On the Resurrection of the Dead · §13 · Athenagoras

The cause of creation proves resurrection

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Athenagoras has just finished arguing that resurrection is possible for God and not blocked by objections about bodies eaten by animals; now he begins the positive argument from God's purpose in creating human beings.

We take courage from these things no less than from what has already happened, and we also examine our own nature. We embrace the life that involves need and decay, since it belongs to this present existence, and we firmly hope for continuance in incorruptibility. We do not invent this hope from human sources, deceiving ourselves with empty expectations. Rather, we have trusted in a most unerring guarantee: the purpose of the one who made us. According to that purpose, God made the human being from immortal soul and body. He also equipped the human being with mind and an innate law for salvation and for the keeping of what God had given, gifts suited to a rational life and an intelligent way of living. We know well that God would not have fashioned such a living creature and adorned it with everything needed for continuance unless he willed that what came into being should continue.

If, then, the maker of this universe made the human being in order to partake of intelligent life, and made him a beholder of God's magnificence and of his wisdom over all things so that he might continue forever in the contemplation of these things, according to the maker's purpose and the nature he received, then the cause of his coming to be vouches for continuance forever, and continuance vouches for the resurrection, without which a human being could not continue. From what has been said, it is quite clear that the resurrection is plainly demonstrated by the cause of his coming to be and by the purpose of the one who made him.

Since this is the cause for which the human being has been brought into this world, it would be fitting to examine the argument that follows from this by nature and in due order. In this examination, next after the cause of coming to be comes the nature of human beings who have been born. What follows the nature of those who have come to be is the just judgment of the maker concerning these things. And what follows all these is the end of life. Since the matters set out first have been examined by us, we must next consider the nature of human beings.

Greek

Ἐπὶ δὲ τούτοις τεθαῤῥηκότες, οὐ μεῖον ἢ τοῖς ἤδη γενομένοις, καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐπισκοποῦντες φύσιν, τήν τε μετ᾿ ἐνδείας καὶ φθορᾶς ζωὴν στέργομεν, ὡς τῷ παρόντι βίῳ προσήκουσαν, καὶ τὴν ἐν ἐφθαρσίᾳ διαμονὴν ἐλπίζομεν βεβαίως· ἣν οὐ παρ᾿ ἀνθρώπων ἀναπλάττομεν μάτην, ψευδέσιν ἑαυτοὺς βουκολοῦντες ἐλπίσιν, ἀπλανεστάτῳ δὲ πεπιστεύκαμεν ἐχεγγύῳ, τῇ τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος ἡμᾶς γνώμῃ, καθ᾿ ἣν ἐποίησεν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ ψυχῆς ἀθανάτου καὶ σώματος, νοῦν τε συγκατεσκεύασεν αὐτῷ καὶ νόμον ἔμφυτον ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ φυλακῇ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ δεδομένων, ἔμφρονί τε βίῳ καὶ ζωῇ λογικῇ προσηκόντων, εὖ εἰδότες ὡς οὐκ ἂν τοιοῦτον κατεσκεύασε ζῶον καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πρὸς διαμονὴν ἐκόσμησεν, εἰ μὴ διαμένειν ἐβούλετο τὸ γενόμενον. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς δημιουργὸς ἐποίησεν ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῷ ζωῆς ἔμφρονος μετασχεῖν, καὶ γενόμενον θεωρὸν τῆς τε μεγαλοπρεπείας αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ πᾶσι σοφίας τῇ τούτων συνδιαμένειν ἀεὶ θεωρίᾳ, κατὰ τὴν ἐκείνου γνώμην καὶ καθ᾿ ἣν εἴληχε φύσιν, ἡ μὲν τῆς γενέσεως αἰτία πιστοῦται τὴν εἰς ἀεὶ διαμονήν, ἡ δὲ διαμονὴ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἧς χωρὶς οὐκ ἂν διαμείνειεν ἄνθρωπος. Ἐκ δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων εὔδηλον ὡς τῇ τῆς γενέσεως αἰτίᾳ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ ποιήσαντος δείκνυται σαφῶς ἡ ἀνάστασις. Τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς αἰτίας οὔσης, καθ᾿ ἣν εἰς τόνδε παρῆκται τὸν κόσμον ἄνθρωπος, ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη τὸν τούτοις κατὰ φύσιν ἢ καθ᾿ εἱρμὸν ἑπόμενον διασκέψασθαι λόγον· ἕπεται δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἐξέτασιν τῇ μὲν αἰτίᾳ τῆς γενέσεως ἡ τῶν γεννηθέντων ἀνθρώπων φύσις, τῇ δὲ φύσει τῶν γενομένων ἡ τοῦ ποιήσαντος ἐπὶ τούτοις δικαία κρίσις, τούτοις τε πᾶσι τὸ τοῦ βίου τέλος. Ἐξητασμένων δὲ ἡμῖν τῶν προτεταγμένων ἐπισκεπτέον ἑξῆς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν.

About this text

Athenagoras argues that God can raise the dead, and that the rising of the body fits God's purpose, human nature, and justice.

Athenagoras (fl. c. 177) was an Athenian philosopher who converted to Christianity and wrote in Greek as a Christian apologist. This treatise is addressed to those who disbelieve or doubt the resurrection of the dead, urging them to examine the question rationally rather than by idle speculation. He wrote to show that bodily resurrection is both possible for God and consistent with God's purpose, human nature, and divine justice.

The work answers pagan philosophers and other critics who claimed that resurrection was impossible or contrary to God's will. Athenagoras first argues that disbelief is unreasonable unless critics can prove resurrection impossible or unwilled by God. He then shows that God's knowledge and power make resurrection possible, and that apparent difficulties such as bodies eaten by animals do not prevent it, because only what is truly proper food can be united to a body.

A reader will meet the critics who raise objections, including the mythological figure Thyestes as an example of cannibalism, and an unnamed apostle quoted as saying that the corruptible must put on incorruptibility. Athenagoras argues from God's purpose in creating humans, from human nature as a compound of soul and body, and from divine justice, which requires that the whole human being receive reward or punishment. The apostle quoted is Paul, and the saying about the corruptible putting on incorruptibility comes from 1 Corinthians 15:54.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Athenagorae Philosophi Atheniensis Opera Athenagoras Johann Karl Theodor von Otto Mauke Jena 1857 (Greek)

This work has not yet been re-checked against its source. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.