On the Resurrection of the Dead · §9 · Athenagoras

God's power is not limited like human craftsmen's

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Athenagoras is opening his argument by answering critics who compare God's ability to raise the dead with human artisans' inability to repair broken works.

Many considerations would be more useful for the present inquiry, but for now I reject those who flee for refuge to the works of humans and to the human makers of those works. These makers cannot renew their works when they are broken, aged by time, or destroyed in some other way, and then from this likeness to potters and carpenters they try to show that God either would not wish or, if he did wish, would not be able to raise up a body that has died or been dissolved. They do not reckon that by these arguments they insult God in the worst way, making equal together the powers of things that are entirely distinct—or rather, making equal the substances of those who use these powers, and the artificial things with the natural things. To be zealous about such people, then, is not free from blame, for it is truly foolish to argue against superficial and empty objections. Yet it is far more honorable and truest of all to say that what is impossible for humans is possible for God. And if the argument shows through these very things, as reputable, and through all that was examined a little earlier, that it is possible, then it is clear that it is not impossible. Nor, indeed, is it unwilled.

Greek

Πολλῶν δὲ ὄντων τῶν εἰς τὴν προκειμένην ἐξέτασιν χρησιμωτέρων, παραιτοῦμαι δὴ νῦν τοὺς καταφεύγοντας ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔργα καὶ τοὺς τούτων δημιουργοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οἳ τὰ συντριβέντα τῶν ἔργων ἢ χρόνῳ παλαιωθέντα ἢ καὶ ἄλλως διαφθαρέντα καινουργεῖν ἀδυνατοῦσιν, εἶτα ἐξ ὁμοίου τοῖς κεραμεῦσι καὶ τέκτοσι δεικνύναι πειρωμένους τὸ καὶ τὸν θεὸν μήτ᾿ ἂν βουληθῆναι μήτε βουληθέντα δυνηθῆναι νεκρωθὲν ἢ καὶ διαλυθὲν ἀναστῆσαι σῶμα, καὶ μὴ λογιζομένους ὅτι διὰ τούτων τοῖς χειρίστοις ἐξυβρίζουσιν εἰς θεόν, συνεξισοῦντες τῶν πάντη διεστηκότων τὰς δυνάμεις, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῶν ταύταις χρωμένων τὰς οὐσίας καὶ τὰ τεχνητὰ τοῖς φυσικοῖς. Περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων σπουδάζειν οὐκ ἀνεπιτίμητον· ἠλίθιον γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸ τοῖς ἐπιπολαίοις καὶ ματαίοις ἀντιλέγειν. Μακρῷ γε μὴν ἐνδοξότερον καὶ πάντων ἀληθέστατον τὸ φῆσαι τὸ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἀδυνατὸν παρὰ θεῷ δυνατόν. Εἰ δὲ δἰ αὐτῶν τούτων ὡς ἐνδόξων καὶ διὰ πάντων τῶν μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἐξητασμένων δείκνυσιν ὁ λόγος δυνατόν, εὔδηλον ὡς οὐκ ἀδύνατον. Ἀλλὰ μὴν οὐδ᾿ ἀβούλητον.

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.