The Spiritual Body

Quomodo igitur Christus in carnis substantia surrexit, et ostendit discipulus figuras clavorum, et apertionem lateris, haec autem sunt indicia carnis ejus, quae resurrexit a mortuis: sic 'et nos' inquit, suscitabit per virtutem suam. Et iterum ad Romanos ait: Si autem Spiritus ejus, qui suscitavit Jesum a mortuis, vivificabit et mortalia corpora vestra. Quae sunt ergo mortalia corpora? Nunquidnam animae? Sed incorporales animae, quantum ad comparationem mortalium corporum. Insufflavait, enim, in faciem hominis, Deus, flatum vitae, et factus est homo in animam viventem, flatus autem vitae incorporalis. Sed ne mortalem quidem possunt dicere ipsum flatum vitae exsistentem. Et propter hoc David ait: Et anima mea illi vivet; tanquam immortali substantia ejus exisistante. Sed neque spiritum possunt dicere mortale corpus. Quid igitur superest dicere mortale corpus, nisi plasma, id est caro, de qua et sermo est, quoniam vivificabit eam Deus? Haec enim est quae moritur, et solvitur; sed non anima, neque spiritus. Mori enim est vitalem amittere habilitatem, et sine spiramine in posterum, et inanimalem, et immemorabilem fieri, et deperire in illa, ex quibus et initium substantiae habuit. Hoc autem neque animae evenit, flactus est enim vitae; neque spiritui; incompositis est enim et simplex spiritus, qui resolvi non potest, et ipse vita est eorum qui percipiunt illum. Superest igitur ut circa carnem mors ostendatur: quae posteaquam exierit anima, sine spiratione et inanimal efficitur, et paulatim resolvitur in terram ex qua sumpta est. Haec igitur mortalis. Haec autem de qua et dicit: Vivificabit et mortalia corpora vestra. Et propter hoc ait de ea in prima ad Corinthos: Sic et resurrectio mortuorum. Seminatur in corruptione, surget in incorruptione. Etenim tu, ait, quod seminas non vivificatur, nisi prius moriatur. Quid est autem quod ut granum tritici seminatur, et putret in terra, nisi corpora quae in terra ponuntur, in qua et semina jactantur? Et propter hoc dixit: Seminatur in ignobilitate, surget in gloria. Quid enim ignobilius carne mortua? Vel quid iterum gloriosius surgente ea, et percipiente incorruptelam? Seminatur in infirmitate, surget in virtute: in infirmitate quidem sua, quoniam cum sit terra, in terram vadit; virtute autem Dei, qui eam suscitat a mortuis. Seminatur corpus animale, surget corpus spirituale. Indubitate docuit, quoniam neque de anima, neque de spiritu sermo est ei, sed de mortificatis corporibus. Haec sunt enim corpora animalia, id est participantia animae; quam cum amiserint, mortificantur: deinde per Spiritum surgentia, fiunt corpora spiritualia, uti per Spiritum semper permanentem habeant vitam. Nunc enim, inquit, ex parte cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus: tunc autem facie ad faciem. Hoc est quod et a Petro dictum est: Quem cum non videritis, diligitis; in quem nunc quoque non videntes creditis, credentes autem exsultabitis gaudio innenarrabili. Facies enim nostra videbit faciem Dei vivi, et gaudebit gaudio inenarrabili; videlicet cum suum videat gaudium. Sanctus Ireneaus Lugdunensis, Adversus Haereses, Lib V, Cap VII. Migne PG 7.1139-41

In like manner, therefore, as Christ rose in the substance of flesh, and showed to the disciples the mark of nails and the opening in the side, 1 these being the signs of that flesh that rose from the dead, so it is said 'And he shall raise us up by His own power.' 2 And again to the Romans it is said, 'But if His Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He shall give life to your mortal bodies.' 3 What, then, are mortal bodies? Are they souls? But souls are incorporeal when compared to mortal bodies. God breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a living soul, 4 and the breath of life is an incorporeal thing. And certainly they cannot say that the very breath of life is mortal. Because of this David says, 'My soul also shall live to Him,' 5 just as if its substance were immortal. But neither can they say that the spirit is the mortal body. What therefore is there left to which we may they may speak of a mortal body, unless it be the thing that was shaped, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that God will vivify it? This is what dies and decomposes, but not the soul, nor the spirit. For to die is to lose vital power, and to become breathless, inanimate, and immobile, and to pass away into those things from which the substance had its beginning. But this happens neither to the soul, for it is the breath of life, nor to the spirit, for it is simple and not composite, and so cannot be decomposed and is itself the life of those who receive it. It remains, then, that death is shown to concern the flesh; which after the soul departs, becomes breathless and inanimate, and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken. This, then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he says, 'He shall give life to your mortal bodies.' And therefore on account of this he says, in the first letter to the Corinthians: 'So also is the resurrection of the dead; it is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption.' 6 For he says, 'That which you sow cannot be given life, unless first it die.' 7  But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown and decays in the earth, unless it be the bodies which are placed in the earth, into which seeds are also cast? And for this reason he said, 'It is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory.' 8 For what is more ignoble than dead flesh? Or, again, what is more glorious than the same rising and partaking of incorruption? 'It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;' 8 in its own weakness certainly, because since it is earth to earth it goes; but by the power of God, who raises it from the dead. 'It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body.' 8 He has taught, without any doubt, that such speech was not about the soul or the the spirit, but about bodies become corpses. For these are animal bodies, that is, which partake of life, which when they have lost it, die; then, rising by the Spirit, become spiritual bodies, so that by the Spirit they possess perpetual life. The Apostle says, 'For now we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but then face to face.' 9 And this it is which has also been said by Peter: 'Whom having not seen, you love; in whom now also, not seeing, you believe; and believing, you shall rejoice with unspeakable joy.' 10 For our face shall see the face of the living God and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable; that is to say, when it shall see its own delight. Saint Ireneaus of Lyon, Against Heresies, Book 5, Ch 7.  1 Jn 20.20 2 1 Cor 6.14 3 Rom 8.11 4 Gen 2.7 5 Ps 21.31 6 1 Cor 15.42 7 1 Cor 15.36 8 1 Cor 15.43 9 1 Cor 13.9, 12 10 1 Pet 1:8