Homilies on First Corinthians 41

Homily 41. But someone will say, 'How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?' Fool, that which you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

Though the Apostle is everywhere exceedingly gentle and lowly, here he employs a more forceful mode of speech because of the absurdity of those who contradict.

Yet he is not content with this, but sets forth both arguments and examples, subduing thereby even the most contentious.

Since through a man came death, and through a man came the resurrection;

here he resolves an objection introduced by the Greeks.

And observe how once more he cuts short the vehemence of the reproach.

For he did not say, 'But perhaps you will say,' but set the objector indefinitely, so that, using pointed language with all freedom, he might not too severely strike those who hear;

and he sets forth two difficulties: that of the manner of the resurrection, and that of the quality of the bodies.

For indeed they were perplexed about both, saying:

'How is that which has been dissolved raised?' and, 'With what kind of body do they come?' And what is 'With what kind of body?' That is, with this corrupted, this perished one, or with some other? Then, showing that they are inquiring not about matters that are doubtful, but about things acknowledged, he at once meets them more forcibly, saying:

'Fool, that which you sow is not made alive unless it dies.'

Which very thing we too are accustomed to do in the case of those who contradict what is acknowledged.

And for what reason did he not straightway take refuge in the power of God? Because he is discoursing with unbelievers.

For whenever his discourse is directed to believers, he does not greatly need arguments.

Wherefore, having said elsewhere that 'He shall transform the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory,' and having indicated something even beyond the resurrection, he set forth no examples, but instead of all demonstration brought forward into the midst the power of God, adding and saying, 'According to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things to Himself.'

But here he also sets arguments in motion.

For since he had established the matter from the Scriptures, he now adds these things over and above, for the sake of those who are not persuaded by the Scriptures, and he says:

That is: 'From your own self you have the demonstration of these things, through the things you do every single day; and do you still doubt? For these reasons I call you a fool, because you are ignorant of what is daily done by yourself, and, being yourself the very producer of a resurrection, you doubt concerning God.'

Therefore very emphatically he said, 'That which YOU sow,' you the mortal and perishing one.

And observe how he uses the terms appropriately to the subject before him.

'For it is not made alive,' he says, 'unless it dies.'

For, leaving aside the terms proper to seeds—such as it sprouts, and it grows, and it rots, and it dissolves—he fitted the corresponding terms to our flesh: 'is made alive' and 'dies,' which strictly belong not to seeds but to bodies.

And he did not say, 'After it dies, it lives,' but, what is greater, 'For this reason it lives, because it dies.'

Do you see that, as I always say, he ever turns the argument round to the very opposite of what they urge?

For the very thing which those men made a proof of not rising again, this he makes a demonstration of rising again;

for indeed they were saying that it does not rise again, since it has died.

What then does he say, turning it about? 'And yet, if it had not died, it would not have risen;'

and for this reason it rises again, because it has died.

For even as Christ more clearly demonstrates this very thing, saying:

'The grain of wheat, unless it fall into the ground and die, abides alone by itself;

but if it die, it bears much fruit;'

from thence also Paul, drawing this example, did not say, 'It does not live,' but, 'It is not made alive,' again taking up the power of God, and showing that it is not the nature of the earth, but He Himself, who works the whole.

And why in the world did he not bring forward into the midst that which was more appropriate—I mean the human seed? For indeed our own birth also begins from corruption, just as that of the wheat.

Because it was not equivalent, but this one was superior.

For it seeks something whole that is corrupted, whereas that other was but a part;

wherefore he brings this one into the midst.

And besides, that other proceeds from a living thing, and falls into a living womb;

but here the seed is cast down not into flesh, but into the earth, and into it is dissolved, just like the body that has died.

Wherefore in this respect also the illustration was more appropriate.

'And what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be.'

For the things spoken before were directed to saying how they are raised;

but this is directed to resolving the perplexity, 'With what kind of body do they come?'

And what does 'You do not sow the body that shall be' mean? Not a whole ear of grain, nor new wheat.

For here the discourse is no longer about the resurrection, but about the manner of the resurrection—of what sort the body is that is going to rise, whether it be such a one, or better and more splendid;

and he takes both points from the same illustration, showing that it is far better.

But the heretics, understanding none of these things, leap in and say that one body falls and another body rises.

How then is it a resurrection? For the resurrection is of that which has fallen.

And where is the wonderful and paradoxical triumph over death, if one thing falls and another rises? For He will no longer be seen to have restored the very thing which He received as a captive.

But how would the illustration fit what has been said? For it is not one substance that is sown and another that is raised, but the same one made better.

Nor, in that case, would Christ have taken up the same body, having become the firstfruits of those who rise again;

but, according to your view, He cast that one away—though it had committed no sin—and took another.

Whence, then, this other body? For the former was from the Virgin; but the latter, from where? Do you see into what absurdity the argument has rolled? For why does He also show the marks of the nails? Was it not because He wished to prove this—that it is that very body which was crucified, and that the same body rose again? And what does the sign of Jonah mean for Him? For surely it was not one Jonah who was swallowed and another who was cast out upon the land.

And why did He say, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up'? For plainly it was the very thing that was destroyed which He also raised again.

Wherefore the Evangelist also added, 'But He was speaking of the temple of His body.'

What then does he mean by, 'You do not sow the body that shall be'? That is, not the ear of grain.

For it is both itself and not itself:

itself, because the substance is the same;

yet not itself, because this is better—the same substance remaining, but its comeliness becoming greater, and the same body rising again in newness.

For if this were not so, there would be no need even of a resurrection, unless it were destined to rise better.

For why should He pull down the house, unless He intended to build a more splendid one? This, then, He said against those who suppose that the corruption is the very same thing.

Then, that no one might again suspect that another body is here meant, he softens the enigma, and himself interprets what was said, not permitting the hearer to carry the thought elsewhere than to its proper meaning.

What need, then, is there of our own words? Hear him himself speaking and interpreting what it is:

'You do not sow the body that shall be.'

For immediately he added, 'But a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other of such seeds.'

That is, 'Not the body that shall be,'

having husk and beard, 'but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some such thing.'

'And God gives it a body as He has willed.'

'Yes,' he says, 'but there it is the work of nature.'

'Of what nature, tell me?' For there too God works the whole; not nature, nor the earth, nor the rain.

Wherefore he too, making this plain, and setting aside earth and rain and air and sun and the husbandman's hands, added that, 'God gives it a body as He has willed.'

Do not, then, be over-curious nor meddlesome as to how and in what manner, whenever you hear of God's power and will.

'And to each of the seeds its own body.'

Where, then, is the foreign body? For He gives it its own.

So that when he says, 'You do not sow that which shall be,' he does not mean that one substance rises in place of another, but that it is better, that it is more splendid.

'For to each of the seeds,' he says, 'its own body.'

Henceforth he also introduces the difference of the resurrection that shall then be.

For do not, because wheat is sown and all the ears come up, therefore suppose that in the resurrection also there is equality of honor.

For, first of all, not even among the seeds is there one and the same rank, but some are more honorable, and others meaner.

Wherefore he also added, 'To each its own body.'

But he is not content with this; rather, he seeks another, greater and clearer, difference.

For, lest on hearing—as I said—that all rise, you should suppose that all enjoy the same things, he laid the foundation of this thought beforehand, even in what preceded, by means of the seeds, when he said:

'But each in his own order.'

And he works it out more clearly here again, saying:

'For why do I speak,' he says, 'concerning seeds? Let us exercise this very point upon the bodies, concerning which our discourse now is.'

'One flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes.'

'And there are heavenly bodies, and bodies earthly;'

'but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another;'

'there is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars;'

'for one star differs from another star in glory.'

And what do these words mean for him? Why did he fall from the resurrection of bodies into a discourse about stars and the sun? He did not fall away, nor did he break off from the subject—far from it—but he still holds fast to it.

For after he had established the discourse concerning the resurrection, he henceforth shows that the difference of glory will then be great, even though the resurrection is one;

and for the present he divides the whole into two, into the heavenly and the earthly.

For that the bodies rise again, he showed by means of the grain;

but that not all are in the same glory, he shows from this.

For just as disbelieving the resurrection makes men supine, so again to suppose that all are deemed worthy of the same things makes them slothful.

Wherefore he corrects both;

and the one he completed in what preceded, but of this he now makes a beginning;

and having made two orders, both of the righteous and of sinners, he again cuts these very two into many parts, showing that neither will the righteous and sinners obtain the same things, nor will all the righteous be like the righteous, nor sinners like sinners.

He makes, then, one first division, of the righteous and of sinners, saying:

'There are heavenly bodies, and bodies earthly;'

by the earthly ones hinting at these, and by the heavenly ones at those.

Then, next, he introduces a difference of sinners in relation to sinners, saying:

'All flesh is not the same flesh;'

'but one is of fishes, and another of birds and of beasts.'

And yet all are bodies, but some in greater, others in lesser meanness.

And likewise also in life, and in the very make-up itself.

And having said this, he ascends again into heaven, saying:

'There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon.'

For just as among earthly bodies there is a difference, so also among the heavenly ones there is a difference—not a chance one, but reaching even to the extremes.

For there is a difference not only of the sun with respect to the moon, nor of the moon with respect to the stars, but even of stars with respect to stars.

For even though all are in heaven, yet some partake of greater, others of lesser glory.

What, then, do we learn from this? That even though all are in the kingdom, not all will enjoy the same things;

and in hell, the sinners will not all endure the same things.

'So also is the resurrection of the dead.'

'So'—how? In great difference.

Then, leaving this argument as sufficiently proved, he comes again to the very demonstration of the resurrection and to its manner, saying:

'It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.'

In the case of the seeds he used the name of bodies, saying:

'It is not made alive unless it die.'

But in the case of the bodies, using the term proper to seeds, he says:

'It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.'

He did not say, 'It springs up,' lest you should think it the work of the earth, but 'It is raised.'

And here by 'sowing' he does not mean our birth in the womb, but the burial in the earth of the bodies of those who have died, the dissolution, the ashes.

Wherefore, having said, 'It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption,' he added:

For what is more repulsive than a corpse that has decomposed? 'It is raised in glory.'

For not yet thirty days have passed, and the whole is destroyed;

and the flesh cannot hold itself together, nor last even for a single day.

For then nothing of it will remain over any longer.

For this very reason he had need also of those illustrations, lest, hearing that they are raised in incorruption and glory and power, many should think that there is no difference among those who rise again.

For all indeed rise again, both in power and in incorruption and in that glory which belongs to incorruption; yet not all in the same honor nor in the same security.

'It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.'

'There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.'

What do you say? Is not this present body also spiritual? Spiritual indeed, but that other far more so.

For now the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit often flies away when men commit certain great sins, yet even while the spirit is present, the life of the flesh belongs to the soul;

and such a body is empty apart from this;

but then it will not be so; rather, it will abide continually with the flesh of the righteous, and its might will prevail even while the soul is present.

For either he hinted at some such thing in saying 'spiritual,' or that it will be lighter and finer, and such as even to be borne upon the air; or rather, both.

But if you disbelieve the word, look at the heavenly bodies, so bright and enduring for so long, and abiding in an ageless permanence, and believe from thence that God is able to make these corruptible things also incorruptible, and far better than the things now seen.

'The first man Adam became a living soul;'

'the last Adam a life-giving spirit.'

And yet the one is written, but the other is not written;

how then did he say, 'It is written'? He paraphrased it from the outcome of events;

which was his constant custom to do.

For this too is a prophet's custom.

For the prophet also said that Jerusalem would be called a city of righteousness, and it was not so called.

What then? Did the prophet lie? By no means;

for he speaks of the outcome that comes through the events themselves.

And the Christ, too, he called Emmanuel;

and He was not so called either, but the events give forth this name.

So also here, 'The last Adam a life-giving spirit.'

And he said these things that you might learn that the tokens and the pledges both of the present life and of the life to come have already come, of the present life Adam, and of the life to come Christ.

For since he sets the better things in hopes, he shows that the beginning has already come forth, and that the root and the fountain have appeared.

But if the root and the fountain are manifest to all, there is no need to doubt concerning the fruits.

'The last Adam a life-giving spirit;'

and elsewhere, 'He shall give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in you.'

Therefore it belongs to the Spirit to give life.

Then, lest anyone should say, Why are the worse things older, and why did the natural things wholly come to pass, not only up to the firstfruits, but the natural go on beyond, while the others only up to the firstfruits? he shows that the beginnings of both were so ordained.

'For that is not first which is spiritual,' he says, 'but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.'

And he does not say why, but is content with God's ordinance, having the verdict drawn from events

bearing witness to God's most excellent economy, and showing that our affairs ever advance to the better; at the same time from this also confirming his word.

For if the lesser things have come to pass, much more ought we to look for the better.

Since therefore we are about to enjoy such good things, let us rank ourselves in this order, and let us not weep for those who depart, but for those who end their life wickedly.

For the husbandman also, when he sees the grain dissolving, does not lament, but so long as he sees it remaining solid in the earth, he fears and trembles;

but when he sees it dissolved, he rejoices.

For the dissolution is the beginning of the coming harvest.

So let us also then rejoice, when the corruptible house falls, when the man is sown.

And do not marvel that he called the burial a sowing;

for this sowing is indeed the better.

For upon that first sowing there follow deaths and toils and dangers and cares, but upon this, if we live rightly, crowns and prizes;

and the one is followed by corruption and death, but the other by incorruption and immortality and countless good things;

in that first sowing there are unions and pleasures and sleep, but in this only a voice descending from the heavens, and all things are brought to their consummation at once.

And he that rises is no longer led to a life full of toil, but to where pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away.

But if you also seek protection, and on this account bewail the man, flee to the common protector and saviour and benefactor of all, to God, to the irresistible alliance, to the ready help, to the enduring shelter that is everywhere present and fortifies us on every side; but habit makes him dear and desirable.

But if you subject your grief to reason, and reckon with yourself who it was that took him, and that by nobly bearing it you offer your resolve as a sacrifice to God, you will be able to run through this wave also; and what time accomplishes, this true wisdom will do;

but if you give way to weakness, the grief will indeed cease with time, but will bring you no reward.

And along with these considerations, gather also examples, those in the present life, those in the divine Scriptures;

consider that Abraham slew his own son, and neither wept nor uttered a bitter word.

'But that man was Abraham,' one says.

And yet you have been called to greater contests.

But Job indeed grieved, yet only so much as is fitting for a father who loves his children and greatly cares for those who have departed;

whereas what we now do is the part of enemies and foes.

For if, when someone had been carried off to a palace and crowned, you were to beat yourself and lament, I should say that you were not the friend of him who was crowned, but exceedingly his enemy and foe.

'But I do not now bewail him,' one says, 'but myself.'

But neither is this the part of one who loves, to wish that he should still be in conflict for your sake and be subject to the uncertainty of the future, when it is possible for him to be crowned and to come to anchor, rather than to toss on the open sea when he might be in harbor.

'But I do not know where he has gone,' one says.

Why do you not know? Tell me;

for whether he lived rightly or otherwise, it is plain where he will go.

'For this very reason I mourn,' one says, 'because he departed a sinner.'

These are but a pretext and an excuse.

For if it were on this account that you mourned him now that he has departed, you ought to have reshaped and reformed him while he yet lived.

But everywhere you regard your own concerns, not his.

And if he departed even as a sinner, on this account too one ought to rejoice, that his sins have been cut short and that he has added nothing further to his wickedness; and one ought to help him so far as it is possible, not by weeping, but by prayers and supplications and almsgiving and offerings.

For these things have not been devised at random, nor is it in vain that we make mention of the departed at the divine mysteries and approach on their behalf, entreating the Lamb who lies there, who took away the sin of the world—but that some consolation may thereby come to them.

Nor is it to no purpose that he who stands beside the altar, while the awe-inspiring mysteries are being celebrated, cries aloud:

'For all who have fallen asleep in Christ, and for those who perform the memorials on their behalf.'

For if the memorials were not made on their behalf, these things would not have been said.

For our rites are no mere stage-play—God forbid!

For by the ordinance of the Spirit these things are done.

Let us therefore help them, and make mention on their behalf.

For if the father's sacrifice purified the children of Job, why do you doubt whether, when we too make offering on behalf of the departed, some consolation comes to them? For God is wont to bestow grace upon some for the sake of others.

And this Paul showed when he said:

'That the gift bestowed upon us by many persons may be, through many, the subject of thanksgiving on your behalf.'

Let us not, then, grow weary in helping the departed and offering prayers on their behalf;

for the common propitiation of the whole world lies there before us.

For this reason we make our supplication with confidence for the whole world at that moment, and we name them together with martyrs, with confessors, with priests.

For we are all one body, even though some members be more glorious than others;

and it is possible to gather pardon for them from every quarter—from the prayers, from the gifts offered on their behalf, from those named together with them.

Why then do you grieve? Why do you lament, when it is possible to gather so great a pardon for the departed? Is it because you have been left desolate and have lost your protector? But never say this;

for you have not lost God.

So that, as long as you have Him, He Himself will be to you greater than a husband, greater than a father, than a child, than a kinsman;

for indeed, even while they were living, it was He who did all things.

Consider these things, therefore, and say with David:

'The Lord is my light and my Saviour; whom shall I fear?' Say: 'Thou art the Father of the orphans and the Judge of the widows;'

and draw down His help, and you will have Him now watching over you even more than before, in proportion as you have been brought into greater distress.

The thing is sleep, not death; a removal, not a perishing; a journey abroad from the lesser things to the better.

Do not, then, provoke God, but make Him gracious.

For if you bear it nobly, there will be some consolation thereby both to the departed and to yourself;

but if the contrary, you rather kindle the wrath of God.

For indeed, if when a servant is being scourged by his master, you standing by were to show displeasure, you would provoke the master the more against yourself.

Do not, then, do this, but give thanks, that thereby too the cloud of your despondency may be dispersed for you;

say, as that blessed man said:

'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.'

Consider how many, more pleasing to God than you, did not receive children at all, nor were called fathers.

'For neither did I,' says such a one, 'desire it.'

'And indeed it were better never to have had the experience at all, than after tasting of the pleasure to be cast down from it.'

I beseech you, do not, do not say these things, lest thereby too you provoke the Master to anger;

but for what you have received, give thanks;

and for what you do not keep unto the end, give glory.

Job did not say, 'It were better not to have received this'—which you say thanklessly—but for those very things he gave thanks, saying:

and for these he blessed God, saying:

'Let the name of the Lord be blessed unto the ages.'

And thus he silenced his wife, pleading his cause with her and uttering those wondrous words:

'If we have received the good things at the Lord's hand, shall we not endure the evil?' And yet after these things the trial had become more grievous;

yet not even so did he give way, but in like manner bore it nobly and gave glory.

This do you also, and reckon within yourself that it was not a man who took, but God who made him—He who cares for him more than you do, and knows what is profitable—not some enemy or plotter.

See how many, while living, made life unlivable for their parents.

'But do you not see the noble ones?' one says.

I see these too; yet even than these, the state of your child is more secure.

For even if they be held in high repute, the outcome of their end is uncertain;

but concerning him you have henceforth no more fear, nor do you tremble lest he suffer anything or undergo some change.

Reckon these things also in the case of a good wife and keeper of the home, and for all things give thanks to God; even if you should lose a wife, give thanks.

Perhaps God wishes to lead you to self-control; He calls you to greater contests; He willed to set you free from the bond.

If we thus practise this wisdom, we shall both gain the present cheerfulness and attain the crowns that are to come, and what follows.