The seed, the Stoics, and what God can do
We, then, do not say that the corrupted body returns “to its original nature,” any more than the corrupted grain of wheat returns to being a grain of wheat (1 Corinthians 15:37; John 12:24). For we say that, just as an ear rises from the grain of wheat, so a certain principle lies within the body; and from this principle, which is not corrupted, the body “is raised in incorruption” (1 Corinthians 15:42).
The Stoics, however, say that the body “wholly corrupted” returns “to its original nature,” because of the doctrines they hold about things that recur without variation in each cycle; and they say that “that very first make-up from which it was dissolved” will be put together again, establishing these things, as they suppose, by the necessities of logic.
Nor do we retreat to “a most absurd refuge” when we say that “everything is possible to God” (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27). For we know how to understand that “everything”: it does not refer to things that have no existence, nor to things that cannot be conceived. We say, too, that God cannot do shameful things, since then God would be able not to be God; for if God does anything shameful, he is not God.
But since Celsus lays it down that God does not will “what is against nature” either, we draw a distinction in what is said. If someone calls wickedness against nature, we too say that God does not will what is against nature, neither what springs from wickedness nor what happens without reason. But if one means what happens in accordance with God’s reason and his will, then such things must at once be not against nature; for what God does is not against nature, even if it is extraordinary, or seems extraordinary to some.
And if we must use a forced term, we will say that, compared with nature as it is more commonly understood, there are some things above nature which God might at some time do: raising man above human nature, causing him to change into a better and more divine nature, and keeping him so, as long as the one so kept also shows by his deeds that he wills it.
Greek
Ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν οὔ φαμεν τὸ διαφθαρὲν σῶμα ἐπανέρχεσθαι εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς φύσιν, ὡς οὐδὲ τὸν διαφθαρέντα „κόκκον“ τοῦ „σίτου“ ἐπανέρχεσθαι εἰς τὸν „κόκκον“ τοῦ „σίτου.“ λέγομεν γὰρ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ κόκκου τοῦ „σίτου“ ἐγείρεται στάχυς. οὕτως λόγος τις ἔγκειται τῷ σώματι, ἀφ᾿ οὗ μὴ φθειρομένου „ἐγείρεται“ τὸ σῶμα „ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ.“ οἱ μέντοι ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς τὸ πάντῃ διαφθαρὲν σῶμά φασιν ἐπανέρχεσθαι εἰς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς φύσιν διὰ τὰ δεδογμένα αὐτοῖς περὶ τῶν κατὰ περίοδον ἀπαραλλάκτων, καὶ αὐτὴν ἐκείνην, ἐξ ἧς ἐλύθη, τὴν πρώτην σύστασιν πάλιν φασὶ συστήσεσθαι, διαλεκτικαῖς (ὡς οἴονται) ἀνάγκαις ταῦτα παριστάντες. καὶ οὐκ εἰς ἀτοπωτάτην γε ἀναχώρησιν ἀναχωροῦμεν λέγοντες ὅτι πᾶν δυνατὸν τᾷ θεῷ· οἴδαμεν γὰρ ἀκούειν τοῦ πᾶν οὐκ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνυπάρκτων οὐδ᾿ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀδιανοήτων. φαμὲν δὲ καὶ ὅτι οὐ δύναται αἰσχρὰ ὁ θεὸς, ἐπεὶ ἔσται ὁ θεὸς δυνάμενος μὴ εἶναι θεός· εἰ γὰρ αἰσχρόν τι δρᾷ θεὸς, οὐκ ἔστι θεός. ἐπεὶ δὲ τίθησιν ὅτι καὶ τὰ παρὰ φύσιν ὁ θεὸς οὐ βούλεται, διαστελλόμεθα τὸ λεγόμενον· ὅτι εἰ μὲν παρὰ φύσιν τὴν κακίαν τις λέγει, καὶ ἡμεῖς λέγομεν ὅτι οὐ βούλεται τὰ παρὰ φύσιν ὁ θεὸς, οὔτε τὰ ἀπὸ κακίας οὔτε τὰ ἀλόγως γινόμενα· εἰ δὲ τὰ κατὰ λόγον θεοῦ καὶ βούλησιν αὐτοῦ γινόμενα, ἀναγκαῖον εὐθέως εἶναι μὴ παρὰ φύσιν· οὐ (γὰρ) παρὰ φύσιν τὰ πραττόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, κἂν παράδοξα ᾖ ἢ δοκοῦντά τισι παράδοξα. εἰ δὲ χρὴ βεβιασμένως ὀνομάσαι, ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ὡς πρὸς τὴν κοινοτέραν νοουμένην φύσιν ἐστί τινα ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν, ἃ ποιήσαι ἄν ποτε θεὸς, ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ἀναβιβάζων τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ποιῶν αὐτὸν μεταβάλλειν ἐπὶ φύσιν κρείττονα καὶ θειοτέραν καὶ τηρῶν τοιοῦτον, ὅσον καὶ ὁ τηρούμενος δι᾿ ὧν πράττει παρίστησιν ὅτι βούλεται.