distributor of good things; He himself will transform the creation, and renew the universe, and will deliver it "from bondage into "the freedom of the glory of the children of God." And if these things are true, how should not in every way and altogether the one for whom creation exists, I mean, man, be renewed with creation? He too must be seen as new, not tyrannized by the first corruption, not overcome by carnal pleasures into sins, but rather raised in incorruption and in strength and in honor and clothed in a certain divine glory. For somewhere the divine Isaiah also said "And your righteousness shall go before you, "and the glory of God shall clothe you;" and indeed our Lord Jesus himself also affirmed, clearly, that at the time of the consummation of this age the dead will rise again, "but those who have understanding shall shine forth as "the brightness of the firmament." However, the grace of such honor and glory will not be offered to all indiscriminately; but it would befit rather those chosen and set apart from the others, who also have become conformed "to the image of his Son;" For admittedly the bodies of all will be resurrected, clothed with the grace of incorruption, but not all will be changed; but the wicked will remain in the form of dishonor only for the purpose of being punished, while the just alone will be changed, in addition to the good of incorruption, and having been enriched with the clothing of divine glory. He himself therefore by his own power and divine energy "will transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed "to the body of his glory." And what is the body of our lowliness? This body from the earth, the one disfigured by death from that ancient curse, which Christ has loosed, 317 "having become a curse for us;" but the transformation will not be one that removes us to some other nature, for we shall be what we are, that is, human beings, yet incomparably better; for incorruptible and indestructible, and in addition to this, glorified. And what would the last trumpet which raises the dead mean? The divine Paul himself will clarify for us, saying, "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a command, with the voice "of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God;" and the dead will be raised incorruptible. Therefore he compares the voice of the archangel to a trumpet, and that divine and most awesome command. And if it is the archangel who cries out and gives the signal of the resurrection to those lying in the earth, still it will be the voice of Christ; for it is he himself who by his own power raises the dead, and not at all the voice of the archangel; for every rational creature is subject to the master's commands; What resurrection, then, will there be at all in truth, if we do not say that the very thing disfigured by death will be raised? Or in what way shall we say, practically dancing over corruption, Death is swallowed up in victory, and what follows? O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? It should be known that the blessed Paul made the quotation of the aforementioned text according to the Hebrew edition; but the Septuagint does not have it thus; for it is written in the prophets "Where is your judgment, O death? Where is your sting, O grave?"

But he says the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; for he strikes like a scorpion, 318 the one who has the sting of death, that is, Satan. And he strikes in no other way except through sin; but the Savior has given us "to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all "the power of the enemy." For the sting of death has been made to disappear, since sin has been taken away and no longer has the law as its power; for the law condemns those who sin; therefore the divine Paul says that the law is the power of sin; and this too has been loosed in Christ; for sin shall not have dominion over us, because we are not under law, but under grace;

διανομεὺς ἀγαθῶν· αὐτὸς μεταστοιχειώσει τὴν κτίσιν, καὶ καινουργήσει τὸ σύμπαν, καὶ ἀπαλλάξει "δουλείας εἰς "τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ." καὶ εἰ ταῦτα ἀληθῆ, πῶς οὐκ ἔδει πάντη τε καὶ πάντως συνκαινουργεῖσθαι τῇ κτίσει τὸν δι' ὃν ἡ κτίσις, φημὶ δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον; ἔδει καὶ αὐτὸν ὁρᾶσθαι καινὸν, οὐ φθορᾷ τῇ πρώτῃ τυραννούμενον, οὐ σαρκικαῖς ἡδοναῖς εἰς ἁμαρτίας πλεονεκτούμενον, ἐγηγερμένον δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τε καὶ ἐν εὐσθενείᾳ καὶ ἐν τιμῇ καὶ θείᾳ τινι δόξῃ περιεσταλμένον. ἔφη γάρ που καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἡσαΐας "Καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου "ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε·" καὶ μὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς διεβεβαιοῦτο· σαφῶς, ὡς ἐν καιρῷ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἀναβιώσονται μὲν οἱ νεκροὶ, "οἱ γεμὴν συνιέντες ἐκλάμψουσιν ὡς "ἡ λαμπρότης τοῦ στερεώματος." πλὴν οὐχ ἅπασιν ἀδιακρίτως ἡ τῆς τοιᾶσδε τιμῆς καὶ δόξης προκείσεται χάρις· πρέποι δ' ἂν μᾶλλον ἀπολέγδην τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἐξῃρημένοις, οἳ καὶ σύμμορφοι γεγόνασι "τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ·" ἀναβιώσονται μὲν γὰρ ὁμολογουμένως τὰ πάντων σώματα τῇ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας χάριτι κατημφιασμένα, ἀλλαχθήσονται δὲ οὐ πάντες· ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν φαῦλοι ἀπομενοῦσιν ἐν τῷ τῆς ἀτιμίας σχήματι ἐπὶ μόνῳ τῷ χρῆναι κολάζεσθαι, οἱ δέ γε δίκαιοι ἀλλαχθήσονται μόνοι πρὸς τῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀγαθῷ, καὶ τῆς θείας δόξης καταπλουτήσαντες τὴν περιστολήν. αὐτὸς τοιγαροῦν ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ θεοπρεπεῖ "μετα"σχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν σύμμορφον "τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ." ποῖον δὲ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν; τουτὶ τὸ ἐκ γῆς, τὸ τῷ θανάτῳ κατησχημένον ἐκ τῆς ἀρχαίας ἐκείνης ἀρᾶς, ἣν λέλυκεν ὁ Χριστὸς 317 "γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα·" ἔσται δὲ ὁ μετασχηματισμὸς οὐκ εἰς ἑτέραν τινὰ φύσιν ἀποκομίζων ἡμᾶς, ἐσόμεθα γὰρ ὅπερ ἐσμὲν, τουτέστιν ἄνθρωποι, πλὴν ἀμείνους ἀσυγκρίτως· ἄφθαρτοι γὰρ καὶ ἀνώλεθροι, καὶ πρός γε τούτῳ δεδοξασμένοι. τί δ' ἂν βούλοιτο δηλοῦν ἡ ἐσχάτη σάλπιγξ ἣ διανιστᾷ τοὺς νεκροὺς, αὐτὸς ἡμῖν σαφηνιεῖ λέγων ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος "Οτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι ἐν φωνῇ "ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ' οὐ"ρανοῦ·" καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐγερθήσονται ἄφθαρτοι. οὐκοῦν παρεικάζει σάλπιγγι τὴν τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνὴν, καὶ τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο καὶ φρικωδέστατον κέλευσμα. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ ἀρχάγγελός ἐστιν ὁ κεκραγὼς καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως σύνθημα διδοὺς τοῖς ἐν γῇ κειμένοις, ἀλλ' οὖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔσται φωνή· καὶ γάρ ἐστιν αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει διανιστὰς τοὺς νεκροὺς, καὶ οὐχί που πάντως ἡ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου φωνή· δεσποτικοῖς γὰρ προστάγμασι πᾶσα κτίσις ὑπέζευκται λογική· ποία τοίνυν ὅλως ἀνάστασις ἔσται κατὰ ἀλήθειαν, εἰ μὴ αὐτό φαμεν ἀναβιώσεσθαι τὸ τῷ θανάτῳ κατησχημένον; ἢ τίνα τρόπον ἐροῦμεν, μονονουχὶ κατορχούμενοι τῆς φθορᾶς Κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; Ποῦ σου θάνατε τὸ κέντρον; ποῦ σου ᾅδη τὸ νῖκος; Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ προκειμένου ῥητοῦ παράθεσιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος κατὰ τὴν ἑβραίων ἔκδοσιν ἐποιήσατο· ἔχει δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἡ τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα· γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν προφήταις "Ποῦ ἡ δίκη σου θάνατε; ποῦ τὸ κέντρον σου ᾅδη;"

Πλὴν τὸ κέντρον τοῦ θανάτου φησὶν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἡ δὲ δύναμις τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος· πλήττει μὲν γὰρ οἷά τις σκορπίος ὁ 318 τὸ κέντρον ἔχων τοῦ θανάτου, τουτέστιν ὁ σατανᾶς. πλήττει δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρως, πλὴν ὅτι διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἀλλ' ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ Σωτὴρ "ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων πατεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν "τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ." κατηφάνισται γὰρ τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κέντρον, ἐξῃρημένης τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ οὐκ ἔτι δύναμιν ἐχούσης τὸν νόμον· κατακρίνει γὰρ ὁ νόμος τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας· τοιγάρτοι φησὶν ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος δύναμιν εἶναι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὸν νόμον· λέλυται δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἐν Χριστῷ· ἁμαρτία γὰρ ἡμῶν οὐ κυριεύσει, ὅτι οὐκ ἐσμὲν ὑπὸ νόμον, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ χάριν·