Resurrection

Everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is an antichrist, and whoever does not confess the testimony of the cross is from the devil, and whoever twists the sayings of the Lord for one’s own sinful passions, and says that there is neither resurrection nor judgment, this one is the firstborn of Satan. Therefore, leaving behind the idle speculation of the crowd and their false teachings, let us turn back to the word which was delivered to us from the beginning, being self-controlled with regard to prayer and being persistent in fasts, making petitions of the all-seeing God to lead us not into temptation, just as the Lord said, “The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.”

As the stars of heaven do differ from a clod of earth, or from a carrion in a ditch, so will our glorified, immortal bodies differ from this mortal, corruptible flesh. If a skilful workman can turn a little earth and ashes into such curious transparent glasses—as we daily see—and if a little seed that bears no show of such a thing can produce the more beautiful flowers of the earth, and if a little acorn can bring forth the greatest oak, why should we once doubt whether the seed of everlasting life and glory, which is now in the blessed souls with Christ, can by him communicate a perfection to the flesh that is dissolved into its elements?

Since the soul is, in consequence of its salvation, chosen to the service of God, it is the flesh that actually renders it capable of such service. The flesh, indeed, is washed, in order that the soul may be cleansed; the flesh is anointed, that the soul may be consecrated; the flesh is signed (with the cross), that the soul too may be fortified; the flesh is shadowed with the imposition of hands, that the soul also may be illuminated by the Spirit; the flesh feeds on the body and blood of Christ, that the soul likewise may fatten on its God. They cannot then be separated in their recompense, when they are united in their service.