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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput X: Quid respondendum sit eis, qui putant resurrectionem ad sola corpora, non etiam ad animas pertinere.

Sunt qui putant resurrectionem dici non posse nisi corporum ideoque istam quoque primam in corporibus futuram esse contendunt. quorum enim est, inquiunt, cadere, eorum est resurgere. cadunt autem corpora moriendo; nam et a cadendo cadauera nuncupantur. non ergo animarum, inquiunt, resurrectio potest esse, sed corporum. sed quid contra apostolum dicunt, qui eam resurrectionem appellat? nam secundum interiorem, non secundum exteriorem hominem utique resurrexerant, quibus ait: si resurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt sapite. quem sensum uerbis aliis alibi posuit dicens: ut, quemadmodum Christus resurrexit a mortuis per gloriam patris, sic et nos in nouitate uitae ambulemus. hinc est et illud: surge qui dormis et exsurge a mortuis, et inluminabit te Christus. quod autem dicunt non posse resurgere, nisi qui cadunt, et ideo putant resurrectionem ad corpora, non ad animas pertinere, quia corporum est cadere, cur non audiunt: non recedatis ab illo, ne cadatis, et: suo domino stat aut cadit; et: qui se putat stare, caueat ne cadat? puto enim quod in anima, non in corpore casus iste cauendus est. si igitur cadentium est resurrectio, cadunt autem et animae, profecto et animas resurgere confitendum est. quod autem, cum dixisset: in istis secunda mors non habet potestatem, adiunxit atque ait: sed erunt sacerdotes dei et Christi et regnabunt cum eo mille annis: non utique de solis episcopis et presbyteris dictum est: qui proprie iam uocantur in ecclesia sacerdotes; sed sicut omnes christos dicimus propter mysticum chrisma, sic omnes sacerdotes, quoniam membra sunt unius sacerdotis; de quibus apostolus Petrus: plebs, inquit, sancta, regale sacerdotium. sane, licet breuiter atque transeunter, insinuauit esse deum Christum dicendo: sacerdotes dei et Christi, hoc est patris et filii; quamuis propter formam serui sicut hominis filius, ita etiam sacerdos Christus effectus sit in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech. de qua re in hoc opere non semel diximus.

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The City of God

Chapter 10.--What is to Be Replied to Those Who Think that Resurrection Pertains Only to Bodies and Not to Souls.

There are some who suppose that resurrection can be predicated only of the body, and therefore they contend that this first resurrection (of the Apocalypse) is a bodily resurrection. For, say they, "to rise again" can only be said of things that fall. Now, bodies fall in death. ¹ There cannot, therefore, be a resurrection of souls, but of bodies. But what do they say to the apostle who speaks of a resurrection of souls? For certainly it was in the inner and not the outer man that those had risen again to whom he says, "If ye have risen with Christ, mind the things that are above." ² The same sense he elsewhere conveyed in other words, saying, "That as Christ has risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life." ³ So, too, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. ⁴ " As to what they say about nothing being able to rise again but what falls, whence they conclude that resurrection pertains to bodies only, and not to souls, because bodies fall, why do they make nothing of the words, "Ye that fear the Lord, wait for His mercy; and go not aside lest ye fall;" ⁵ and "To his own Master he stands or falls;" ⁶ and "He that thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall?" ⁷ For I fancy this fall that we are to take heed against is a fall of the soul, not of the body. If, then, rising again belongs to things that fall, and souls fall, it must be owned that souls also rise again. To the words, "In them the second death hath no power," are added the words, "but they shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years;" and this refers not to the bishops alone, and presbyters, who are now specially called priests in the Church; but as we call all believers Christians on account of the mystical chrism, so we call all priests because they are members of the one Priest. Of them the Apostle Peter says, "A holy people, a royal priesthood." ⁸ Certainly he implied, though in a passing and incidental way, that Christ is God, saying priests of God and Christ, that is, of the Father and the Son, though it was in His servant-form and as Son of man that Christ was made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. But this we have already explained more than once.