The resurrection as God's original purpose, shown by Abel, Enoch, Elijah, and the Spirit's guarantee

For the question is not only that we rise and put on immortality, but that after rising and putting on immortality, we may not be found naked of glory and of confidence before God—so that we may not be handed over to the fire. That is why he says: “If indeed, having put it on, we will not be found naked” (2 Corinthians 5:3). Then, making the argument about the resurrection more trustworthy, after saying that what is mortal is going to be swallowed up by life, he added: “And the one who worked us for this very thing is God” (2 Corinthians 5:5). What he means is this: from the beginning God formed the human being for this purpose, not so that he might perish, but so that he might journey toward incorruption. So even when he permitted death, he permitted it with this intention: that you might be disciplined by the punishment, and having become better, you might be able to be led again to immortality. From above and from the beginning this counsel and purpose prevailed with God, and with this decree he formed the first human being. He hinted this to us immediately from the very opening events. For if he had not wanted to open the doors of the resurrection to us from the beginning, he would not have allowed Abel, who had displayed every virtue and had become his friend, to suffer what he suffered. But now, showing us that we are journeying toward another life, and that another age remains for the righteous, holding the rewards and crowns laid up, he allowed the first righteous man, who did not receive here the wages of his labors, to depart crying out through what he suffered, saying to all that after this life there is a recompense and a wage and a reward. For this reason he also translated Enoch and snatched up Elijah, hinting to us the doctrine of the resurrection. The power of the Maker is enough for full assurance. But if someone is weaker and wants to receive another proof and a pledge of the coming resurrection, God gave this too with great abundance, pouring out the grace of the Spirit with great generosity. For this reason Paul, after making the argument about the resurrection trustworthy from the resurrection of Christ and from God being the Creator, adds this saying as well, saying that he also gave us a guarantee—not of money, nor of gold and silver, but a guarantee of the Spirit. And a guarantee is a part of the whole, and it is trustworthy for the whole. For just as in contracts the one who has received the guarantee is confident about the whole from then on and has believed, so you too, having received the guarantee—I mean the gifts of the Spirit—no longer doubt about the good things laid up for you. For the one who raises the dead, who heals the blind, who drives out demons, who cleanses lepers, who sets diseases right, who looses death, who can do such great things in a perishable and mortal body—what pardon will you obtain if you doubt about the resurrection? For if the time of recompense has not yet come, but the wrestling matches are still standing, and God has already rewarded us with so many crowns, consider how many good things he will give you at the time of the prizes. But if someone says: “We do not see these signs happening now, and we do not have such power,” I would say this: it makes no difference whether these things happened now or before.