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Against Heresies

3.

For it is not one thing which dies and another which is quickened, as neither is it one thing which is lost and another which is found, but the Lord came seeking for that same sheep which had been lost. What was it, then, which was dead? Undoubtedly it was the substance of the flesh; the same, too, which had lost the breath of life, and had become breathless and dead. This same, therefore, was what the Lord came to quicken, that as in Adam we do all die, as being of an animal nature, in Christ we may all live, as being spiritual, not laying aside God's handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." And what these are he himself explains: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence; and covetousness, which is idolatry." ¹ The laying aside of these is what the apostle preaches; and he declares that those who do such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. For their soul, tending towards what is worse, and descending to earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to these [lusts, viz., "earthly"], which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast ye off the old man with his deeds." ² But when he said this, he does not remove away the ancient formation [of man]; for in that case it would be incumbent on us to rid ourselves of its company by committing suicide.

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Gegen die Häresien (BKV)

3.

Denn ebendasselbe, was starb, wird auch lebendig gemacht, was verloren war, wird gefunden, wie auch der Herr das Schaf suchte und fand, das verloren war. Was also starb denn nun? Doch nur die Substanz des Fleisches, die den Hauch des Lebens verloren hatte und leblos und tot geworden war. Diese nun lebendig zu machen, kam der Herr, damit wir, wie wir in Adam alle sterben, so wir animalisch sind, in Christo leben, so wir geistig sind, nicht indem wir das Gebilde Gottes ablegen, sondern die Begierden des Fleisches, und den Hl. Geist annehmen, wie der Apostel in dem Briefe an die Kolosser sagt: „Tötet also eure Glieder, die von der Erde sind!“¹ Was das bedeutet, hat er selber erklärt: Hurerei, Unreinigkeit, Leidenschaft, böse Begierde und Geiz, der Götzendienst ist. Indem der Apostel mahnt, diese abzulegen, verkündet er, daß die, welche solches tun, gleich als ob sie nur Fleisch und Blut wären, das Himmelreich nicht besitzen können. Da ihre Seele sich zum Schlechten hinwandte und in die irdischen Begierden hinabstieg, hat sie auch denselben Namen wie jene erhalten, und indem der Apostel uns befiehlt, diese abzulegen, sagt er wiederum in demselben Briefe: „Ziehet aus den alten Menschen mit seinen Werken!“² Womit er das alte Gebilde nicht aufheben wollte; sonst müssten wir uns ja das Leben nehmen, um von dem gegenwärtigen Leben loszukommen.