The Resurrection Body Is a Spiritual Body

Look at the discovery of this man of the new learning! It is something that escaped the notice of the apostles when they delivered the faith to the church, something none of the saints knew until it was revealed to this man by the spirit of the flesh. He, for his part, cannot explain it without bringing in something indecent. Nevertheless, I will set it out in his hearing, both more worthily and more truly. Christ is the firstfruits of those who sleep; he is also called the firstborn from the dead; and the apostle says, “Christ is the beginning; afterward those who are Christ’s.” Since, then, we have Christ as the undoubted firstfruits of our resurrection, how can any question arise about the rest of us? It must be plain that whatever the members, the hair, the flesh and the bones were in which Christ rose, in the same we too will rise. It was for this purpose that he offered himself to his disciples to touch after his resurrection, so that no hesitation about his resurrection would remain. Since, then, Christ has given his own resurrection as a pattern, one that is quite plain and, if I may say so, can be felt and handled, who could be so mad as to think that he himself will rise otherwise than as he rose who opened the door of the resurrection? This also confirms the truth of our confession: that while it is the actual natural flesh and no other that will rise, yet it will rise cleansed of its faults, having laid aside its corruption; so that the saying of the apostle is true: “It is sown in corruption, it will be raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it will be raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it will be raised a spiritual body.” Since, then, it is a spiritual body, glorious and incorruptible, it will be furnished and adorned with its own proper members, not with members taken from elsewhere, after that glorious image of which Christ is set forth as the everlasting pattern, as the apostle says: “Who will change the body of our humiliation, so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” [a]