The Resurrection And The Flesh

Tenes scripturas quibus caro infuscatur: tene etiam quibus illustratur. Legis cum quando deprimitur: adige oculos et cum quando relevatur. Omnis caro foenum: non hoc solum pronuntiavit Esaias, sed et Omnis caro videbit salutare Dei. Notatur in Genesi dicens Dominus, Non manebit spiritus meus super ipsos homines, quia caro sunt: sed et auditur per Ioelem, Effundam de spiritu meo in omnem carnem. Apostolum quoque ne de uno stilo noris quo carnem plerumque compungit: nam etsi negat habitare quidquam boni in carne sua, etsi adfirmat eos qui in carne sint Deo placere non posse, quia caro concupiscat adversum spiritum, et si qua alia ita ponit ut carnis non tamen substantia sed actus oneretur, dicemus quidem alibi nihil proprie carni exprobari oportere nisi in animae suggillationem quae carnem ministerio sibi subigit. Verum interim et in illis litteris Paulus est cum stigmata Christi in corpore suo portat, cum corpus nostrum ut Dei templum vitiari vetat, cum corpora nostra membra Christi facit, cum monet tollere et magnificare Deum in corpore nostro. Itaque si ignominiae carnis resurrectionem eius expellunt, cur non dignitates potius inducent? Quoniam Deo magis congruit in salutem redigere quod reprobarit interdum, quam in perditionem dedere quod etiam probavit. Tertullianus, De Resurrectione Carnis, Caput X Source: Migne PL 2.808a-b

You who hold to the passages in the Scriptures in which the flesh is denigrated, hold also to those in which it is honoured. You who read where it is abased, direct your eyes also to where it is elevated. 'All flesh is grass.' 1 Isaiah did not say this alone, but also: 'All flesh shall see the salvation of God.' 2 It is noted that the Lord says in Genesis, 'My Spirit shall not remain among these men, because they are flesh,' 3 but He is also heard saying through Joel, 'I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.' 4 Even the Apostle should not be known for just one statement in which he reproaches the flesh. For even if he denies that 'in his flesh dwells any good thing,' 5 even if he affirms that 'they who are in the flesh cannot please God,' 6 because 'the flesh desires against the Spirit,' 7 even in these and other passages, it is not the substance of the flesh, but its actions, which are censured. We shall say elsewhere that no reproof can be directed at the flesh without castigation of the soul, which orders the flesh to do its service. Yet meanwhile in the same passage Paul 'carries about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' 8 he also forbids our body to be defiled, as it is 'the temple of God,' 9 and he makes our bodies 'members of Christ,' 10 and exhorts us to exalt and 'glorify God in our body.' 11 Thus if the ignominies of the flesh thrust off its resurrection, why shall not its dignities rather bring it about? Because it better befits God to restore to salvation what for a while He rejected, than to give up to ruin what He once approved. Tertullian, On The Resurrection Of The Flesh, Chap 10 1 Isaiah 40.7 2 Isaiah 40.5 3 Gen 6.3 4 Joel 3.1 5 Rom 8.18 6 Rom 8.8 7 Galat 5.17 8 Galat 6.17 9 1 Cor 3.16 10 1 Cor 6.15 11 1 Cor 6.20