum resurrectionis exterioris hominis nostri pertinere invenitur resurrectio corporis Domini, quia discipulis ait: Palpate, et videte, quia spiritus carnem et ossa 0892 non habet, sicut me videtis habere (Luc. XXIV, 39). Et unus ex discipulis etiam cicatrices ejus contrectans, exclamavit dicens, Dominus meus, et Deus meus (Joan. XX, 28)! Et cum illius carnis tota integritas appareret, demonstratum est in ea quod suos exhortans dixerat: Capillus capitis vestri non peribit (Luc. XXI, 18). Unde enim primo, Noli me tangere, nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem meum; et unde antequam ascendat ad Patrem a discipulis tangitur, nisi quia illic insinuabatur interioris hominis sacramentum, hic praebebatur exterioris exemplum? An forte quisquam ita est absurdus atque aversus a vero, ut audeat dicere a viris eum tactum antequam ascenderet; a mulieribus autem, cum ascendisset? Propter hoc exemplum futurae nostrae resurrectionis in corpore, quod praecessit in Domino, dicit Apostolus: Initium Christus, deinde qui sunt Christi (I Cor. XV, 23). De corporis enim resurrectione illo loco agebatur, propter quam etiam dicit: Transfiguravit corpus humilitatis nostrae conforme corpori gloriae suae (Philipp. III, 21). Una ergo mors nostri Salvatoris duabus mortibus nostris saluti fuit. Et una ejus resurrectio duas nobis resurrectiones praestitit, cum corpus ejus in utraque re, id est, et in morte et in resurrectione, et sacramento interioris hominis nostri, et exemplo exterioris, medicinali quadam convenientia ministratum est.