Sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body
So “God gives” “to each” “a body as he willed” (1 Corinthians 15:38): as with things that are sown, so also with those who are, as it were, sown in dying, and who at the fitting time receive from what was sown the “body” that God puts around each one according to his worth. We hear Scripture too, teaching at more length the difference between what is, so to speak, sown and what is, so to speak, raised from it, when it says: “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42–44).
Let anyone who is able go further and grasp what is meant by the one who says: “As is the one of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the heavenly one, so are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the one of dust, so let us also bear the image of the heavenly one” (1 Corinthians 15:48–49).
Though the apostle wished to hide the secret things of this passage, things that do not suit the simpler sort and the common hearing of those who are led to better things through believing, he was still compelled afterwards, so that we would not mishear his words, to say after “let us bear the image of the heavenly one” this: “This I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:50). Then, knowing something secret and mystical in the passage, as befitted one who was leaving his thoughts in writing for those who would come after him, he goes on to say: “Behold, I tell you a mystery” (1 Corinthians 15:51). This is the phrase usually set before things that are deeper and more mystical and are rightly hidden from the many; as it is written in Tobit: “It is good to hide a king’s mystery” (Tobit 12:7), while, with regard to what is glorious and suited to the many, together with truth given by way of accommodation, “it is good” “to reveal the works of God gloriously” (Tobit 12:7).
Our hope, then, is not the hope of worms, nor does our soul long for the body that has rotted. Even if the soul needs a body for moving from place to place, the soul that has meditated on “wisdom,” according to the words “The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom” (Psalm 37:30), understands the difference between the earthly house that is being dissolved, in which the tent is, and the tent in which the righteous, “those who are” in it, groan, “being burdened,” not wishing to put off the tent but to “be clothed over” it, so that through this being “clothed over” “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:1–4).
“For,” since every bodily nature is corruptible, “this corruptible” tent “must put on incorruption,” and its other aspect, which is “mortal” and liable to the death that follows on sin, must “put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53); so that when “the corruptible puts on incorruption and the mortal immortality, then” there “will come to pass” (1 Corinthians 15:54) what the prophets foretold long ago: the overthrow of the victory death won when it conquered us and made us subject to itself (Isaiah 25:8), and of the sting that comes from it, with which it stings the soul that is not guarded on every side and inflicts on it the wounds that come from sin (Hosea 13:14; 1 Corinthians 15:55–56).
Greek
„Ὁ θεὸς“ οὖν „δίδωσιν“ „ἑκάστῳ“ „σῶμα, καθὼς ἐθέ λησεν,“ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν σπειρομένων οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν οἱονεὶ σπειρομένων ἐν τῷ ἀποθνῄσκειν καὶ καιρῷ ἐπιτηδείῳ ἀναλαμβανόντων ἐκ τῶν σπειρομένων τὸ περιτιθέμενον ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν „σῶμα“ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀκούομεν δὲ καὶ τοῦ διὰ πλειόνων διδάσκοντος λόγου τὴν διαφορὰν τοῦ οἱονεὶ σπειρομένου πρὸς τὸ ὡσπερεὶ ἐγειρόμενον ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγοντος· „σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾷ, ἐγείρεται ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ· σπείρεται ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δόξῃ· σπείρεται ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δυνάμει· σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικὸν, ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν.“ ὁ δὲ δυνάμενος ἔτι καταλαμβανέτω, τί νενόηται τῷ λέγοντι· „οἷος ὁ χοϊκὸς, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί· καὶ οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι. καὶ καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, οὕτω φορέσωμεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου.“ καίτοι δὲ βουλόμενος κρύπτειν ὁ ἀπόστολος τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἀπόῤῥητα καὶ μὴ ἁρμόζοντα τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις καὶ τῇ πανδήμῳ ἀκοῇ τῶν διὰ τοῦ πιστεύειν ἀγομένων ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιον, ὅμως ἠναγκάσθη ὕστερον ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ παρακοῦσαι ἡμᾶς τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ εἰπεῖν μετὰ τὸ „φορέσωμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου“ τὸ „τοῦτο δέ φημι, ἀδελφοὶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομῆσαι οὐ δύναται, οὐδ᾿ ἡ φθορὰ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν κληρονομεῖ.“ εἶτ᾿ ἐπιστάμενος ἀπόῤῥητόν τι καὶ μυστικὸν κατὰ τὸν τόπον, ὡς ἔπρεπε διὰ γραμμάτων καταλιπόντι τοῖς μετ᾿ αὐτὸν τὰ νενοημένα εἰρημένα ἐπιφέρει καὶ λέγει· „ἰδοὺ μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω,“ ὅ τι περ ἔθος ἐστὶν ἐπιφέρεσθαι τοῖς βαθυτέροις καὶ μυστικωτέροις καὶ καθηκόντως ἀπὸ τῶν πολλῶν κρυπτομένοις· ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ Τωβὴτ γέγραπται· „μυστήριον βασιλέως καλόν ἐστι κρύπτειν,“ πρὸς δὲ τὸ ἔνδοξον καὶ ἁρμόζον τοῖς πολλοῖς μετὰ τοῦ οἰκονομικῶς ἀληθοῦς „τὰ ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνακαλύπτειν ἐνδόξως“ „καλόν.“ οὐ σκωλήκων οὖν ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν οὐδὲ ποθεῖ ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ σεσηπὸς σῶμα, ἀλλὰ, κἂν δέηται σώματος διὰ τὰς τοπικὰς μεταβάσεις, νοεῖ ἡ μεμελετηκυῖα τὴν „σοφίαν“ κατὰ τὸ „στόμα δικαίου μελετήσει σοφίαν“ διαφορὰν ἐπιγείου οἰκίας, ἐν ᾗ ἐστι τὸ σκῆνος, καταλυομένης καὶ σκήνους, ἐν ᾧ „οἱ ὄντες“ δίκαιοι στενάζουσι „βαρούμενοι,“ μὴ θέλοντες τὸ σκῆνος ἀπεκδύσασθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ σκήνει „ἐπενδύσασθαι,“ ἵν᾿ ἐκ τοῦ „ἐπενδύσασθαι“ „καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς.“ „δεῖ γὰρ“ τῷ πᾶσαν φύσιν σώματος εἶναι φθαρτὴν „τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο“ σκῆνος „ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν,“ καὶ τὸ ἕτερον αὐτοῦ, τυγχάνον „θνητὸν“ καὶ δεκτικὸν τοῦ ἐπακολουθοῦντος τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν θανάτου, „ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν“· ἵν᾿, ὅτε „τὸ φθαρτὸν“ „ἐνδύσεται τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τὴν ἀθανασίαν. τότε γενήσεται“ τὸ πάλαι ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν προειρημένον. ἀναίρεσις τῆς νίκης τοῦ θανάτου, καθὸ νικήσας ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ ὑπέταξε, καὶ τοῦ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κέντρου, ᾧ κεντῶν τὴν οὐ πάντῃ πεφραγμένην ψυχὴν ἐμποιεῖ αὐτῇ τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τραύματα.