On the Resurrection of the Dead · §20 · Athenagoras

Death either ends all life or leaves the soul alone, and in neither case can judgment be just

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Athenagoras is arguing that if death is either total extinction or the survival of the soul alone, God's judgment of human deeds cannot be just.

For either death is the complete extinction of life, the soul being dissolved together with the body and destroyed along with it, or the soul remains by itself indissoluble, unscattered, and incorruptible, while the body is destroyed and dissolved, no longer preserving any memory of what was done or any awareness of what it suffered. If human life is completely extinguished, then clearly no care will be shown for human beings who no longer live, and there will be no judgment for those who lived in virtue or in wickedness. Instead, the practices of lawless life will roll in again, along with the swarm of absurdities that follow them, and the chief point of this lawlessness: godlessness. But if the body is destroyed and each of its dissolved parts goes to what is akin to it, while the soul remains by itself as incorruptible, even so there will be no place for judgment against it, since justice would not be present. For it is not lawful to suppose that any judgment comes from God and by God unless what is just belongs to it. And what is just does not belong to the judgment unless the one who performed the justice or the lawlessness is preserved. For the one who performed each of the deeds in life on which judgment is passed was a human being, not a soul by itself. To speak in summary, this argument will preserve justice in no case.

Greek

Ἤτοι γὰρ παντελής ἐστι σβέσις τῆς ζωῆς ὁ θάνατος, συνδιαλυομένης τῷ σώματι τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ συνδιαφθειρομένης, ἢ μένει μὲν καθ᾿ ἑαυτὴν ἄλυτος ἡ ψυχή, ἀσκέδαστος, ἀδιάφθορος, φθείρεται δὲ καὶ διαλύεται τὸ σῶμα, οὐδεμίαν ἔτι σῶζον οὔτε μνήμην τῶν εἰργασμένων οὔτ᾿ αἴσθησιν τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ παθημάτων. Σβεννυμένης μὲν γὰρ παντελῶς τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωῆς, οὐδεμία φανήσεται τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐ ζώντων φροντίς, οὐ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκότων ἡ κρίσις, ἐπεισκυκληθήσεται δὲ πάλιν τὰ τῆς ἀνόμου ζωῆς καὶ τῶν ταύτῃ συνεπομένων ἀτόπων τὸ σμῆνος, τό τε τῆς ἀνομίας ταύτης κεφάλαιον ἀθεότητος. Εἰ δὲ φθείροιτο μὲν τὸ σῶμα καὶ χωροίη πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς τῶν λελυμένων ἕκαστον, μένοι δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ καθ᾿ ἑαυτὴν ὡς ἄφθαρτος, οὐδ᾿ οὕτως ἕξει χώραν ἡ κατ᾿ αὐτῆς κρίσις, μὴ προσούσης δικαιοσύνης· ἐπειδὴ μηδὲ θεμιτὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ γίνεσθαί τινα κρίσιν, ᾗ μὴ πρόσεστι τὸ δίκαιον. Οὐ πρόσεστι δὲ τῇ κρίσει τὸ δίκαιον, μὴ σωζομένου τοῦ διαπραξαμένου τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἢ τὴν ἀνομίαν· ὁ γὰρ διαπραξάμενος ἕκαστον τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐφ᾿ οἷς ἡ κρίσις ἄνθρωπος ἦν, οὐ ψυχὴ καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν. Τὸ δὲ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἐπ᾿ οὐδενὸς φυλάξει τὸ δίκαιον.

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.