Chapter II.—Objections to the resurrection of the flesh.

They who maintain the wrong opinion say that there is no resurrection of the flesh; giving as their reason that it is impossible that what is corrupted and dissolved should be restored to the same as it had been. And besides the impossibility, they say that the salvation of the flesh is disadvantageous; and they abuse the flesh, adducing its infirmities, and declare that it only is the cause of our sins, so that if the flesh, say they, rise again, our infirmities also rise with it. And such sophistical reasons as the following they elaborate: If the flesh rise again, it must rise either entire and possessed of all its parts, or imperfect. But its rising imperfect argues a want of power on God’s part, if some parts could be saved, and others not; but if all the parts are saved, then the body will manifestly have all its members. But is it not absurd to say that these members will exist after the resurrection from the dead, since the Saviour said, “They neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but shall be as the angels in heaven?”1    Mark xii. 25. And the angels, say they, have neither flesh, nor do they eat, nor have sexual intercourse; therefore there shall be no resurrection of the flesh. By these and such like arguments, they attempt to distract men from the faith. And there are some who maintain that even Jesus Himself appeared only as spiritual, and not in flesh, but presented merely the appearance of flesh: these persons seek to rob the flesh of the promise. First, then, let us solve those things which seem to them to be insoluble; then we will introduce in an orderly manner the demonstration concerning the flesh, proving that it partakes of salvation.

Φασὶν οἱ χείρονα λέγοντες οὐκ εἶναι τῆς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασιν. Ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἶναι τὴν φθειρομένην καὶ διαλυομένην ταύτην συναχθῆναι εἰς τὸ αὐτό. Πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἀδύνατον καὶ ἀσύμφορόν φασιν ὑπάρχειν τὴν ταύτης σωτηρίαν, καὶ κακίζουσιν αὐτὴν τὰ ἐλαττώματα προφέροντες, καὶ αὐτὴν μόνην τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αἰτίαν ἀποφαίνονται, ὥστε, εἰ μέλλει, φασί, σὰρξ ἀνίστασθαι, καὶ τὰ ἐλαττώματα συναναστήσεται. Καὶ σοφίσματα πλέκουσι τοιαῦτα: Εἰ ἡ σὰρξ ἀνίσταται, ἤτοι ὁλόκληρος ἀναστήσεται καὶ πάντα τὰ μόρια ἔχουσα ἢ ἀτελής. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἐλλειπῆ μέλλειν αὐτὴν ἀνίστασθαι ἀδυναμίαν ἐμφαίνει τοῦ ἀνιστῶντος, εἰ τὰ μὲν ἠδυνήθη σῶσαι, τὰ δὲ οὔ. Εἰ δὲ πάντα τὰ μέρη καὶ τὰ μόρια ἕξει, δῆλον ὅτι ταῦτα λέγειν ὑπάρχειν μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν πῶς οὐκ ἄτοπον, τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρηκότος: Οὔτε γαμοῦσιν οὔτε γαμίσκονται, ἀλλ' ἔσονται ὡς ἄγγελοι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ; Οἱ δὲ ἄγγελοι, φασίν, οὔτε σάρκα ἔχουσιν οὔτε ἐσθίουσιν οὔτε συνουσιάζουσιν: ὥστε οὐδὲ σαρκικὴ ἀνάστασις γενήσεται. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια λέγοντες πειρῶνται διαστρέφειν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως. Εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ λέγουσι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Ἰησοῦν πνευματικὸν μόνον παρεῖναι, μηκέτι ἐν σαρκί, φαντασίαν δὲ σαρκὸς παρεσχηκέναι, πειρώμενοι καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀποστερεῖν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὴν σάρκα. Πρῶτον μὲν τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν δοκοῦντα ἄπορα φαίνεσθαι λύσομεν: εἶθ' οὕτως ἑξῆς ἐπάξομεν τὸν ἀποδεικνύντα λόγον περὶ τῆς σαρκὸς ὡς ἔχει σωτηρίαν.