never be a judgment; or bodies, too, which have participated in righteousness, will attain to
the place of enjoyment, along with the souls which have in like manner participated, if indeed
righteousness is powerful enough to bring thither those substances which have participated
in it. And then the doctrine concerning the resurrection of bodies which we believe, will
emerge true and certain [from their system]; since, [as we hold,] God, when He resuscitates
our mortal bodies which preserved righteousness, will render them incorruptible and im-
mortal. For God is superior to nature, and has in Himself the disposition [to show kindness],
because He is good; and the ability to do so, because He is mighty; and the faculty of fully
carrying out His purpose, because He is rich and perfect.
3. But these men are in all points inconsistent with themselves, when they decide that
all souls do not enter into the intermediate place, but those of the righteous only. For they
maintain that, according to nature and substance, three sorts [of being] were produced by
the Mother: the first, which proceeded from perplexity, and weariness, and fear—that is
material substance; the second from impetuosity595—that is animal substance; but that
which she brought forth after the vision of those angels who wait upon Christ, is spiritual
substance. If, then, that substance596 which she brought forth will by all means enter into
the Pleroma because it is spiritual, while that which is material will remain below because
it is material, and shall be totally consumed by the fire which burns within it, why should
not the whole animal substance go into the intermediate place, into which also they send
the Demiurge? But what is it which shall enter within their Pleroma? For they maintain that
souls shall continue in the intermediate place, while bodies, because they possess material
substance, when they have been resolved into matter, shall be consumed by that fire which
exists in it; but their body being thus destroyed, and their soul remaining in the intermediate
place, no part of man will any longer be left to enter in within the Pleroma. For the intellect
of man—his mind, thought, mental intention, and such like—is nothing else than his soul;
but the emotions and operations of the soul itself have no substance apart from the soul.
What part of them, then, will still remain to enter into the Pleroma? For they themselves,
in as far as they are souls, remain in the intermediate place; while, in as far as they are body,
they will be consumed with the rest of matter.
595 “De impetu:” it is generally supposed that these words correspond to ἐκ τῆς ἐπιστροφῆς (comp. i. 5, 1),
but Harvey thinks ἐξ ὁρμῆς preferable (i. 4, 1).
596 The syntax of this sentence is in utter confusion, but the meaning is doubtless that given above.
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Chapter XXIX.—Refutation of the views of the heretics as to the future destiny…