Achieving The Promise

Nam cum sumus in hoc corpore, id est, mortali, ingemiscimus gravati; eo quod nolumus exui, sed superindui; absorbeatur mortale hoc a vita. Idem sensus est, ideo enim dicit gravatos nos passionibus corporis, et ipsius mundi tempestatibus, postulationes ad Deum dirigere, ne immutemur victi, et indigni efficiamur: sed ut contigerit exitus, perseverantes in fide, induti inveniamur sancto Spiritu, qui in substantia Christus est. Tunc enim superindui promissa gloria poterimus, si exuti corpore, non despoliati a sancto Spiritu fuerimus. Sic mortale absorbetur a vita, id est, ut resurgentes superinduamur immortalitate cum gloria; ne ultra mori possit, aut passionibus implicari: et hoc est absorberi a vita; non enim dicendus est absorberi a vita, qui ad hoc surgit, ut poenis agatur. Qui autem perficit nos in hoc ipsum, Deus est: qui etiam dedit nobis pignus Spiritum. Hoc quod ingemiscentes poscimus, id est, non ut exui, sed ut superindui mereamur, juxta supradictum sensum, in die judicii Deum perficere dicit; quia promisit, et fidelis est, dans hujus rei implendae pignus Spiritum; ipse est enim signaculum adoptionis nostrae. Ambrosiaster, In Epistolam Beati Pauli Ad Corinthios Secundum, Caput V Source: Migne PL 17.293d-294a

'For while we are in this body,' that is, the mortal body, 'we groan deeply, not that we be stripped of it, but that we be superendowed, this mortality absorbed by life.' 1 The meaning is the same, therefore he says that with us weighed down by the passions of the body and the tempests of the world, we ask God to guide us, lest we be changed into those conquered and made unworthy, but rather that we reach the end preserved in faith, being found endowed with the Holy Spirit, who in substance is Christ. For then superendowed we shall achieve the glorious promise, if by the Holy Spirit we are stripped of the body, not despoiled. So what is mortal is absorbed by life, that is, that rising we are superendowed with immortality in glory, not able to die anymore, or be embroiled in the passions. This is to be absorbed by life, for it is not to be said that he is absorbed from life who rises to it, as if a punishment were enacted. He who perfects us in this is God, who gives us the seal of the Spirit. This is what we ask for in our groaning, that is, not that we be stripped, but that we merit to be superendowed, according to the aforementioned understanding, on the day of judgement when he says that God will perfect, because He has promised and He is faithful, giving the Spirit as the pledge of the things to be fulfilled, He who is the sign of our adoption. Ambrosiaster, Commentary On The Second Letter of Saint Paul To The Corinthians, Chapter 5 1 2 Cor 5.4