Chapter XLIV.—Sundry Other Passages of St. Paul Explained in a Sentence Confirmatory of Our Doctrine.

Now, if you will examine the words which precede the passage where mention is made of the outward and the inward man, will you not discover the whole truth, both of the dignity and the hope of the flesh? For, when he speaks of the “light which God hath commanded to shine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord in the person of Jesus Christ,”288    2 Cor. iv. 6. and says that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels,”289    Ver. 7. meaning of course the flesh, which is meant—that the flesh shall be destroyed, because it is “an earthen vessel,” deriving its origin from clay; or that it is to be glorified, as being the receptacle of a divine treasure? Now if that true light, which is in the person of Christ, contains in itself life, and that life with its light is committed to the flesh, is that destined to perish which has life entrusted to it? Then, of course, the treasure will perish also; for perishable things are entrusted to things which are themselves perishable, which is like putting new wine into old bottles. When also he adds, “Always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ,”290    2 Cor. iv. 10. what sort of substance is that which, after (being called) the temple of God, can now be also designated the tomb of Christ?  But why do we bear about in the body the dying of the Lord? In order, as he says, “that His life also may be manifested.”291    Ver. 10. Where?  “In the body.” In what body? “In our mortal body.”292    Ver. 10. Therefore in the flesh, which is mortal indeed through sin, but living through grace—how great a grace you may see when the purpose is, “that the life of Christ may be manifested in it.” Is it then in a thing which is a stranger to salvation, in a substance which is perpetually dissolved, that the life of Christ will be manifested, which is eternal, continuous, incorruptible, and already the life of God? Else to what epoch belongs that life of the Lord which is to be manifested in our body? It surely is the life which He lived up to His passion, which was not only openly shown among the Jews, but has now been displayed even to all nations. Therefore that life is meant which “has broken the adamantine gates of death and the brazen bars of the lower world,”293    Ps. cvii. 16.—a life which thenceforth has been and will be ours. Lastly, it is to be manifested in the body. When? After death.  How? By rising in our body, as Christ also rose in His. But lest any one should here object, that the life of Jesus has even now to be manifested in our body by the discipline of holiness, and patience, and righteousness, and wisdom, in which the Lord’s life abounded, the most provident wisdom of the apostle inserts this purpose: “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that His life may be manifested in our mortal body.”294    2 Cor. iv. 11. In us, therefore, even when dead, does he say that this is to take place in us. And if so, how is this possible except in our body after its resurrection? Therefore he adds in the concluding sentence: “Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also with Him,”295    Ver. 14. risen as He is already from the dead.  But perhaps “with Him” means “like Him:” well then, if it be like Him, it is not of course without the flesh.

CAPUT XLIV.

0856C Si enim adhuc ad superiora respectes, unde mentio hominis exterioris et interioris inducta est, nonne et dignitatem et spem carnis integram invenies? Dum enim de lumine, quod illuxerit Deus in cordibus nostris, ad illuminationem agnitionis gloriae suae, in persona Christi, dicit habere nos thesaurum istum in testaceis vasis, scilicet in carne; utrumne quia testacea est, secundum originem in limo, destruetur; 0857A an quia divini thesauri conditorium est, extolletur? Atquin, si lumen ipsum illud verum, quod est in persona Christi, vitam in se continet, eaque vita cum lumine committitur in carnem; peritura est, in quam vita committitur? Plane, si periturus et ipse thesaurus: perituris enim peritura creduntur; sicut veteribus utribus, novum vinum. Cum item subjicit: Semper mortificationem Christi Jesu circumferentes in corpore nostro; qualis ista res est, quae post Dei templum, jam et sepulcrum Christi potest dici? Cur autem mortificationem Domini circumferimus in corpore? Uti et vita , inquit, manifestetur. Ubi? In corpore . In quo? In mortali. Ergo in carne, plane mortali secundum culpam, sed et vitali secundum gratiam. Vide quantam: Ut in illa vita Christi 0857B manifestetur. In re ergo aliena salutis in substantia perpetuae dissolutionis, manifestabitur vita Christi aeterna, jugis, incorrupta, jam et Dei vita? aut cujus temporis vita Domini manifestabitur in corpore notro? Illa quidem quam vixit usque in passionem; quae non modo apud Judaeos in manifesto fuit, verum etiam omnibus nunc gentibus prodita est. Adeo eam significat, quae portas adamantinas mortis, et aeneas seras inferorum infregit, quae exinde jam nostra est. Denique, manifestabitur in corpore. Quando? Post mortem. Quomodo? Dum resurgimus in corpore, sicut et Christus. Ne enim quis argumentetur, nunc habere manifestari vitam Jesu in corpore nostro per disciplinam sanctitatis, et patientiae, et justitiae, et sapientiae, quibus Domini vita floruerit, providentissima 0857C Apostoli intentio ingerit: Si enim nos qui vivimus, in mortem tradimur propter Jesum, ut vita ejus manifestetur in corpore nostro mortali; Ideo defunctis nobis hoc ait futurum in corpore nostro. Quod si tunc, quomodo, nisi resuscitato eo? Proinde et in 0858A clausula: Scientes, ait, quod qui suscitavit Jesum, et nos suscitabit cum ipso, quia jam resurrexit a mortuis: nisi quia cum ipso sicut ipsum sapit? Si vero sicut ipsum, non utique sine carne.