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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XVII: An in suo sexu resuscitanda atque mansura sint corpora feminarum.

Nonnulli propter hoc, quod dictum est: donec occurramus omnes in uirum perfectum, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi, et: conformes imaginis filii dei, nec in sexu femineo resurrecturas feminas credunt, sed in uirili omnes aiunt, quoniam deus solum uirum fecit ex limo, feminam ex uiro. sed mihi melius sapere uidentur, qui utrumque sexum resurrecturum esse non dubitant. non enim libido ibi erit, quae confusionis est causa. nam priusquam peccassent, nudi erant, et non confundebantur uir et femina. corporibus ergo illis uitia detrahentur, natura seruabitur. non est autem uitium sexus femineus, sed natura, quae tunc quidem et a concubitu et a partu inmunis erit; erunt tamen membra feminea non adcommodata usui ueteri, sed decori nouo, quo non adliciatur adspicientis concupiscentia, quae nulla erit, sed dei laudetur sapientia atque clementia, qui et quod non erat fecit et liberauit a corruptione quod fecit. ut enim in exordio generis humani de latere uiri dormientis costa detracta femina fieret, Christum et ecclesiam tali facto iam tunc prophetari oportebat. sopor quippe ille uiri mors erat Christi, cuius exanimis in cruce pendentis latus lancea perforatum est atque inde sanguis et aqua profluxit, quae sacramenta esse nouimus, quibus aedificatur ecclesia. nam hoc etiam uerbo scriptura usa est, ubi non legitur formauit aut finxit, sed: aedificauit eam in mulierem; unde et apostolus aedificationem dicit corporis Christi, quod est ecclesia. creatura est ergo dei femina sicut uir; sed ut de uiro fieret, unitas commendata; ut autem illo modo fieret, Christus, ut dictum est, et ecclesia figurata est. qui ergo utrumque sexum instituit, utrumque restituet. denique ipse Iesus interrogatus a Sadducaeis, qui negabant resurrectionem, cuius septem fratrum erit uxor, quam singuli habuerunt, dum quisque eorum uellet defuncti semen sicut lex praeceperat, excitare: erratis, inquit, nescientes scripturas, neque uirtutem dei; et cum locus esset, ut diceret: de qua enim me interrogatis, uir erit etiam ipsa, non mulier, non hoc dixit, sed dixit: in resurrectione enim neque nubent neque uxores ducent, sed sunt sicut angeli dei in caelo; aequales utique angelis inmortalitate ac felicitate, non carne; sicut nec resurrectione, qua non indiguerunt angeli, quoniam nec mori potuerunt. nuptias ergo dominus futuras negauit esse in resurrectione, non feminas, et ibi negauit, ubi talis quaestio uertebatur, ut eam negato sexu muliebri celeriore facilitate dissolueret, si eum ibi praenosceret non futurum; immo etiam futurum esse firmauit dicendo: non nubent, quod ad feminas pertinet, nec uxores ducent, quod ad uiros. erunt ergo, quae uel nubere hic solent, uel ducere uxores; sed ibi hoc non facient.

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The City of God

Chapter 17.--Whether the Bodies of Women Shall Retain Their Own Sex in the Resurrection.

From the words, "Till we all come to a perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ," ¹ and from the words, "Conformed to the image of the Son of God," ² some conclude that women shall not rise women, but that all shall be men, because God made man only of earth, and woman of the man. For my part, they seem to be wiser who make no doubt that both sexes shall rise. For there shall be no lust, which is now the cause of confusion. For before they sinned, the man and the woman were naked, and were not ashamed. From those bodies, then, vice shall be withdrawn, while nature shall be preserved. And the sex of woman is not a vice, but nature. It shall then indeed be superior to carnal intercourse and child-bearing; nevertheless the female members shall remain adapted not to the old uses, but to a new beauty, which, so far from provoking lust, now extinct, shall excite praise to the wisdom and clemency of God, who both made what was not and delivered from corruption what He made. For at the beginning of the human race the woman was made of a rib taken from the side of the man while he slept; for it seemed fit that even then Christ and His Church should be foreshadowed in this event. For that sleep of the man was the death of Christ, whose side, as He hung lifeless upon the cross, was pierced with a spear, and there flowed from it blood and water, and these we know to be the sacraments by which the Church is "built up." For Scripture used this very word, not saying "He formed" or "framed," but "built her up into a woman;" ³ whence also the apostle speaks of the edification of the body of Christ, ⁴ which is the Church. The woman, therefore, is a creature of God even as the man; but by her creation from man unity is commended; and the manner of her creation prefigured, as has been said, Christ and the Church. He, then, who created both sexes will restore both. Jesus Himself also, when asked by the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, which of the seven brothers should have to wife the woman whom all in succession had taken to raise up seed to their brother, as the law enjoined, says, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." ⁵ And though it was a fit opportunity for His saying, She about whom you make inquiries shall herself be a man, and not a woman, He said nothing of the kind; but "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." ⁶ They shall be equal to the angels in immortality and happiness, not in flesh, nor in resurrection, which the angels did not need, because they could not die. The Lord then denied that there would be in the resurrection, not women, but marriages; and He uttered this denial in circumstances in which the question mooted would have been more easily and speedily solved by denying that the female sex would exist, if this had in truth been foreknown by Him. But, indeed, He even affirmed that the sex should exist by saying, "They shall not be given in marriage," which can only apply to females; "Neither shall they marry," which applies to males. There shall therefore be those who are in this world accustomed to marry and be given in marriage, only they shall there make no such marriages.