On the Resurrection of the Dead 15

Although the cause seen in the creation of human beings is enough by itself to show that the resurrection follows upon dissolved bodies by natural sequence, it is perhaps right not to shrink from any of the points proposed, but, in keeping with what has been said, to point out the grounds that each of the following arguments provides, for those who cannot see it from the first alone. And first of all there is the nature of the human beings created, which leads to the same conclusion and gives equal conviction about the resurrection. The whole nature of human beings in general is constituted of an immortal soul and of the body fitted to it at its creation; and God did not assign such a creation, or life and the whole course of life, to the nature of the soul by itself or to the nature of the body separately, but to human beings composed of both, so that, being born and living from these, they may, when they have lived their lives, come to one common end. Since, then, the living being made of both is one, and it undergoes all the passions of the soul and all those of the body, and acts and does whatever requires the judgment of the senses or of reason, the whole chain of these must be referred to one end, so that everything, in every respect, may come together into one harmony and the same fellow-feeling: the human being's creation, the human being's nature, the human being's life, the human being's actions and passions, his course of life, and the end that befits his nature. If there is one harmony and fellow-feeling of the whole living being, both of what springs from the soul and of what is carried out through the body, then the end of all these must also be one. And there will truly be one end only if the same living being exists in its own constitution, the being whose end it is. It will be precisely the same living being only if all the things of which it consists as parts are the same. And they will be the same in their proper union only if the things that were dissolved are reunited to constitute the living being. So the constitution of the same human beings necessarily shows that the resurrection of dead and dissolved bodies must follow; for without it the same parts would not be united with one another according to nature, nor would the nature of the same human beings be reconstituted. Again, if intelligence and reason have been given to human beings to discern intelligible things, not only substances but also the goodness, wisdom, and justice of the Giver, then, since the things for whose sake rational judgment was given endure, the judgment given for them must also endure. But it cannot endure unless the nature that received it, and in which it exists, endures. And it is the human being, not the soul by itself, who received intelligence and reason. The human being, therefore, consisting of both, must endure forever. But he cannot endure unless he rises. For if there were no resurrection, the nature of human beings as human beings would not endure. And if the nature of human beings does not endure, then in vain has the soul been fitted to the needs of the body and its passions; in vain has the body been held back from obtaining what it craves, yielding to the reins of the soul and guided by its bridle; vain is intelligence, vain is wisdom, vain the observance of justice and the practice of every virtue, the making and ordering of laws, and, in a word, everything noble in human beings and for their sake, or rather the very creation and nature of human beings. But if vanity is banished altogether from all the works of God and all the gifts he gives, then the continuance of the body, according to its own nature, must last through eternity together with the endless life of the soul.