Augustine, Sermones 359-363 (Classis IV, de Diversis)

they were giving themselves to perjuries, lies, drunkenness, crimes, corruptions: this was Nineveh. Look now at Nineveh: they lament, they grieve, they are made sorrowful, in sackcloth and ashes, in fasts and prayers. Where is that Nineveh? Assuredly it has been overthrown, because it no longer stands in those former deeds.

Chapter XXII. — 21. Those who are not converted now, while Christ is building the Church, are more deserving of reproof than those who of old [were not converted] while Noah was building the ark. So, brethren, the ark is being built now too, and those hundred years are these times: this whole stretch of time was signified by that number of years. If, then, those who paid no heed while Noah was building the ark perished deservedly, what do those deserve who, while Christ is building the Church, pay no heed to salvation? There is as much difference between Noah and Christ as between a servant and the Lord; nay rather, as much as between God and man. For a servant and a master can both be called two men. And yet, because men did not believe a man building the ark, a warning example was given from them to those who came after. Christ, God made man for our sake, is building the Church; He has laid Himself as the foundation of that ark: every day timbers that do not rot, faithful men renouncing this world, enter into the framework of the ark; and still it is said, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die? You then, brethren, as I said, say against them, Let us fast and pray, for tomorrow we die. For they say, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, who do not hope for the resurrection: but we, who already believe and proclaim the resurrection, through the Prophets speaking and through Christ and the Apostles preaching, who hope that after this death we shall live, let us not fail, nor weigh down our hearts with surfeiting and drunkenness; but, waiting anxiously, with loins girded and lamps burning, for the coming of our Lord, let us fast and pray, not because tomorrow we shall die, but that we may die without fear. What remains, then, brethren, demand of us at another time in the name of the Lord. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 362. On the Resurrection of the Dead, 2.

Chapter I. — 1. It must be said what the resurrection of the just will be like. Keeping our promise in mind, we have also had suitable readings from the Gospel and the Apostle read out. For whoever of you were present at the previous sermon remember with us that the question proposed concerning the resurrection was divided by us into a twofold discussion: that first we should discuss, for the sake of those who doubt, or even those who deny it, whether there will be a resurrection of the dead; and afterwards we should inquire, as far as we are able, according to the Scriptures, what the life of the just will be like in the resurrection. In the first part, then, where we treated of the fact that the dead rise again, we dwelt so long, as you are good enough to remember, that for treating the second question

time ran short, and we were thus compelled to put it off to this day. This debt, then, your attention demands from us, and we recognize the time for paying it.

Chapter II. Let us, therefore, together entreat the Lord with the devout attention of the heart, that we may both pay the debt fittingly and you receive it profitably. For this is, as must be confessed, a rather great question; but stronger than all difficult questions is charity, which we all ought to serve, so that God, Who commanded this, may turn all our difficulties into ease and joy.

2. The same argument is treated. You remember that on that day we gave an answer to certain people who say, as the Apostle rebukes them, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die; adding and saying, Evil conversations corrupt good morals; and so concluding, Be sober, be just, and do not sin; for some have ignorance of God; I speak to you for reverence (1 Cor. 15:32–34). We have all heard these apostolic words and committed them to heart; and whoever has heard them and committed them to heart, let his works show it. For he who hears is like a field receiving the seed of the sower; he who commits it to heart is like one breaking the clod and covering what has been sown; but he who acts according to what he has heard and committed to heart, he it is who springs up into harvest and brings forth fruit with patience, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold (Matt. 13:23, and Luke 8:15). For such a one not fire, as for chaff, but granaries, as for wheat, are prepared.

Chapter III. In those hidden granaries, then, in the resurrection of the dead, is that perpetual beatitude, even the very secret places of the just, into which Scripture commends them as to be received.

3. By the name of little vessels the secret seats of the blessed are signified. The hidden place of the face of God. He also mentioned them under the name of vessels in another place, when the Lord Jesus Christ says that the kingdom of heaven is like a seine, that is, a net; for a certain kind of net is called a seine. The kingdom of heaven, then, He says, is like a seine cast into the sea and gathering of every kind; which, when it was filled, drawing it out and sitting by the shore, they chose the good into vessels, but the bad they cast out (Matt. 13:47–48). Our Lord wished to signify that the word of God is now sent over peoples and over nations just as a seine is cast into the sea. Now, by the Christian sacraments, it gathers both good and bad; but not all whom the seine takes up are also stored away in the little vessels. For the little vessels are the seats of the saints and the great secret places of the blessed life, to which not all who are called Christians will be able to come, but those who are so called in such a way that they are so. Truly, the good and the bad fish swim within the seine, and the good bear with the bad until they are separated at the end. It has also been said in a certain place, Thou wilt hide them in the hidden place of Thy face (Ps. 30:21); for he was speaking of the saints. Thou wilt hide them, he says, in the hidden place of Thy face: that is, where the eyes of men cannot follow, nor the thoughts of mortals; signifying certain secret places exceedingly hidden, exceedingly concealed, in the hidden place of the face of God

he said. Must it be thought of carnally, that God has some great face, and that in His face there is some bodily receptacle where the saints are to be hidden? You see, brothers, how carnal these things are, and that they are to be rejected from the heart of all the faithful. What then ought the hidden place of God's face to be understood as, except what is known only to the face of God? So when barns are spoken of, so that secret things may be signified, and in another place vessels are spoken of, they are neither the barns that we know nor the vessels. For if it were some one such thing, the other would not be mentioned. But since unknown things are conveyed, as far as they can be, through likenesses known to men, take both as named for this purpose: that you may understand a secret place, both by the name of barn and by that of vessels. But if you ask what kind of secret place, hear the Prophet saying, Thou wilt hide them in the hidden place of Thy face.

Chapter IV. — 4. We sigh for the homeland by faith. Since these things are so, brothers, we are still sojourning abroad in this life; we still sigh by faith for that homeland, I know not what. And why "I know not what", the homeland of which we are citizens, except because, in sojourning far away, we have forgotten it, so that we can call our homeland "I know not what"? This forgetfulness the Lord Christ, the King of that homeland, drives out of the heart, coming to the sojourners; and by the taking up of flesh His divinity becomes for us the way, so that through the man Christ we may go on, and in God Christ we may abide. What then, brothers? That secret, which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9): with what speech shall we explain it to you, or with what eye shall we see it? We can sometimes know something which nevertheless we cannot express; but what we do not know, we are never able to express. Since, then, it could happen that, if I knew those things, I could not express them to you, how much more difficult will my speaking be, when I too, brothers, walk with you by faith, not yet by sight? But is this only I, or the Apostle himself too? For he consoles our ignorance and builds up faith, saying: Brothers, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it. But one thing: forgetting the things that are behind, stretched forth towards those that are before, I pursue according to my aim towards the palm of the heavenly calling (Phil. 3:13–14); whereby he shows that he is on the way. And in another place: As long as we are, he says, in the body, we are sojourning away from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6–7). And again: For by hope, he says, we have been saved. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it through patience (Rom. 8:24–25).

Chapter V. — 5. The Church teaches what she has believed, not what she knows. So then, brothers, hear from me the voice that is in the Psalms, devout, humble, gentle, not lifted up, not turbulent, not headlong, not rash. For the Psalm says in a certain place: I believed, on account of which I have spoken. And the Apostle inserted this testimony and added: And we believe, on account of which we also speak (Ps. 115:10; 2 Cor. 4:13). Do you wish, then, that I should say the things that I know? I do not deceive you, hear

what I have believed. Let it not become cheap in your eyes that what you hear is what I have believed: for you are hearing a truthful confession. But if I were to say, Hear what I know; you would be hearing a rash presumption. If therefore, brethren, all of us, and, as we believe from the writings of the saints, all those also who lived in the flesh before us, and through whom the Spirit of God, speaking, distributed to men as much as was enough to be signified to pilgrims, all of us speak what we believe: but the Lord Himself [spoke] the things which He knew. What then, if the Lord alone could know what He was saying about the life that is to be for eternity; while others, following the Lord, [spoke] because they believed? We find our Lord Jesus Christ Himself knowing what He would say, yet not saying it. For He says in a certain place to His disciples: I still have many things to say to you; but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). He, on account of their weakness, not on account of any difficulty of His own, put off saying what He knew. But we, on account of the common weakness of all of us, do not attempt to utter worthily enough what we know, but explain as best we can what we worthily believe; and you, grasp it as best you can. And if perhaps any of you can grasp more than I can say, let him not pay heed to the meagre stream, but run to the most abundant fountain: since with Him is the fountain of life, in Whose light we shall see light (Ps. 35:10).

Chapter VI. — 6. It is not permitted to a Christian to doubt about the resurrection. Since therefore we have argued that there is a resurrection, so we believe, so we ought to believe, so we speak, because so we have believed, if we are Christians, beholding the power of the arm of the Lord laying low everywhere the pride of the nations, and building up this faith so widely through the world, as was promised long before it came about: beholding these things, we are built up to believe the things which we do not yet see, so that we may receive the vision itself as the reward of faith. Since therefore the future resurrection of the dead is manifest to our faith, and so manifest that whoever has doubted about it calls himself a Christian most impudently; the question is asked what kind of bodies the saints will have, and what their future life will be. For it has seemed to many that a resurrection does indeed take place, but by souls alone.

Chapter VII. — 7. The question, what kind of bodies there will be. The rule of faith, the creed. A fitting likeness. But that bodies too rise again, there is no need to discuss at length after the previous sermon. But a question of this kind is raised: If there are to be bodies, of what kind are they to be? Such as they are now, or of another manner? If of another manner, what is that manner? If such, then for the same works? Since therefore the Lord does not prescribe [them] for the same things, since the Apostle does not teach [them] for such things. For [they are] not for the same life, not for the same mortal and corruptible and perishable and passing deeds, not for carnal joys, not for carnal consolations. If therefore not for the same things, neither [are they] such. If not such, how then will the flesh rise again? But we have the resurrection of the flesh in the rule of faith, and confessing it we are baptized. And whatever we confess there, we confess from the truth and in the truth, in which we live and move and are. For by temporal

deeds and by certain transient and passing acts we are instructed towards eternal life. All the things that were done, that we should hear something wholesome, that miracles should take place, that our Lord should be born, hunger and thirst, be seized, be afflicted with insults, be beaten, be crucified, die, be buried, rise again, ascend into heaven: all have passed away; and when they are preached, certain temporal and transitory actions of our faith are preached. Does it follow that, because they themselves pass away, what is built by means of them likewise passes away? For let Your Holiness attend, so that you may see this by a comparison. An architect builds a house that is to remain by means of machines that are to pass away. For in this so great and spacious building which we see, while it was being constructed, there were machines which are not here now; because what was being built by means of them now stands complete. So therefore, brethren, something was being built in the Christian faith, and certain temporal contrivances were carried through to completion. For that our Lord Jesus Christ rose again is a thing past; for He is not still rising: and that He ascended into heaven is a thing past; for He is not still ascending. But that He is in that life where He no longer dies, and death shall have dominion over Him no more (Rom. 6:9); that in Him even that very human nature lives for ever, which He deigned to take up, and in which He deigned to be born, and in which to die and be buried: this is what has been built, this abides for ever. But the machines by which it was built have passed away. For Christ is not always being conceived in a virginal womb, or always being born of the Virgin Mary, or always being seized, or always being judged, scourged, crucified, buried. All these things are reckoned as machines, so that by these machines that might be built which abides for ever. But this resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has been placed in heaven.

Chapter VIII. — 8. The building of the heavenly Jerusalem has its foundation above. Christ is both our foundation and our head. Let Your Charity attend to a wonderful building. For these earthly buildings press upon the earth by their weight, and the whole downward tendency of the weights in this structure strains, by its very magnitude, towards the earth, and unless it is held in check, it presses towards lower places, whither the weight draws it. Since therefore it is built on earth, the foundation is laid first in the earth, so that he who builds may construct securely upon the foundation. So he places very firm masses at the bottom, so that they may be fit to bear what is placed upon them, and the size of the foundation is prepared in proportion to the size of the building: in the earth, however, as I said, because what is built above is certainly also set upon the earth. That Jerusalem of ours, a pilgrim, is being built in heaven. Therefore Christ, the foundation, has gone before into heaven. For there is our foundation and the head of the Church: for He is called both foundation and head, and so indeed it is. For the head of a building too is its foundation: for the head is not where it ends, but where it begins going upwards. The summits of earthly buildings are raised aloft, yet they set their head in the solidity of the earth. So too the Head of the Church has gone before into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. Just as men work, so that to

lay a foundation they draw down something which they may make firm at the bottom, for the security of the mass that is to come upon it in the constructions of the future building: so through all those things which befell Christ, being born, growing, being seized, suffering insult, being scourged, being crucified, being slain, dying, being buried, the mass was, as it were, drawn down to the heavenly foundation.

9. We must act so that we are built up in Christ. Christ is the foundation if He holds the first place in the heart. How greatly the fire of Gehenna is to be feared. So, since our foundation has been laid in the highest places, let us be built up upon it. Hear the Apostle: Another foundation, he says, no one can lay, besides that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus.

Chapter IX. — But what follows? But let each one see what he builds upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Christ is indeed in heaven, but also in the heart of those who believe. If Christ has the first place, the foundation has been rightly laid. So let him who builds build secure, if he builds, in keeping with the dignity of the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones. But if he does not build in keeping with the dignity of the foundation, if he builds wood, hay, stubble, let him at least hold to the foundation, and because of those dry and fragile things which he has raised up, let him prepare himself for the fire. But if it is the foundation, that is, if Christ has obtained the first place in the heart, and worldly things are loved in such a way that they are not set before Christ, but the Lord Christ [is set] before them, so that He is in the building of the heart holding the foundation, that is, the first place: he will suffer loss, he says; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:10–15). This is not now the time to exhort you to build gold, silver, precious stones rather than wood, hay, stubble upon so great and strong a foundation: but nevertheless take what has been said briefly as though it had been said at length and in many words. For we know, brethren, that if any one of you, on account of those things which he now loves, were to be sent to prison through the threats of some judge, so that he would suffer only smoke, he would rather lose all those things than suffer that place. But somehow, when fire is named that is to come on the day of judgement, all despise it, and while fearing the flames of the hearth, they count the flame of Gehenna as nothing. What is this hardness? What so great perversity of heart! If men would fear what the Apostle says, through fire, even as each one fears being burned alive, which befalls him in a single moment, until sensation, deserting the limbs, makes all those flames superfluous; he would yet fear, and would not do anything that is rightly forbidden, lest he come to that torment of a single moment.

Chapter X. — 10. Such a resurrection is to be hoped for as went before in Christ. The angels at Abraham's really ate. But, as I said, brethren, there is no room now for discoursing on this matter: this I say, that we ought to hope for that in the resurrection of the dead which was shown forth in our Head, which was shown forth in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever hopes for anything else no longer builds upon the foundation, not only not gold, silver and precious stones, but not even that very

stubble. For he places the whole outside, because he does not place it in Christ. Our Lord therefore rose again in that body in which He was buried. Resurrection is promised to Christians. Let us hope for such a resurrection as went before, in our Lord, the faith of all of us. For He went before for this purpose, that our faith might be built up upon it. What then? How [shall we] not [be] such as we now are? For the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ rose again, but it ascended into heaven. On earth He kept up human functions, so that He might convince [them] that what had been buried had risen again. But is there such food in heaven also? For we read that angels too performed human functions on earth. They came to Abraham, and they ate; and an angel was with Tobias, and he ate. What do we say, that that eating was a phantasm, and was not real? Is it not plain that Abraham killed a calf, made loaves, and set them on the table; he served the angels, and they ate (Gen. 18:1–9)? All these things were most plainly done and most plainly set forth.

Chapter XI. — 11. Man eats out of necessity, an angel out of power. What then does the angel say in the book of Tobias? You saw me eat, but you were seeing with your own sight (Tob. 12:19). Was it that he was not eating, but seemed to eat? No, indeed, he was eating. What then is "you were seeing with your own sight"? Let your Holiness attend to what I say: let it attend to the prayer more than to me; so that you may understand what we say, and that we too may speak in such a way as you ought to hear and to understand what you hear. Our body, so long as it is corruptible and destined to die, suffers the need of refreshment, and from this hunger also arises: for this reason we hunger and thirst; and if we put off our hunger and thirst longer than the body can bear, it is brought to a wasting leanness, and to a certain sickly thinness, as strength departs and does not come in to replace it: and if this goes further, death too will follow. For something is always departing from our body, as if by a kind of stream of departure, but we do not feel our strength departing from it, because through refreshment we take on [strength] that comes in to replace it. For what comes in abundantly departs little by little: therefore we take refreshment in a short time, but over a longer time the strength that was received when we took refreshment deserts us. Just as oil in a lamp, which is put in within a short time, is consumed more slowly and little by little. But when it is almost consumed, then the faintness of that little flame, as it were the hunger of the lamp, warns us, and at once we come to its help, so that that appearance may be restored, and the light may remain in the lamp, refreshed by its own food when we add oil. So our strength, which we receive by eating, goes and deserts us by a perpetual departure, but little by little. For this very thing is now being done in us, and in all our actions, even in all our rest what has been received does not cease to go: and if it is altogether consumed, then a man dies just as a lamp is put out. But so that he may not die, that is, so that he may not be put out, not because he dies in the soul, but so that this bodily life of ours may not be put out, and a kind of wakefulness, as it were, may continue in this body, we run

and we put back what has departed, and we are said to restore. He who says "to be restored": what does he restore, if nothing is lacking? Through this need, therefore, and corruption we are also all going to die, because this body is such that death is reserved for it as its due. For this mortality is signified by the skins with which Adam and Eve were clothed, and they were sent out of paradise (Gen. 3:21–24). For skins indicate death, since they are customarily stripped from dead cattle. Since, therefore, we carry this failing infirmity, to which, even if food is never lacking, but from time to time restores its strength, it nevertheless does not bring it about that death will not come (for that whole condition of the body through successive ages, even if one lives here longer, will at some time come to the limit of old age, and beyond it, wherever it might stretch, will find nothing but death. For even a lamp itself, even if you keep adding oil from time to time, cannot burn for ever; because, even if it is not extinguished by other mishaps, the wick itself fails, and is consumed as it were by a kind of old age): as long, therefore, as we bear such bodies, from deficiency we are in need, from need we hunger, from hunger we eat. But the angel does not eat from need. For it is one thing to do something from power, another from necessity. Man eats lest he die; the angel eats so as to accommodate himself to mortals. For if the angel does not fear death, he is not restored on account of deficiency; if he is not restored on account of deficiency, he does not eat from need. But those who saw the angel eating thought him hungry. This is what he says: "You saw with your own sight." For he did not say, "You saw me eat, but I did not eat"; "You saw," he says, "me eat, but you saw with your own sight"; that is, I was eating so as to accommodate myself to you, not because I was suffering any hunger or need, under whose compulsion you are accustomed to eat; and therefore you suspect that those whom you see eating do it from need, you who measure what you see by your own custom: this is, "you saw with your own sight."

Chapter XII.—12. After the resurrection there will be the power of eating, as in Christ, not the necessity. What then, my brothers? We know, as the Apostle says, that Christ, rising from the dead, now does not die, and death will no longer have dominion over Him. For in that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He lives, He lives to God (Rom. 6:9–10). If therefore He now does not die, and death will no longer have dominion over Him, so let us hope that we shall rise again, that we may be for ever in that state into which we shall be changed by rising again. But of eating and drinking, even if there will be the power, there will not be the necessity. There was, however, a reason then why the Lord should do this, because those to whom He wished to accommodate Himself were still in the flesh, those to whom He wished also to show His scars. For He who made the eyes of the blind man, which he had not received in his mother's womb, was not unable to rise again without scars. If He had wished to change the mortal need of His own flesh before death in such a way that it would have no want arising from necessity, He certainly could have: for He had it in His hand, because He was God in the flesh, and the omnipotent Son, as the Father is omnipotent. For even His very flesh He changed before death into what He willed. For when He was on the mountain with the disciples, His face shone like the sun (Matt. 17:2). But this He did by power, wishing to show that also

He could have changed His very flesh so as to free it from all want, so that He would not die if He did not wish to. I have the power, He says, of laying down My life, and I have the power of taking it up again. No one takes it from Me (John 10:18). Great is this power, by which He could also not have died; but greater is the mercy, by which He willed to die. For to this end He did through mercy what through power He could also not have done, that He might lay for us the foundation of the resurrection: that what He bore as mortal for our sake should both die, because we are going to die, and rise again to immortality, so that we may hope for immortality. And therefore before His death it is written not only that He ate and drank, but also that He hungered and thirsted (Matt. 4:22, and John 19:28); after the resurrection, only that He both ate and drank, but not that He hungered and thirsted; because in a body no longer going to die there was not that want belonging to corruption, such that there should be a necessity of refreshment, but there was the power of eating. It was done for the sake of fittingness, not that the want of the flesh might be relieved, but that the reality of the body might be made convincing.

Chapter XIII. — 13. The question, how flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. Against this evidence, so great as it is, some raise a question against us from the Apostle: for see what they object against this argument. The flesh, they say, will not rise again: for if it rises again, it will possess the kingdom of God; but the Apostle plainly says, Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. You heard it when the Apostle was being read. We say that the flesh rises again, and the Apostle cries out, Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. Are we then preaching against the Apostle, or did he himself preach against the Gospel? The Gospel testifies with a divine voice, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:14). If He was made flesh, He was made true flesh. For if not true flesh, then not flesh at all. As the flesh of Mary was true flesh, [so] the flesh of Christ, which was taken from her, is true flesh. This true flesh was seized, scourged, struck with fists, hung up; this true flesh died, this true flesh was buried; this true flesh also rose again from death. The scars bear witness: the eyes of the disciples see, and still their wonder wavers; the hand handles, so that the mind may not doubt. Against so great an evidence, brethren, of which our Lord Jesus Christ willed in this way to persuade His disciples, who were going to preach it throughout the world; against this evidence the Apostle seems to fight, saying: Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God?

14. The question is solved. The first exposition of the Apostle. We could solve this question in this way, and resist the empty slanderers: nevertheless it will be solved thus as well, as it can be answered quickly, and we shall consider more carefully from what context the Apostle's words were spoken. I say, then, how we can answer most easily. What does the Gospel contain? That Christ rose again in the body in which He was buried: because He was seen, because He was handled, because He said to the disciples, who thought that He was a spirit, Handle, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have (Luke 24:39). What does the Apostle say against this? Flesh and blood, he says,

will not possess the kingdom of God. I embrace both, and I do not say that these things conflict, lest I myself should fight against the goad. How then do I embrace both? Quickly, as I said, I could answer thus: the Apostle says, Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God by inheritance. He spoke rightly; for it is not for the flesh to possess, but to be possessed. For your body does not possess anything, but your soul possesses through the body, and the soul possesses the body itself as well. If then the flesh rises again in such a way that it is had, not that it has; that it is possessed, not that it possesses: what wonder if flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God, since it will certainly be possessed? For the flesh possesses those who are not the kingdom of God but the kingdom of the devil, and therefore they are subject to the pleasures of the flesh. Hence also that paralytic was carried on a pallet; but when he had been healed the Lord said, Take up your pallet, and go into your house (Mark 2:11). So then, the paralysis being healed, he holds his flesh and leads it where he wishes: he is not himself dragged by the flesh where he does not wish, and he carries the body rather than being carried by the body. It is manifest that in that resurrection the flesh will not have the pull of enticements, so as to lead the soul by certain titillations and blandishments where the soul does not wish, and is often overcome, saying: I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind, and leading me captive in the law of sin which is in my members. The paralytic is still carried on the pallet; he does not yet carry it: let him then cry out, Unhappy man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? Let the answer be given, The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:22–25). When therefore we have risen again, the flesh will not carry us, but we shall carry it: if we carry, we shall possess it: if we possess it, we shall not be possessed by it; because, delivered from the devil, we are the kingdom of God: and thus flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. Therefore let those slanderers fall silent who truly are flesh and blood and can do nothing but think carnally. For of them too, persevering in that same prudence of the flesh, whence they are deservedly called flesh and blood, it could rightly be said, Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God.

Chapter XIV.— This question may also be solved in this way: that such men as are called flesh and blood (for of such the Apostle also says, Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood [Eph. 6:12]), if they do not turn themselves to the spiritual life and by the spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, will not be able to possess the kingdom of God.

15. The truer sense of the Apostle. But what does the Apostle say, someone may ask? For that sense is the truer which is opened up by the circumstance of the reading. Let us therefore rather listen to him himself, and from the whole context of Scripture that surrounds it let us see what he wished to be understood in that place. For he speaks thus: The first man from the earth, earthly; the second man from heaven. As is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of Him Who is from heaven. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God; nor corruption incorruption (1 Cor. 15:47–50). Let us then look at the points one by one.

The first man, he says, is from the earth, earthly; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthly, so also are the earthly, that is, all who are to die: and as is the heavenly, so also are the heavenly, that is, all who are to rise again. For the heavenly man has already risen again, and ascended into heaven: into Him we are now incorporated through faith, so that He Himself may be our head, and that the members may follow their head in their own order, and that what has been shown beforehand in the head may be shown in its own time in the members: but for now let us bear this by faith, so that in its own time we may come to the reality itself and to sight. For thus he says in another place: But if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; set your mind on the things that are above, not on those upon the earth (Col. 3:1–2). Just as, therefore, although in our own selves we have not yet risen, as Christ has in the body, yet through faith we are said to have risen with Christ: so he bids us bear the image of the heavenly man, that is, of Him Who is already in heaven, by faith in the meantime.

16. How Christ is a man from heaven, heavenly. But if anyone asks why he spoke of the second man not as in heaven but as from heaven, since the Lord Himself also received His body from the earth, because Mary was certainly descended from Adam and Eve, let him understand that the earthly man is so called by reason of earthly concupiscence: and since that affection is earthly through which human beings are born by the intercourse of male and female, drawing original sin also from their parents; but the body of the Lord was created from the virginal womb by no such affection, although Christ took flesh from the earth, which the Holy Spirit is understood to signify when He says, Truth has sprung from the earth (Ps. 84:12); yet He is not called an earthly but a heavenly man, and from heaven. For if He granted this to His faithful through grace, that the Apostle may rightly say, For our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20): how much more must He Himself be called a heavenly man, and from heaven, in Whom there was never any sin? For it was because of sin that it was said to man, Earth you are, and into earth you shall go (Gen. 3:19). That heavenly man, therefore, is most rightly said to be from heaven, Whose citizenship never departed from heaven: although the Son of God, made also the son of man, took a body from the earth, that is, the form of a servant. For no one ascended except He Who descended. For although the others, to whomsoever He has granted it, ascend, or rather are lifted into heaven by His grace, even so He Himself ascends, because they become His body; and in this sense one alone ascends: since the Apostle expounds a great sacrament in Christ and the Church, where it is written, And the two shall be in one flesh (Eph. 5:31). Hence it is also said, Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh (Matt. 19:6). Wherefore no one ascends into heaven except He Who descended from heaven, the Son of man, Who is in heaven (John 3:13). For He added, Who is in heaven, for this reason, lest anyone should suppose that His citizenship had departed from heaven when He appeared to men on earth through an earthly body. Therefore, just as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of Him Who is from heaven, in the meantime by faith, through which we have also risen with Him: so that we may also have our heart above, where Christ

is seated at the right hand of God; and therefore let us seek the things that are above, and set our minds on them, not on the things that are upon the earth.

Chapter XV. — 17. That this is to be granted to us in the resurrection which went before in Christ. Flesh [and] blood [stand] for corruption. But because he was treating of the resurrection of the body; for he had set it forth thus: But someone says, How do the dead rise again (1 Cor. 15:35)? and with what body do they come? and for that reason he had said, The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven. As the earthly one is, such also are the earthly; and as the heavenly One is, such also are the heavenly: so that we may hope that this will come to be in our body which went before in the body of Christ; and although we have not yet received this in very deed, let us meanwhile hold it by faith. Therefore he had added, As we have borne the image of the earthly one, let us bear also the image of Him Who is from heaven. Lest we should believe that we would rise again to such things as we used to do corruptibly according to the first man, he added at once: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God by inheritance. And wishing to show what he meant by flesh and blood, namely that by the name of flesh and blood he signifies not the very form of the body but corruption, which corruption will not exist then. For a body without corruption is not properly called flesh and blood, but body. For if it is flesh, it is corruptible and mortal; but if it no longer dies, it is no longer corruptible; and therefore, the form remaining without corruption, it is no longer called flesh but body: and if it is called flesh, it is not called so properly any longer, but on account of a certain likeness of form. Just as we can perhaps, on account of the same likeness, speak even of the flesh of Angels, when they appeared to men as men; although they were body, not flesh: because the neediness of corruption was not in them. Since therefore we can, according to likeness, call flesh even a body that is no longer corrupted, the Apostle, following on with care, wished to explain what he meant by flesh and blood; that he said this according to corruption, not according to form: and he added at once, Neither shall corruption possess incorruption by inheritance: as if he were saying, What I said, Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, I said because corruption shall not possess incorruption.

18. How our body will be in heaven, if there will be no corruption there. The works of the flesh will not be the same after the resurrection. The error of the Jews and the Sadducees concerning the resurrection. The resurrection to the life of the Angels. And lest anyone should say, If then incorruption cannot be possessed by corruption, how will our body be there? hear what follows. For as though it were said to the Apostle, What is it then that you are saying? have we believed in the resurrection of the flesh in vain? If flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, in vain have we believed that our Lord rose from the dead in the body in which He was born and crucified, and that in it He ascended into heaven before the eyes of His disciples, from which heaven He cried out to you, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me (Acts 9:4)? This [objection] presents itself to Paul, the holy and blessed apostle, who in loving charity was in travail with his children in Christ

begotten through the Gospel (1 Cor. 4:15), with whom he was still in labour until Christ should be formed again in them (Gal. 4:19), that is, until they should bear through faith the image of Him Who is from heaven. For he did not wish them to remain in that ruin, so as to suppose that they would do in the kingdom of God, in that eternal life, such things as they did in this life, in the pleasures of eating and drinking, of marrying, of taking wives, and of begetting them carnally: for these works belong to the corruption of the flesh, not to the very form of the flesh. Now therefore, because we shall not rise again to such things, the Lord laid it down, as I said a while ago, in the Gospel reading that has just been recited. For the Jews did indeed believe in the resurrection of the flesh, but they thought it would be such that the life in the resurrection would be like the one they led in this world; and so, thinking carnally, they could not answer the Sadducees when they put forward a question about the resurrection: whose wife will the woman be whom seven brothers, succeeding one another, had, since each wished to raise up seed for his dead brother from his wife. For the Sadducees were a certain sect of the Jews which did not believe in the resurrection. So the Jews, wavering and hesitating when the Sadducees put forward this question, could not answer, because they supposed that the kingdom of God could be possessed by flesh and blood, that is, incorruption by corruption. The Truth came; He is questioned by the deceived and deceiving Sadducees; that question is put to the Lord. And the Lord, Who knew what He was saying, and wished us to believe what we did not know, answers by the authority of His majesty what we are to believe. But the Apostle expounded, as much as was given to him, what we are to understand, as much as we can. What then did the Lord [say] to the Sadducees? You err, He says, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor take wives; for neither do they begin to die, but they will be equal to the angels of God. Great is the power of God. Why do they not marry nor take wives? Because they will not begin to die. For there is a successor where there is a predecessor. There is therefore no such corruption there. And that Lord ran through the ages of life from infancy up to youth, because He still bore the substance of mortal flesh: after He rose again at the age at which He was buried, do we believe that He grows old in heaven? Therefore, He says, they will be equal to the angels of God. He removed from their midst the suspicion of the Jews, He refuted the false charges of the Sadducees: for the Jews did indeed believe that the dead would rise again, but they thought carnally about what works they would rise to. They will be equal, He says, to the angels of God. You have heard of the power of God; hear also of the Scriptures. Concerning the resurrection, He says, have you not read how the Lord spoke to Moses from the bush, saying: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matt. 22:23–32, and Luke 20:27–38).

Chapter XVI.—19. The resurrection to life without corruption. The change of the flesh for the better is proper to the good. That we shall rise again, then, has been said: and since to

the life of the Angels we rise again, we have heard from the Lord: but in what form we are to rise again, He Himself has shown in His resurrection. But because that form will not have corruption, the Apostle says: But this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God by inheritance; nor shall corruption possess incorruption by inheritance: so as to show that by the name of flesh and blood he had meant the corruption of the mortal and animal body. Then he himself now resolves the question which anxious hearers might put to him: because he is more anxious about the understanding of his children than the children are about the words of their parents. He adds therefore, and says: Behold, I tell you a mystery. Let your thought be at rest, O man, whoever you are. For you had begun to think, from the words of the Apostle, that human flesh does not rise again, when you heard, Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God: but lend an ear to the words that follow, and correct the presumption of your thought. Behold, he says, I tell you a mystery: we shall all indeed rise again, but we shall not all be changed. What is this? For change is either for the worse or for the better. If therefore change has been set down in such a way that we do not yet see what it will be, whether into something better or into something worse: then let him follow on and himself explain; what are we to suspect? And perhaps apostolic authority does not allow you to slip into error through human suspicion in your conjectures, and explains this clearly, what kind of change it wishes to be understood. What then? When he had said, We shall all rise again, yet we shall not all be changed: I see that all will rise again, both the good and the bad; but let us see who will be changed; and hence let us understand the change, whether it is to be for the better or for the worse. For if this change belongs to the wicked, it will be for the worse; but if to the good, it will be for the better. In an atom, he says, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise again incorrupt, and we shall be changed. Now therefore this change will be for the better, since he says, And we shall be changed: but it has not yet been expressed as fully as it needed to be expressed, to what degree our body is changed for the better. What that better itself is has not yet been said. For even when it is changed from infancy into adolescence, it can be said to be changed for the better, where, although less weak, it is nevertheless still weak and mortal.

Chapter XVII. — 20. The swiftness of the resurrection. Atom, what it is. Atom in body. Atom in time. The twinkling of an eye. Therefore let us go over each point more carefully. In an atom, he says. It seems difficult to men that the dead should rise again: but it is wonderful how the Apostle has taken away all doubtful difficulties from the hearts of the faithful. You say, The dead do not rise again: I say not only that the dead man rises again, but with such swiftness as you were not conceived and born with. For how long a delay is there for a man to be formed in the womb, to be completed, to be born, to be strengthened by the succession of the ages of life? Is he perhaps going to rise again in this way? No: but in an atom, he says. Many do not know what an atom is. Atom is so called from τομή, which is cutting: ἄτομος in Greek, that which cannot be cut. But atom is said in respect of body, it is said in respect of time. In respect of body it is said, if anything can be found which indeed

is said to be unable to be divided, some little body so minute that it no longer has anywhere it could be cut. An atom in time, on the other hand, is a brief moment which no longer has anywhere it could be divided. For example, so that even slower hearts may grasp what I am saying: there is a stone; divide it into parts, and divide those parts into pebbles, and the pebbles into grains, such as grains of sand are, and again divide those very grains of sand into the finest dust, until, if it can be done, you arrive at some minute particle such as can no longer be divided. This is the atom in bodies. In time, however, it is understood thus. A year, for example, is divided into months, months are divided into days, days can further be divided into hours, hours further into certain parts of hours that are somewhat extended, which admit of divisions, until you come to so small a point of time, and a certain drop of a moment, that it cannot be extended by any delay at all, and therefore can no longer be divided: this is the atom of time. You were saying, then, that the dead do not rise: not only do they rise, but they rise with such swiftness that the resurrection of all the dead will take place in an atom of time.

Chapter XVIII. — And explaining to you the swiftness of the atom, when he had said "in an atom", he added at once how much action and motion can take place in an atom of time: "In the twinkling of an eye", he says. For he knew that he had spoken obscurely in saying "in an atom", and he wished to say more plainly what might be more easily understood. What is the twinkling of an eye? Not that by which we close or open the eye with the eyelids; but by "twinkling" he means the eye's emission of rays to discern something. For as soon as you have cast your gaze, the ray sent out reaches the sky, where we behold the sun and the moon and the stars and the constellations, separated from the earth by so immense a distance. By the last trumpet, moreover, he means the last signal. "For the trumpet will sound," he says, "and the dead will rise incorrupt, and we shall be changed." By "we" he certainly meant the faithful, and those who rise first to eternal life. Therefore that change, because it belongs to the godly and the holy, will be for the better, not for the worse.

21. Of what kind the change of the saints in the resurrection will be. Flesh and blood are properly names of corruption and mortality. But what is this change? What is it that he says, "We shall be changed"? Is the form that exists now lost, or only corruption, on account of what was said, "Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God; nor shall corruption possess incorruption by inheritance"? And so that this should not move the hearer to despair of the resurrection of the flesh, he added, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed." And lest we should think the change would be for the worse: "and we", he says, "shall be changed." It remains, then, for him to say of what kind the change will be. "For this corruptible must", he says, "put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality." If this corruptible shall be clothed with incorruption, and this mortal shall be clothed with immortality, the flesh will no longer be corruptible. If, therefore, the flesh will not be corruptible, the name of corruption in flesh and blood will cease; the proper name of flesh and blood will also cease, because these are names of mortality. And if it is so, and

the flesh will rise again, and because it is changed and becomes incorrupt, flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. But if anyone wishes to understand that change as taking place in those whom that day will find still alive, so that those who were already dead rise again, while those who are still alive are changed, so that the Apostle is believed to have taken on their person when he says, And we shall be changed: the same reasoning will nevertheless follow, because that incorruption will certainly pertain to all, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. Then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your contention? Where, death, is your sting? But a body that is no longer mortal is not properly called flesh and blood, which are earthly bodies; rather it is called a body, which can now be called heavenly. Just as the same apostle, when he was speaking of the difference between kinds of flesh: Not all flesh, he says, is the same flesh. There is one of men, another of cattle, another of fishes, another of birds, another of serpents. And there are bodies, he says, heavenly, and bodies earthly (1 Cor. 15:39, 55). But in no way would he speak of heavenly fleshes; although fleshes can be called bodies, but earthly ones. For all flesh is body, but not every body is flesh: not only because a heavenly body is not called flesh, but also certain earthly things themselves, such as pieces of wood and stones, and anything else of that kind. So even in this way flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God: because the rising flesh will be changed into such a body that in it there will no longer be mortal corruption, and therefore not the name of flesh and blood either.

Chapter XIX. — 22. The error of certain people concerning the truth of the resurrection. But pay attention, brethren, we beg you; this is not a matter to be lightly regarded: it concerns our faith, for which we must beware not so much of the pagans as of certain perverse people who wish to be called and seen as Christians. For even in the time of the apostles there were not lacking those who said that the resurrection had already taken place, and were perverting the faith of some, of whom the Apostle says, Who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place; and they have overturned the faith of some (2 Tim. 2:18). Now it is not without purpose that he does not say, They have strayed away from the truth, but, concerning the truth; yet they did not hold the truth. Death, then, is taken away, and in a certain way will not exist: as the Apostle says, What is mortal will be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4). For thus it was also said of the Lord, that He swallowed down death (1 Pet. 3:22). For death does not withdraw as though it had some substance of its own; but in the very body where it was, it will cease to be, so that you may see the form, hold the form, look for corruption and mortality, and not find them. Has corruption then departed somewhere? No: but there it has been destroyed, there it has been swallowed up. Therefore, when he had said, This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality: then, he says, shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your contention? Where, death, is your sting? And he does not say, Death has departed into victory; but, Death is swallowed up in victory. How then did those men stray concerning the truth? Because they declared true

one resurrection, but denied the other.

Chapter XX.—23. The resurrection is twofold, in the spirit and in the body. Of what kind the bodies of the ungodly will rise. For there is a resurrection according to faith, in which everyone who believes rises again in the spirit. For indeed he will rise well in the body who first rose again in the spirit. For those who have not previously risen again in the spirit through faith will not rise in the body to that transformation where all corruption will be taken up and swallowed up, but to that penal wholeness. For the bodies of the ungodly too will be whole; nothing will appear diminished in them; but the wholeness of the body will be for punishment, and a certain, so to speak, a certain firmness of the body, a corruptible firmness: for where there can be pain, it cannot be said that there is no corruption; although that infirmity will not give out in the pains, lest the pain itself should die. For it is not unfittingly believed that the corruption itself is signified prophetically by the name of the worm, and the pain itself by the name of fire. But because the firmness will be so great that it neither yields to the pains unto death, nor is transformed into incorruption, in which there is no pain; therefore it is written thus: Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched (Isa. 66:24; Mark 9:43, 45). But the transformation which will have no corruption will belong to the saints. It will therefore belong to those who now have the resurrection of the spirit through faith: of which resurrection the Apostle says, But if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: savour the things that are above, not the things upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. As we die according to the spirit, and rise again according to the spirit: so afterwards we die according to the flesh, and rise again according to the flesh. Death according to the spirit is no longer to believe the vain things one used to believe, no longer to do the evil things one used to do. Resurrection according to the spirit is to believe the wholesome things one did not believe, and to do the good things one did not do. He who used to think earthly idols and figments were gods has come to know the one God, has believed in Him, has died in idolatry, has risen again in the Christian faith. He was a drunkard, he is sober; he has died from drunkenness, he has risen again in sobriety. So when one withdraws from all evil works, a kind of death takes place in the soul, and it rises again in its good works. Mortify, says the Apostle, your members which are upon the earth, uncleanness, disturbance, evil concupiscence, and avarice, he says, which is the service of idols (Col. 3:1–5). These members therefore having been mortified, we rise again in the goods that are contrary to them; in holiness, in tranquillity, in charity, in almsgiving. And as death according to the spirit precedes the resurrection which is according to the spirit: so death according to the flesh is going to precede the resurrection which is to come according to the flesh.

Chapter XXI.—24. Testimonies from the Apostle concerning the twofold resurrection. Let us therefore know both, the spiritual and the bodily. To the spiritual belongs what was said, Rise, you who sleep; and arise from the dead (Eph. 5:14): and that, Those who sat in the shadow of death, light has arisen for them (Isa. 9:2): and that which a little before

I mentioned, If you have risen together with Christ, seek the things that are above. But to the bodily resurrection pertains what the Apostle now says, who had put this question to himself: But someone says, how do the dead rise? and with what body will they come? So he was treating of the resurrection of the body, in which the Lord went before His Church: of this, therefore, he says, This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality. [He says this] on account of what he had said, Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God. Moreover, we have in another place a most plain testimony of the same apostle Paul concerning the resurrection according to the spirit and concerning the resurrection according to the flesh. For the mortal body, which is animated or was animated, is called flesh. Thus, then, the Apostle speaks: But if Christ is in you, the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Behold, the resurrection of the spirit is now understood to have been accomplished through righteousness: see whether the resurrection of the body too is to be hoped for. For he did not wish to call the mortal body mortal, but dead; and yet in what follows he reveals that this is what he meant. And so he continues and says: If then the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised our Lord Jesus will give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you (Rom. 8:10–11). Wherefore those men erred concerning the truth: they denied one resurrection. For if they had denied it altogether, they would be straying from the truth, not concerning the truth. But because they erred concerning the truth, they confessed one, which takes place according to the spirit; but they denied the other, which is hoped for through the resurrection of the flesh, saying that the resurrection has already taken place: and unless they said this in such a way as to forbid that one which is to be in the body from being believed and hoped for, it would not be said of them, They subvert the faith of some.

Chapter XXII.— 25. Both resurrections in the Gospel. The resurrection according to the spirit, which now takes place through faith. But now hear the most manifest testimony of the Lord Himself in the Gospel according to John, declaring in one place both resurrections, both that which takes place now according to the spirit and that which is to be hereafter according to the flesh, in such a way that whoever in any manner calls himself a Christian and is subject to the authority of the Gospel cannot doubt at all; so that no entry remains for slanderers and for those who wish, as it were through the Christian faith, to overthrow Christians, inserting their poisons so as to kill the souls of the weak. But hear it from the book itself. For this is why I perform the office not only of a disputant but also of a reader, so that this sermon of ours may be supported by the authority of the holy Scriptures and not be built upon sand by human conjectures, should something perhaps not come to mind from memory. Hear then the Gospel according to John. The Lord speaks: Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life; and he does not come into judgement, but has made the passage from death into life. Amen, amen I say to you, that the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have heard,

shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given also to the Son to have life in Himself; and He has given Him power also to execute judgement, because He is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tomb shall hear His voice: and those who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement (John 5:24–29). I think indeed that many understand both resurrections to be declared distinctly and openly by the Lord Himself in this place, both the one according to the spirit through faith, and the one according to the flesh through that most famous trumpet. Nevertheless let us consider these same words carefully, so that it may be clear to all who hear. Amen, amen I say to you, that he who hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life; and he does not come into judgement, but has made the passage from death into life. This is the resurrection according to the spirit, which happens now through faith. But lest it should seem to have been set forth as though it were still far in the future (although He did not say, he will pass from death into life, but, has made the passage from death into life), yet lest He should seem to have used a verb of past tense figuratively, as in, They have dug My hands and feet (Ps. 21:17), which was foretold while still in the future, He continues, and explains this very thing more plainly: Amen, amen I say to you, He says, that the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have heard shall live. What He said above, he has passed from death into life, He now says thus: they shall live. But lest what He says, The hour is coming, should be looked for at the end of the world, when the resurrection of bodies too is to come, He added, and now is. For He does not say only, The hour is coming; but, The hour is coming, and now is. And those who have heard this voice shall live, that is, with the life which He signified above, saying, he has passed from death to life. Here therefore He signified those who do not belong to the punishment of judgement, because they forestall judgement by their faith, and make the passage from death to life.

Chapter XXIII.— 26. The resurrection according to the flesh is yet to come. It remains therefore that He should show the future judgement between the good and the wicked: for here He mentioned only the good as belonging to the present resurrection, which is according to the spirit. And so He continues, and says, And He has given Him power also to execute judgement, because He is the son of man. He indicated according to what He received the power of judgement: because, He says, He is the son of man. For according to that by which He is the Son of God, He has everlasting power with the Father. Next He goes on to set out how the judgement is to come: Do not, He says, marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice: and those who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement. Above, when He had said, The hour is coming, He added, and now is, lest it be thought to be that foretold hour in which, at the end of the world, the resurrection of bodies is to take place. Here therefore, because He wished that very [hour] to be understood, when He had said, The hour is coming, He did not add, and now is. Likewise, above He said that the dead hear the voice of the Son of God, but made no mention of tombs: so that we might distinguish the dead through error of mind, who rise again now through faith, from those dead

whose corpses in the tombs are going to rise at the end of the age. Here, therefore, so that that resurrection of bodies might be hoped for at the end, He says, All who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth. Likewise above, He says, They will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have heard will live. What need was there to add, Those who have heard, when it could have been said thus, They will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will live: unless because He was speaking of those who are dead according to the error of the mind, many of whom hear and do not hear, that is, do not obey, do not believe? But those who hear in the way in which He wished to be heard, when He said, He who has ears for hearing, let him hear (Luke 8:8), they will live. Many, therefore, will hear, but those who have heard will live, that is, those who have believed. For those who will hear in such a way as not to believe will not live: from which it is apparent of what death and of what life He spoke in that place: namely, of the death which pertains to the wicked alone, by the very fact that they are wicked; and of the life which pertains to the good alone, by the very fact that they become good.

Chapter XXIV. — But here, where He declares that they will rise according to the body, He does not say, They will hear His voice, and those who have heard will come forth. For all will hear the last trumpet, and will come forth, because we shall all rise again. But because we shall not all be changed, He continues and says, Those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil things, to the resurrection of judgement. Above, therefore, where there is a coming back to life through faith according to the spirit, all come back to life to the same lot; so that their life is not divided into blessedness and misery, but all belong to the good part. And therefore, when He had said, Those who have heard will live, He did not add, Those who have done good things, to eternal life; but those who have done evil things, to eternal punishment. For this very thing that was said, they will live, He wished to be taken in a good sense only: just as also above He says, He has passed from death to life; and He did not say to what life, because to come back to life from death through faith cannot be a bad life. But here He did not first [say], They will hear His voice and will live; for that very word, they will live, He wished to be understood in a good sense throughout this whole reading: but He said, they will hear, and will come forth, by which word He signified the bodily movement of bodies out of the places of their burials. But because coming forth from the tombs will not be for the good of all: Those who have done good things, He says, to the resurrection of life; here too He wished life to be understood in a good sense only: but those who have done evil things, He says, to the resurrection of judgement; that is, He put judgement for punishment.

Chapter XXV. — 27. What the body and what the life of the saints will be like after the resurrection. Now therefore, brethren, let no one inquire with perverse subtlety what kind of shape the bodies will have in the resurrection of the dead, how great a stature, what kind of movement, what kind of gait. It is enough for you that your flesh rises again in that form in which the Lord appeared, namely in the form of a man. But do not, on account of the form, fear corruption: for if you do not fear corruption, you will not fear that sentence either, Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God: nor will you fall into the snare of the Sadducees, which you could not avoid for this reason, that you think men rise again for this purpose, that they may take wives, and beget sons, and do the works of a life

that is mortal. If you ask what the life will be like, who among men will be able to explain this? It will be the life of the Angels. Whoever is able to show you the life of the Angels will show you their life; for they will be equal to the Angels. But if the life of the Angels is hidden, let no one inquire further, lest through error he arrive not at what he is seeking, but at what he has fashioned for himself. For he seeks too hastily, and seeks in a hurry. You, walk on the way; you will come to the homeland, if you do not desert the way. Hold fast, therefore, to Christ, brothers, hold fast to faith, hold fast to the way: it will lead you to that which you cannot now see. For in that Head there appeared what is to be hoped for in the members; in that foundation was shown what is to be built up in our faith, so that afterwards it may be perfected in sight: lest perhaps, when you think you are perceiving, something should appear to you through a false image as if it were what it is not, and, having abandoned the way, you should stray off into error, and fail to arrive at the homeland to which the way leads, that is, at the sight to which faith leads.

Chapter XXVI. — 28. The life will be like that of the Angels, lacking the works of corruption and of need. A perpetual Sabbath. Why there will be no works of mercy there. You will say: How do the Angels live? It is enough for you to know this, that they do not live corruptibly. For it can more easily be told you what will not be there than what will be there. For I too, my brothers, can briefly run through for you certain things that will not be there: and I can do this for this reason, because we have experienced them, and we know those things which will not be there. But what will be there we have not yet experienced. For we walk by faith, not yet by sight: as long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims away from the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6–7). What, then, will not be there? Taking a wife so that children may be begotten; because there is no death there: there will be no growing up there, because there is no growing old either: there will be no refreshment, because there is no failing either: there will be no business there, because there is no need either; nor even those praiseworthy works of innocent men which the want and necessity of this life compel them to perform. For I do not say only that the works of robbers or usurers will not be there, but that even those things which innocent men do on account of need, to relieve human necessities, will not be there.

Chapter XXVII. — There will be a perpetual Sabbath, which is celebrated by the Jews temporally, but is understood by us as being for eternity. The rest will be ineffable, a rest which cannot be explained; but, as I said, it is explained after a fashion when the things that will not be there are spoken of. Towards that rest we are tending, for that rest we are spiritually regenerated. For just as we are born carnally to labours, so are we spiritually reborn to rest, as He cries out: Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you (Matt. 11:28). Here He feeds, there He perfects: here He promises, there He pays: here He signifies, there He expresses. But when in that beatitude we have been made perfect and whole in both spirit and body, these affairs will not exist; nor will those things be there which are praised here among the good works of Christians. For what Christian is not praised for holding out bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking in the stranger, making peace with the quarrelsome, visiting the sick, burying the dead,

consoling the mourner? Great works, full of mercy, full of praise and grace. But not even these will be there: for it was the necessity of misery that brought about the works of mercy. Whom do you feed, where no one hungers? To whom do you give drink, where no one thirsts? Or are you going to clothe the naked, where all are clothed with immortality itself? You heard a little earlier of the tunics of the saints, when the Apostle said, This corruptible must put on incorruption [1 Cor. 15:53]. Where 'put on' is sounded, a garment is indicated. This garment Adam lost, so that he received skins. Or are you going to take in a stranger, where all live in their own homeland? Will you visit the sick, where all will flourish in the same firmness of incorruption? Are you going to bury the dead, where they live for ever? To reconcile litigants, where all things are at peace? To console the sorrowful, where all will rejoice for ever? Since, then, miseries will cease together, these works of mercy will cease.

Chapter XXVIII. — 29. What the activity of the blessed will be after the resurrection. Amen and Alleluia will be our whole activity, without weariness. What then will be done there? Have I not already said that it is easier for me to say what will not be there than what will be there? This I know, brethren, that we are not going to sleep in idleness, since sleep itself was given to the soul as a support for its failing. For the frail body would not bear a perpetual exertion that agitates the mortal senses, unless, with the senses lulled to rest, that very frailty were restored to bear the same agitation; and just as renewal is to come out of death, so now wakefulness would come out of sleep. There, therefore, it will not be. For where there is no death, there will not be the image of death either. Yet let no fear of weariness creep up on anyone, when he is told that he will always be awake and will not be doing anything. I can say it, and yet how exactly it is to be I cannot say, because I cannot yet see it: yet I say something not shamelessly, because I say it from the Scriptures, namely what our activity will be there. Our whole activity will be Amen and Alleluia. What do you say, brethren? I see that you hear and have rejoiced. But do not again be saddened by carnal thinking, because if perhaps one of you stood and said Amen and Alleluia daily, he would wither with weariness, and in those very words he would grow drowsy, and would now wish to be silent: and for that reason he would think that life is contemptible to him and not desirable, while you say to yourselves: We are going to say Amen and Alleluia for ever, who will hold out? I will say, then, if I can, as far as I can. Not with passing sounds shall we say Amen and Alleluia, but with the affection of the mind. For what is Amen? what is Alleluia? Amen is 'true': Alleluia, 'praise God'. Since, then, God is unchangeable truth, without falling short, without advancing, without loss, without increase, without the leaning of any falsehood, remaining perpetual and stable and always incorruptible; while these things that we do in the creature and in this life are as it were figures of realities through the significations of bodies, and certain things in which we walk by faith: when we see face to face what we now see through a mirror in an enigma (1 Cor. 13:12), then with a far different, and an ineffably different, affection we shall say, True

it is; and when we say this, we shall indeed say Amen, but with an insatiable satiety. For because nothing will be lacking, therefore there is satiety; but because that which will not be lacking will always delight, therefore there will be a certain, if it can be said, insatiable satiety. As insatiably, then, as you will be satiated with truth, so with insatiable truth you will say, Amen. Now who can say what it is like, that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9)? Since, therefore, without any weariness and with perpetual delight we shall see what is true, and shall contemplate it with the most certain evidence, kindled by love of the truth itself and clinging to it in a sweet and chaste embrace, and that an incorporeal one, with such a voice too we shall praise Him, and shall say, Alleluia. For, exulting themselves towards a like praise with most ardent charity towards one another and towards God, all the citizens of that city will say, Alleluia; because they will say, Amen.

Chapter XXIX. — 30. The rest and reclining of the blessed in the contemplation and praise of truth. This life of the saints, then, will so fill even their bodies, changed into a heavenly and angelic state, and will so immortally quicken them, that no corruption of necessity may turn them aside or call them away from that most blessed contemplation and praise of truth. Thus their food will be truth itself, and their rest will be as a reclining at table. For what has been said, that they will feast reclining, as the Lord says, For many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of My Father (Matt. 8:11): by this it is signified that with great rest they will be fed on the food of truth. For such food refreshes, and does not fail; it fills and is whole: you are made complete, it is not consumed. Such is that food, not like this one, which fails in order to refresh, and, lest he who receives it should end his life, is itself ended. That reclining, therefore, will be everlasting rest: those viands will be unchangeable truth: that feasting will be eternal life, that is, knowledge itself. For this, He says, is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).

Chapter XXX. — 31. The life of those who are delightfully and supremely at leisure in the vision of God. A prayer after the sermon. For that that life in the contemplation of truth will endure not only ineffably but also delightfully, Scripture testifies in many places, all of which we cannot recount. Hence is that saying: He who loves Me keeps My commandments; and I will love him, and will show Myself to him (John 14:21). For as though a fruit and reward were being sought from Him because His commandments are kept: I will show, He says, Myself to him; setting forth perfect blessedness, that He may be known as He is. Hence too is that saying: Most beloved, we are sons of God, but it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Therefore the Apostle Paul too says, Then, face to face (1 Cor. 13:12): for he also said in another place, We are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). And in the Psalms He says, Be at leisure, and see that I am the Lord (Ps. 45:11). Then, therefore, He will be seen best, when supremely