The body will rise, changed into a heavenly body

Therefore the body will rise again according to the Christian faith, which cannot deceive. To anyone who finds this incredible, it is because he pays attention to what flesh is like now and does not consider what it will be like in the future. For at that time of angelic change it will no longer be flesh and blood, but only body. When the apostle was speaking about flesh, he said: “There is one kind of flesh of cattle, another of birds, another of fish, another of snakes. And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:39–40). He did not say “and heavenly flesh”; he said “heavenly and earthly bodies.” For every flesh is also a body, but not every body is also flesh. First, among these earthly things, wood is a body but not flesh; but a human being or a cow is both body and flesh. In heavenly things, however, there is no flesh, but simple and bright bodies, which the apostle calls spiritual, though some call them ethereal. And so what he says does not contradict the resurrection of the body: “Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Rather, he foretells what that which is now flesh and blood will become. Anyone who does not believe that this flesh can be changed into such a nature should be led to faith by steps. If you ask him whether earth can be turned into water, because of their nearness it does not seem incredible to him. Again, if you ask whether water can become air, he answers that this is not absurd either, for they are close to each other. And if you ask about air, whether it can be changed into an ethereal body, that is, a heavenly one, the very nearness persuades him. So what he grants can happen through these steps—that earth is turned into an ethereal body—why does he not believe that, when God’s will is added, by which a human body was able to walk on the waters, it can happen most swiftly, as it is said, “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52), without any such steps, just as smoke is often turned into flame with marvelous speed? For our flesh is certainly from earth. Yet the philosophers, whose arguments are often used to resist the resurrection of the body, and who assert that no earthly body can exist in heaven, grant that every body can be turned and changed into every body. When this resurrection of the body has taken place, freed from the condition of time, we will fully enjoy eternal life with ineffable love and stability, without corruption. For then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your strife?” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55).