(35.) The Church Will Be Without Spot and Wrinkle After the Resurrection.

Then shall the Church realize, fully and perfectly, the condition of “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,”165    Eph. v. 27. because then also will it in a real sense be glorious. For inasmuch as he added the epithet “glorious,” when he said, “That He might present the Church to Himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,” he signified sufficiently when the Church will be without spot, or wrinkle, or anything of this kind,—then of course when it shall be glorious. Because it is not so much when the Church is involved in so many evils, or amidst such offences, and in so great a mixture of very evil men, and amidst the heavy reproaches of the ungodly, that we ought to say that it is glorious, because kings serve it,—a fact which only produces a more perilous and a sorer temptation;—but then shall it rather be glorious, when that event shall come to pass of which the apostle also speaks in the words, “When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”166    Col. iii. 4. For since the Lord Himself, in that form of a servant by which He united Himself as Mediator to the Church, was not glorified except by the glory of His resurrection (whence it is said, “The Spirit was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified”167    John vii. 39.), how shall His Church be described as glorious, before its resurrection? He cleanses it, therefore, now “by the laver of the water in the word,”168    Eph. v. 26. washing away its past sins, and driving off from it the dominion of wicked angels; but then by bringing all its healthy powers to perfection, He makes it meet for that glorious state, where it shall shine without a spot or wrinkle. For “whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”169    Rom. viii. 30. It was under this mystery, as I suppose, that that was spoken, “Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be consummated,” or perfected.170    Luke xiii. 32. For He said this in the person of His body, which is His Church, putting days for distinct and appointed periods, which He also signified in “the third day” in His resurrection.

35. Tunc plene atque perfecte erit Ecclesia non habens maculam aut rugam aut aliquid hujusmodi, quia tunc etiam erit vere gloriosa. Cum enim non tantum ait, ut exhiberet sibi Ecclesiam non habentem maculam aut rugam, sed addidit, gloriosam (Ephes. V, 27); satis significavit, quando erit sine macula et ruga aut aliquo hujusmodi : tunc utique, quando gloriosa. Non enim modo in tantis malis, in tantis scandalis, in tanta permixtione hominum pessimorum, in tantis opprobriis impiorum dicendum est eam esse gloriosam, quia reges ei serviunt, ubi est periculosior majorque tentatio: sed tunc potius gloriosa erit, quando fiet quod idem ait apostolus, Cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc et vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria (Coloss. III, 4). Cum enim Dominus ipse secundum formam servi, per quam se mediator conjunxit Ecclesiae, non fuerit glorificatus nisi resurrectionis gloria (unde dictum est, Spiritus non erat datus, quia Jesus nondum fuerat glorificatus [Joan. VII, 39]); quomodo dicenda est ante resurrectionem suam Ecclesia ejus esse gloriosa? Mundat ergo eam nunc lavacro aquae in verbo (Ephes. V, 26), abluens peccata praeterita, et pellens ab ea dominationem malorum Angelorum: deinde perficiens ejus sanitates, facit eam occurrere in illam gloriosam, sine macula et ruga. Quos enim praedestinavit, illos et vocavit; et quos vocavit, ipsos et justificavit; quos autem justificavit, illos et glorificavit (Rom. VIII, 30). In hoc mysterio dictum arbitror, Ecce ejicio daemonia, et sanitates perficio hodie et cras, et tertia die consummor (Luc. XIII, 32), id est, perficior. Dixit enim hoc ex persona corporis sui, quod est Ecclesia: dies ponens pro distinctis ordinatisque temporibus, quod et in sua resurrectione significavit in triduo.