V. What kind of bodies shall rise in the resurrection?

The bodies with which we shall rise in the resurrection, will not only be human bodies, but also the very same which we now have, and not other and different bodies created by Christ, as the Anabaptists affirm. Job says, “In my flesh shall I see God.” (Job 19:26.) The apostle Paul says, “Everyone shall receive in his body according to that he hath done;” “and this mortal shall put on immortality.” (Eph. 6:8. 1 Cor. 15:53.) It was therefore, taught in the African churches: I believe in the resurrection of this flesh. The same thing may be argued from the import of the word resurrection: for nothing can rise again, except that which has fallen. “This is the resurrection” said Ambrose, “as may be inferred from the import of the word itself, that that which fell may rise, and that what was dead may revive” The justice of God also establishes the same thing. “For this” said Ambrose, “is the order and course of justice, that since every action is common both to the body and the soul, the body executing that to which the soul prompts, it is proper that both should come into judgment, and that both should either be given over to punishment, or crowned with glory “The justice of God demands that the bodies of the saints which have fought, should also be crowned; and that the wicked be punished in the same bodies in which they have blasphemed and opposed God. Wherefore, there will be restored in the resurrection to every soul, not a strange and different body, but its own proper body that which it here had and shall thus be crowned with glory, or punished with shame. Finally, as Christ rose with the same body which he had when he died, so shall we also rise with the very body which we now have.

Obj. 1. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. These bodies of ours consist of flesh and blood. Therefore they cannot inherit the kingdom of God; consequently not these, but other bodies shall rise in the resurrection.
Ans. There are here four terms; for flesh and blood as used by the Apostle, (1. Cor. 15:50,) and understood in the first proposition of this syllogism, signify some evil quality adhering to the substance of the body, or the substance in respect to this quality; and in the second proposition these terms, signify the very substance of our bodies, from which the Anabaptists draw their conclusions, in relation to this subject. Or we may reply, that there is an incorrect chain of reasoning, in as much as this argument proceeds from a corrupt substance, to that which is pure, simple substance, in this manner; flesh and blood being mortal and corrupt, as it now is, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore flesh and blood, simply such, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. But this does not legitimately follow. Hence flesh and blood, understanding by this, that which is sinful, and corrupt, cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but as glorified and immortal it shall obtain an entrance there. The Apostle expressly teaches this when he says, “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:44.)

Obj. 2. The bodies with which we shall rise will be according to the Apostle, spiritual. Therefore they will not then have the properties of flesh.
Ans. The apostle means by a spiritual body, not that which is changed into the Spirit, or which is in all its properties equal to the Spirit but that which is ruled by the Spirit of God, which is immortal and free from all misery, adorned with heavenly splendor, glory, activity, strength and holiness. So he also calls a natural body, not that which is changed into the soul, or which is equal to it in all its properties; but that which in this mortal state is quickened, controlled, and directed by the soul. That this is the meaning of what Paul calls a spiritual body, is proven.
1. Because he says it is raised a spiritual body; but a spirit is no body.
2. He also adds, “this corruptible (body) must put on incorruption.”
3. The body of Christ after his resurrection, had flesh and bones; and yet it was spiritual and glorious in the highest degree. Therefore, much more shall our spiritual bodies have flesh and bones. The interpretation which Augustin gives to these words of the Apostle is this, “We must not imagine that because the Apostle says that the body which we shall have in the resurrection will be spiritual, that it will be purely spiritual without any body. But he calls that a spiritual body, which is wholly subject to the Spirit, and which is free from corruption and death; for whom he calls the body which we now have, a natural body, we must not suppose that it is not a body, but a soul therefore as the body which we now have is called natural, because it is subject to the soul, and cannot be called spiritual, because it is not yet fully subject to the Spirit, as long as it may be corrupted, so it will then be called spiritual, when it will not be able with any corruption to resist the Spirit.