Chapter 91.—The
Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual
Bodies.
The bodies of the saints, then,
shall rise again free from every defect, from every blemish, as
from all corruption, weight, and impediment. For their ease of
movement shall be as complete as their happiness. Whence their
bodies have been called
spiritual
, though undoubtedly they
shall be bodies and not spirits. For just as now the body is called
animate
, though it is a body, and not a soul [
anima
],
so then the body shall be called spiritual, though it shall be a
body, not a spirit.
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Hence, as far as regards the
corruption which now weighs down the soul, and the vices which urge
the flesh to lust against the spirit,
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it shall not then be flesh, but
body; for there are bodies which are called celestial. Wherefore it
is said, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;”
and, as if in explanation of this, “neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption.”
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What the apostle first called
“flesh and blood,” he afterwards calls “corruption;” and
what he first called “the kingdom of God,” he afterwards calls
“incorruption.” But as far as regards the substance, even then
it shall be flesh. For even after the resurrection the body of
Christ was called flesh.
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The apostle, however, says: “It
is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body;”
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because so
perfect, shall then be the harmony between flesh and spirit, the
spirit keeping alive the subjugated flesh without the need of any
nourishment, that no part of our nature shall be in discord with
another; but as we shall be free from enemies without, so we shall
not have ourselves for enemies within.
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1 Cor. xv. 44
. [See
R.V.]
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Wisd. ix. 15
;
Gal. v.
17
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1 Cor. xv. 50
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Luke xxiv. 39
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1 Cor. xv. 44