Fragmenta in epistulam i ad Corinthios

Since some in Corinth were saying that the soul is perishable and the resurrection of the body superfluous, Paul refutes their error and says: I make known to you the gospel, through which you were called from polytheistic error to knowledge of the true God, through which you are confirmed and have salvation. I make known to you the gospel of God, so that you may know that the mention of the resurrection of the dead is not mine, nor that of any man. He delivered to me the gospel, that the Savior, having sojourned and truly borne a body, died and was buried for the sake of raising the dead, and rose again. Then, lest the simpler ones be disturbed by the death of Christ, he adds: according to the scriptures. For he suffered such things as the prophets had previously proclaimed about him. Since, then, he died and was buried and rose again, it follows that men will rise because of the one who rose for them, he himself having become the cause of the resurrection. But if Christ is said to have died and been buried, this is to be understood of his body, not of his soul. Since, then, they believed in the resurrection of the Savior, they are blameworthy for not also accepting the resurrection of all together with the resurrection of the Savior. Of this resurrection of his, those who were first with him, and then five hundred, are eyewitnesses worthy of testimony. These things, he says, I deliver, which those who deceive you cannot gainsay. Nevertheless, even if the dead body rises, it is incorruptible and spiritual; therefore it did not appear to all, but only to those he wished.

Thus after the assumption he appeared to Paul, who, being modest, calls himself an abortion, aware that he had come from repentance to being an apostle, and as one not even worthy of the name, having been a persecutor. Yet even if he was such before, now he is a teacher, having this as a gift. Even if he was once a persecutor, now he is a teacher by the gift of God, which did not exist in him in vain, since, strengthened by it, he endured the struggles for the pious faith all the more. And the entire achievement he had from his own choice he attributes to the grace given to him from God. If someone says that the dead are not raised, since it is necessary that all rise because Christ rose, does he not then necessarily say that Christ has not been raised? But if he has not risen, see how many absurdities arise: we who have said this will be found false witnesses against God, and even if, like you, we foolishly assented to the resurrection of the Lord, yet, having thought ourselves freed from sins by faith in the risen one, we did not cast off our sins. The one who does not accept that the human soul is immortal and therefore disbelieves in the resurrection—such a one is pitiable, depriving himself of eternal life, for which the saints are rich, obtaining worthy rewards. Even if some disbelieve, we await the resurrection, knowing that Christ has become the firstfruits, the resurrection of the fallen asleep; through whom all will experience immortal life, for it is consequent. Since because Adam transgressed the law, all from him have died, so also in Christ, who knew no sin, they will be given life.

Some of the heretics say that only the soul of the righteous is given life in Christ, because there is no **; for the giving of life will be for all who have died in Adam. Since the resurrection of Christ is before all, it will be first in honor; then in order the faithful are arranged according to the proportion of faith they have at the coming of Christ, after which is the end, thus distinguished from the beginning, but that for the sake of which all other things that contribute to salvation exist, while it itself does not exist for the sake of another, being the ultimate object of desire in itself and choiceworthy for its own sake. Here he calls "kingdom" those who are ruled, that is, his own flesh which the Son delivered to the Father to improve, no longer ruled as the form of a slave but as being the flesh of the Word which is the Son himself, having displayed the form of God in it. For then, when the Son has recovered the glory he had before the world existed, they will be ruled by one king, father and son. Therefore Christ must reign for the advancement of all until all who are enemies because of sin are placed under his feet, he destroying every tyrannical power, after which death itself, the chief evil, is destroyed, since every soul united with him undergoes death united with evil. These things are said against the mythology and deception of the Greeks, who claim that gods are parricides, and that when the church is subjected, he himself is said to be subjected, appropriating the persecutions, sufferings, and subjection of the church.

The followers of Marcion baptize the living instead of the unenlightened dead, not knowing that baptism saves only the one who has received it. The apostle calls the bodies for which we are baptized "dead"; for by their own nature, without a soul, these do not live, but they have their life from the souls that accompany them. Yet Abraham also called a soulless body "dead." If the soul is not immortal, if the body does not rise, then it is vain to risk danger for piety. As far as human reasoning goes, I fought with beasts in Ephesus, not having wished to undergo this for the truth if the dead do not rise. Do not be deceived, O Corinthians, as if the rational soul does not endure; for those who deceive you, thinking it perishes, corrupt it along with themselves. Those who are clothed with bodies say that one must live in luxury; for tomorrow we die, there being no other life besides the visible one, like irrational animals whose soul vanishes with the body, since it was sown together with it. Therefore, one must not tolerate base discourses that corrupt the minds of the simple. One must be vigilant in thought so that it does not happen that one errs by assenting to the rotten deception concerning the resurrection. And "wake up" is rightly said, as not all do this; for the wise, being wakeful for doing evil, unjustly wake up concerning harmful things, having supposedly cast off the sleep of ignorance. The one speaking in Christ says to the one who doubts the resurrection of the dead, as if speaking unintelligibly:

Fool, if you doubt that a dead human body rises, know that you cast seeds that have died into the earth, convinced that they would not change into plants unless they were sown dead. The body that rises is different from what you sowed; for you placed a grain into the earth, but God raised an ear of grain. To one of the questions, which asks how the dead rise, the account concerning the sown seeds applies; to the other question, namely with what body they come, he provides the demonstration by division, and having divided bodies into earthly and heavenly, he said that the glory of the risen human bodies is like that of the heavenly bodies—the sun, moon, and stars. They are similar to the glory of the luminaries and stars, but not all the bodies of those who rise, only those of the well-lived and self-disciplined; for even if the bodies of the wicked rise incorruptible, they are nevertheless deprived of the glory of the heavenly bodies. And it should be noted that the glory of the risen bodies is substantial, as is that of the luminaries.

Just as the rational soul, not being virtue or vice, is receptive of both, so also our body, not being corruption or incorruption, receives at different times the substantial qualities inherent in it. At any rate, it is not corruption that is sown and incorruption that is raised, but it is raised in incorruption. And what follows for that which is sown in corruption is that it is sown in weakness and dishonor and as a psychic body; similarly, what follows for that which is raised in incorruption is that it is raised in power and glory and as a spiritual body. When we say incorruptible body, we do not mean a fifth substance, as some supposed concerning the stars, which we always say is incorruptible, but we call incorruptible that which has become incorruptible from being corruptible by the grace of God. Thus it is unchangeable and immutable with respect to change, for such a thing has not undergone change, but by enduring into long-lasting life, either being punished or honored. Since the body is sown from the union of male with female, reasonably dishonor and weakness will be about it, being the body of a soul, the previous quality having perished in it; it is raised by the power of God, having incorruption and power and honor, having been shown to be a spiritual body, existing as an instrument of the soul, no longer of the soul simply, but of the soul raised by participation in the Holy Spirit and, as it were, transformed into spirit. Since the soul that persists in the passions, fittingly the body of such a soul is also called psychic. But if the soul rises above the passible state, it becomes spiritual, and the body of such a soul, which is intertwined with it, is called spiritual.

Since the soul, as it progresses, ascends to the spiritual, he first said that the psychic body exists, and then the spiritual. And it must be understood that the body of those who rise from the dead is likened to the spiritual body of Christ, which came to be after the resurrection. Therefore we do not pay attention to those who say that the body rises such as Adam had, a psychic one. Now the life of the first Adam prepared man to live for a living soul, but the life according to Christ is not for a living soul but for a life-giving spirit. And spiritual life-giving is inherent in those who rise from the dead. He fittingly said "first and last," not "first and second man," so that we may learn that some have become intermediate, between the first and the last man in conduct. Since the contemplation concerning resurrection has depth of understanding, he fittingly says: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will all die and fall asleep, but only the righteous will be changed, shining forth like the sun." For only these, changing for the better in soul and body, will be transformed. For it is not consistent to say, according to some other text that is transmitted thus: "Not all will fall asleep, but all will be changed," because of what immediately follows: "and we will be changed." For if all are changed, it is superfluous to say "and we will be changed." The dead will be raised, their body, which was formerly perishable, becoming imperishable.

Some say here that "we will be changed" instead of "as if we were some others besides the dead," who, they say, rise incorruptible in body, with the souls being changed according to a better and more divine quality, being altered. Another says that the sinners are the dead, the incorruptible rising to endure eternal punishments, while those who have lived according to virtue are changed from glory to glory. Now, what is mortal and corruptible is not the reverse. Therefore, the corruptible puts on incorruption, and the mortal puts on immortality at the time of the resurrection of the dead. Just as when virtue is present, vice does not exist, so when immortality is present, death is obliterated. Hence, when the mortal puts on immortality, death, being defeated, is swallowed up, as it is said to him: "Where is your victory by which you made the dead? Where is your sting with which you were strong, wounding?" For it stings by casting sins into the reasoning of those struck by it, and it conquers those who sin in action. The citation is found in Hosea, not in the same words; for instead of "justice

the apostle spoke of victory. Since the enemy death has been destroyed, you remain steadfast and firm in faith, continuously and uninterruptedly performing the work assigned to you by the Lord, confidently trusting that your labor in the Lord is not in vain, since eternal reward is laid up for those who always do the work. On the first day of the week, the Lord's day of resurrection, you therefore store up for yourselves whatever your strength can set aside, without distress and without compulsion, so that I may find you ready for the offering when I arrive, so that when I come, the beginning of preparing for the communion may not take place. He wrote this letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. He says there that he waits for a reasonable cause; for a prominent door, very effective for the hearers, has been opened to him; hence he had many opposing, mischievous demons and deceitful and fraudulent men; for the wicked become many in opposing when they see the word of faith prevailing among those who receive it; and it is his custom to call the frankness of the word of piety a door. When those being instructed are firm and immovable concerning piety, the teachers visit them without fear, not fearing that any negligence exists among the hearers. Therefore he says: pay attention to yourselves, so that Timothy may be encouraged to come to you, not fearing that you might be changed. He used this meaning of fear also in the following letter, saying: I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, so your thoughts might be corrupted.

This Timothy is the one about whom I write the foregoing, a genuine servant of God, performing the work of the master similarly to me. Therefore let him not be belittled by you, but let him be received genuinely with love, and also sent on his way; for I am waiting in Asia until he returns to me with the brothers. Since Apollos was bishop of Corinth, he withdrew from them because of the schisms among them and was with Paul, and now, though asked, he did not travel with the letter; and he states the reason why he did not go: that it was not his will. Then, encouraging them, he writes: but he will come when he has opportunity, the opportunity of his visit to you being provided by you, when there are no longer schisms among you. Following upon one who is properly vigilant, in not giving sleep to his eyes nor drowsiness to his eyelids, is standing firmly in faith, after which follows: "Be men and be strong," as an athlete and soldier of Christ, doing everything with love toward God and neighbor. They are called firstfruits either because they believed before the others, or because they excel in piety, or because they are preeminent in family, who, because of the humility inherent in them, not being elected but brought to this by their own resolve, appointed themselves to service. Therefore submit to such persons, having them as an image and example, so that you too may appoint yourselves to the service of the saints. Together with Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus, being of the same purpose as he, filled in what was left undone by you, and they set at rest your spirit and mine.

The spirit of the holy one is at rest in one who thinks and does the things of piety; for the spirit seeks good things as they are: in the case of base persons, it is called soul, but in the case of holy persons, spirit, that which leaps forth in willing what is noble. Therefore those who live well and think rightly must be recognized by thinking and doing the same things. Thus also Origen holds that the spirit has something more than the soul in virtue, even if both spirit and soul exist. Sufficiently rousing them to love, he writes: "The churches of Asia and all the holy and reverent men dwelling in her greet you." Lest some be deceived by those writing under the name of the apostle, he makes this a sign of his own and not his own letters: that they have been inscribed by his own hand, and what is written is by his holy right hand. If anyone does not love our Lord, let him be anathema. Maran atha. But one does not love the Lord who does not keep his commandments; therefore this one is also anathema, knowing that the Lord has come who judges the works of men, saying: "I love those who love me." But if he loves those who love him, consider what will overtake those who do not love him.