Sermons to the People 362.25–362.31

But now hear a most manifest testimony of the Lord himself in the Gospel according to John, declaring in one place both resurrections, the one that takes place now according to the spirit and the one that will come later according to the flesh, so plainly that no one who in any way calls himself a Christian and is subject to the authority of the gospel can doubt it at all; so that no opening remains for slanderers, those who, as if through the Christian faith itself, want to overturn Christians, inserting their poisons to kill the souls of the weak. But hear it from the book itself. For this is why I perform the office not only of a disputant but also of a reader: so that this sermon of ours may be supported by the authority of the holy Scriptures and not built on sand by human suppositions, in case something should not come to mind from memory. Hear, then, the Gospel according to John. The Lord speaks: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; and he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him power also to execute judgment, because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tomb will hear his voice; and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." I think indeed that many understand that in this place the Lord himself declared both resurrections, the one according to the spirit through faith and the one according to the flesh, distinctly and openly, in that well-known voice of his. Nevertheless, let us consider these same words carefully, so that it may be plain to all who hear. "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life; and he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." This is the resurrection according to the spirit, which takes place now through faith. But so that it would not seem to be set forth as something still far in the future (though he did not say, "He will pass from death into life," but "he has passed from death into life"), yet, so that he would not seem to have used the past tense figuratively, as in "They have pierced my hands and feet," which was foretold as still to come, he goes on and explains this very point more plainly: "Amen, amen, I say to you," he says, "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live." What he said above, "He has passed from death into life," he now says as "they will live." But so that "the hour is coming" would not be expected at the end of the world, when the resurrection of bodies will also take place, he added, "and now is." For he did not say only, "The hour is coming," but, "The hour is coming, and now is." And those who hear this voice will live, that is, with the life he signified above in saying, "He has passed from death to life." Here, then, he signified those who do not come under the punishment of judgment, because they anticipate the judgment by their faith and pass from death to life. [26] It remains, then, for him to show the future judgment between the good and the bad, for here he mentioned only the good as belonging to the present resurrection, which is according to the spirit. So he goes on to say, "And he has given him power also to execute judgment, because he is the son of man." He indicated in what respect he received the power of judgment: "because," he says, "he is the son of man." For in that he is the Son of God, he has everlasting power with the Father. Next he explains how the judgment will take place: "Do not marvel at this," he says, "for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice; and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." Above, when he had said, "The hour is coming," he added, "and now is," so that the hour foretold would not be thought to be the one in which the resurrection of bodies will take place at the end of the world. Here, because he wanted that very hour to be understood, after saying, "The hour is coming," he did not add, "and now is." Again, above he said that the dead hear the voice of the Son of God, but made no mention of tombs, so that we might distinguish the dead through the error of the mind, who rise now through faith, from the dead whose corpses are in the tombs and will rise at the end of the world. Here, then, so that the resurrection of bodies might be expected at the end, he says, "All who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth." Again, above he says, "They will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live." What need was there to add "those who hear," when it could have been said, "They will hear the voice of the Son of God and will live," unless because he was speaking of those who are dead through the error of the mind, many of whom hear and do not hear, that is, do not obey, do not believe? But those who hear in the way he wanted to be heard when he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear," will live. Many, then, will hear, but those who hear, that is, who believe, will live. For those who hear in such a way that they do not believe will not live. From this it is clear of what death and of what life he spoke in that place: of the death that belongs to the wicked alone by the very fact that they are wicked, and of the life that belongs to the good alone by the very fact that they become good. But here, where he declares that they will rise in their bodies, he does not say, "They will hear his voice, and those who hear will come forth." For all will hear the last trumpet and will come forth, because we shall all rise. But because we shall not all be changed, he goes on to say, "Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." Above, then, where one comes back to life according to the spirit through faith, all come back to life to the same lot, so that their life is not divided into blessedness and misery, but all belong to the good part. And therefore, when he had said, "Those who hear will live," he did not add, "Those who have done good, to eternal life; but those who have done evil, to eternal punishment." For he wanted "they will live" itself to be taken only in a good sense, as also above, "He has passed," he says, "from death to life," without saying to what life, because to come back to life from death through faith cannot be a bad life. But here he did not first say, "They will hear his voice and live" (for he wanted "they will live" to be understood in a good sense throughout this reading), but he said, "They will hear and will come forth," by which word he signified the bodily movement of bodies out of their places of burial. But because coming forth from the tombs will not be for good for all: "Those who have done good," he says, "to the resurrection of life" (here too he wanted life to be understood only in a good sense); "but those who have done evil," he says, "to the resurrection of judgment": judgment he put for punishment.

Now, then, brothers, let no one ask with perverse subtlety what shape bodies will have in the resurrection of the dead, how tall they will be, what their movement, what their gait. It is enough for you that your flesh rises in the form in which the Lord appeared, that is, in the form of a man. But do not, because of the form, fear corruption: for if you do not fear corruption, you will not fear that sentence either, "Flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God"; nor will you fall into the snare of the Sadducees, which you could not avoid if you thought that men rise in order to take wives, beget children, and do the works of mortal life. If you ask what that life will be like, who among men will be able to explain it? It will be the life of angels. Whoever can show you the life of angels will show you their life, because they will be equal to the angels. But if the life of angels is hidden, let no one inquire further, lest through error he arrive not at what he seeks but at what he has made up for himself. For he seeks too soon, and seeks in a hurry. Walk on the way: you will come to the homeland if you do not leave the way. Hold fast, then, to Christ, brothers; hold fast to the faith, hold fast to the way: it will lead you to what you cannot see now. For in that head was shown what is hoped for in the members; in that foundation was displayed what is being built in our faith, to be completed afterwards in sight; lest perhaps, when you think you see, something should appear to you through a false image as though it were what it is not, and, leaving the way, you turn aside into error and do not reach the homeland to which the way leads, that is, the sight to which faith leads.

You will say, "How do angels live?" It is enough for you to know this: that they do not live corruptibly. For it is easier to tell you what will not be there than what will be there. I too, my brothers, can briefly run through for you certain things that will not be there; and I can do this because we have experienced these things and know the things that will not be there. But what will be there we have not yet experienced. For we walk by faith, not yet by sight: as long as we are in the body, we are on pilgrimage away from the Lord. What, then, will not be there? Taking a wife so that children may be begotten, because there is no death there; there will be no growing up, because there is no growing old; there will be no refreshment, because there is no failing; there will be no business, because there is no need; nor even those praiseworthy works of innocent people which the poverty and necessity of this life compel them to do. For I do not say only that the works of robbers or moneylenders will not be there; even the works which innocent people do out of need, to relieve human necessities, will not be there. There will be a perpetual sabbath, which the Jews celebrate in time, but which we understand as eternal. There will be an ineffable rest, which cannot be explained; but, as I said, it is explained in some fashion when the things that will not be there are named. Toward that rest we are heading; to it we are spiritually reborn. For as we are born carnally to labors, so we are reborn spiritually to rest, as he cries, "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." Here he feeds, there he perfects; here he promises, there he pays; here he signifies, there he expresses. But when in that blessedness we have been made perfect and whole in both spirit and body, these activities will not exist; nor will those things be there which are praised here in the good works of Christians. For what Christian is not praised for handing bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, making peace with the quarrelsome, visiting the sick, burying the dead, consoling the mourner? Great works, full of mercy, full of praise and grace. But not even these will be there, because it was the need of misery that brought the works of mercy into being. Whom do you feed where no one hungers? To whom do you give drink where no one thirsts? Or will you clothe the naked where all are clothed with immortality itself? A little earlier you heard of the tunics of the saints, when the apostle said, "This corruptible must put on incorruption." Where "put on" sounds, it points to a garment. This garment Adam lost, so as to receive skins. Or will you welcome a stranger where all live in their own homeland? Will you visit the sick where all will flourish with the same firmness of incorruption? Bury the dead where they live for ever? Reconcile those who quarrel where all is at peace? Console the sad where all will rejoice for ever? Because miseries will cease, then, these works of mercy will cease along with them.

What, then, will be done there? Have I not already said that it is easier for me to say what will not be there than what will be there? This I know, brothers: we are not going to doze in idleness, because sleep itself was given to the soul as a support against failing. For the fragile body could not bear the perpetual strain that drives the mortal senses, unless, with the senses lulled, its very fragility were restored to bear that same strain; and as renewal will come from death, so now wakefulness comes from sleep. There, then, sleep will not exist. For where there is no death, there will be no image of death either. Yet let no one be stolen upon by fear of boredom when he is told that he will always be awake and will not be doing anything. I can say, though I cannot say how it will be, because I cannot yet see it; yet I say something, and not shamelessly, because I say it from the Scriptures: what our activity will be there. Our whole activity will be Amen and Alleluia. What do you say, brothers? I see that you have heard and rejoiced. But do not again be saddened by carnal thinking, as though if one of you stood and said every day, "Amen and Alleluia," he would waste away with boredom and doze off in the very words and want to fall silent; and do not for that reason think that life contemptible and not desirable, saying to yourselves, "We are going to say Amen and Alleluia for ever: who will last?" I will tell you, then, if I can, as much as I can. We shall say Amen and Alleluia not with passing sounds but with the affection of the mind. For what is Amen? What is Alleluia? Amen is "it is true"; Alleluia is "praise God." God is unchangeable truth, without lessening, without advance, without loss, without increase, without any leaning toward falsehood, remaining perpetual and stable and always incorruptible; while these things we do in the creature and in this life are as it were figures of things through the signs of bodies, things in which we walk by faith. When we see face to face what we now see through a mirror in an enigma, then with a far different, an ineffably different affection we shall say, "It is true"; and when we say this we shall certainly be saying Amen, but with an insatiable satiety. For because nothing will be lacking, there will be satiety; but because what will not be lacking will always delight, there will be a kind of insatiable satiety, if it can be so called. As insatiably as you will be filled with truth, then, so with insatiable truth you will say Amen. Who can now say what it is like, that which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it gone up into the heart of man? Since, then, without any weariness and with perpetual delight we shall see what is true and contemplate it with most certain clearness, set on fire with love of the truth itself and clinging to it in a sweet and chaste embrace, an embrace that is incorporeal, with such a voice too we shall praise him and say, Alleluia. For exulting together and rousing one another to equal praise with most ardent love for one another and for God, all the citizens of that city will say Alleluia, because they will say Amen.

This life of the saints, then, will so fill even their bodies, changed into a heavenly and angelic state, and will so quicken them with immortal vigor, that no corruption arising from need will turn them aside or call them away from that most blessed contemplation and praise of the truth. Thus their food will be the truth itself, and their rest will be like reclining at table. For what has been said, that they will feast reclining at table, as the Lord says, "Many will come from east and west and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of my Father," signifies that in great rest they will be fed with the food of truth. For such food refreshes and does not run out; it fills and remains whole: you are made complete, it is not consumed. Such is that food; not like this food, which runs out in order to refresh, and is itself finished so that the one who receives it may not finish his life. That reclining, then, will be everlasting rest; that banquet will be unchangeable truth; that feasting will be eternal life, that is, knowledge itself. "For this is eternal life," he says, "that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

For Scripture testifies in many places, which we cannot all mention, that that life in the contemplation of truth will continue not only ineffably but also with delight. Hence this: "Whoever loves me keeps my commandments; and I will love him, and I will show myself to him." As though fruit and reward were being asked of him because his commandments are kept, he says, "I will show myself to him," setting forth perfect blessedness, that he be known as he is. Hence also this: "Beloved, we are children of God, but what we shall be has not yet appeared. We know that when it appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." Therefore the apostle Paul too says, "Then face to face"; for he also said in another place, "We are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." And in the Psalms he says, "Be still, and see that I am the Lord." Then, therefore, there will be the best seeing, when there will be the fullest stillness. And when will there be the fullest stillness, except when the laborious times have passed, the times of necessities by which we are now bound, as long as the earth brings forth thorns and thistles for sinful man, so that in the sweat of his face he eats his bread? When, then, the times of the earthly man have entirely passed and the day of the heavenly man is entirely complete, we shall see most fully, because we shall be most fully still. For when corruption and need have ended in the resurrection of the faithful, there will be nothing to labor for. As though it were said, "Recline and eat," so it has been said, "Be still and see." We shall be still, then, and we shall see God as he is; and seeing, we shall praise God. And this will be the life of the saints, this the activity of those at rest: that we shall praise without failing. We shall not praise for one day; but as that day has no limit in time, so our praise will have no limit of ceasing; and therefore we shall praise for ever and ever. Hear Scripture also saying this to God, which is what we desire: "Blessed are those who dwell in your house; for ever and ever they will praise you." Turning to the Lord, let us pray to him for ourselves and for all his people standing with us in the courts of his house: may he deign to guard and protect it, through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with him for ever and ever. Amen.