SECTION I

REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
i. Definition. — The Resurrection of the flesh is one of the most important dogmas of the Christian religion,
St. Paul says: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preaching, vain too your faith/' 1 The Bible employs " resurrection of the dead 99 2 and " resur- rection of the flesh 99 8 synonymously. The latter phrase is the more significant because it emphasizes the body. The soul, of course, does not " return 99 to life ; it is im- mortal.
The Resurrection of the flesh may be defined as "a substantial conversion whereby a human being, which has been resolved into its component elements by death, is restored to its former con- dition."
i i Cor. XV, 13 tq.: "Si outsm ' 2 Resnrrectio mortnofnm or is rtsurrsctio mortuorum non M: mortuis, Avi&tacu t£p HKp&w or nequt Christ us rssurrtxit; si on- 4k poko&p.
tun Christus non ntufrtxit, moms » Rtsurrsctio camis, 4>drra#is sst ergo praedicatio nostra, momis fapxdf. ost st tides vtstra."
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The Resurrection is called a conversion (mutatio) to distinguish it from creation (creatio ex nihilo), by which an entirely new being comes into existence.
The change involved in the Resurrection is substantial because it affects the substance of human nature, and not merely its accidents. The subject is a corruptible being, composed of elements which are separated by death and thus admit of substantial destruction. Man as such is destroyed, and of the two essential elements that compose him, viz.: body and soul, the former gradually returns to dust. Its resurrection is not a re-creation, but a mi- raculous reproduction (reproductio) with full identity of subject.
2. Heretical Errors vs. the Dogmatic Teaching of the Church. — The Resurrection of the dead appeared foolish to the gentiles. 4 It was denied by the Sadducees, 5 the Gnostics, the Manichaeans, and the medieval Albigenses and Waldenses, and is still violently attacked by athe- ists, materialists, and rationalists. Against all these the Catholic Church firmly upholds the Resurrection of the body. The dogma is ex- pressly mentioned in the so-called Apostles' Creed, in the Nicene and the Athanasian creeds, in the symbol of the Eleventh Council of Toledo, and other ancient professions of faith. Origen's teaching of an Apocatastasis of the dead 6 was condemned by the Council of Constantinople
4 Cfr. Acts XVII, x8. Sodducaei, qui dicunt non tsse nsur-
eCfr. Mattb. XXII, 231 **• . • rtcHonem."
e F. supra, pp. 67 tqq.
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(553)- 7 The Fourth Council of the Lateran spe- cifically defined that "all men will arise [from the dead] with their own proper bodies." 8
3. Proof from Sacred Scripture.— The Resurrection of the body is mentioned in both the proto- and the deutero-canonical books of the Old Testament. The former advert to it veiledly, whereas the latter inculcate it with perfect clear- ness.
a) The proto-canonical books contain two classes of texts referring to the Resurrection. Some predict the restoration of Israel under the figure of a general rising of the dead; others point to the Resurrection of Christ as a symbol of our own.
o) The prophet Osee puts these words into the mouths of the Jewish exiles in Babylonia: "He will revive us after two days: on the third day. he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." 9 Yahweh Himself promises his chosen people through the same prophet: "I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite." 10
Another argument may be deduced from the famous vision of Ezechiel. The prophet saw' how the dry bones that lay scattered over the plain of the dead, at God's com- mand began to stir, took on sinews and flesh, and were
7" Si quis Mxerit, quod in fabu- duos .dies: in die tertia suscitohit
loso restituHone futurae sunt solas nos, et vivemus in conspectu sius."
mentss nudae, anathema sit." 10 Os. XIII, 14: " De manu
(Denzmger, 9th cd., n. 200). mortis liberabo sos. de morse re-
B" Omnes cum suis propriis re- dimam eos: ero mors tua o mors,
surgent corporibus." (Denzinger- morsus tuus ero infeme." (Cfr. 1
Bannwart, irth ed., n. 429). Cor. XV, 54 aq.)
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covered with skin. When they stood upright, and lived and breathed, the Lord said to the prophet : " Son of man, all these bones are the house of Israel. . . . Behold I will open your graves, and will bring you out of your sep- ulchres, O my people, and will bring you into the land of Israel." 11 Though this vision symbolizes the restora- tion of Israel, it would have been unintelligible to the Jews had they not been familiar with belief in a resurrec- tion. 12
P) The texts of the second group refer to the Resurrection of the Messias, which we Christians rightly regard as a figure and pledge of our own. Cfr. Ps. XV, 10: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in the nether world, 13 nor wilt thou give [permit] thy holy one to see corruption/' 14
b) A veritable locus classicus for the dogma of the Resurrection is Job XIX, 23 sqq.: "Who will grant me that my words may be written ? who will grant me that they may be marked down in a book with an iron pen and in a plate of lead, or else be graven with an instrument in flint stone? For I know my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth, and I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another : this my hope is laid
U Ez. XXXVII. 11 sq.: " FQi hominis, ossa haec universe domus Israel est. ... Bcce ego aperiam tu~ mulos vestros et educam vos de sepulchris vestris, populus mens: ft Unhtcam pes in terrain Israel."
12 Cfr. Tertullian, De Resurrec- tione Camis, 30 : " Non posset de ossibus Hgura componi, si non id ipsum et ossibus eventurum esset."
i3efr fiorip; Hebrew, *h*ok
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up in my bosom." 15 So clearly does this passage express the dogma of the Resurrection that St. Jerome says: "Job prophesied the resurrection of the body in such plain terms that no man has written of it more clearly or more certainly, ... no one [has treated this dogma] as openly after Christ as Job did before Him." 16
The Hebrew text, it is true, differs slightly from the Vulgate rendering, which is followed by our English Bible. It runs something like this : " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he will in the end stand above the dust. Then shall I be clothed with this skin, and in my flesh I shall see God. Yea, I will see him for myself, my eyes will see him, and not another: my reins con- sume themselves in my bosom/' But, though the word- ing is different, the hope of a glorious Resurrection is common to both versions. Where the Vulgate says, " Et in novissimo die de terra resurrecturus sum," the He- brew text has: "He [i. e. the Redeemer] will stand above the dust." Both passages affirm the fact of the Resurrection, with this difference, that one mentions its efficient, while the other speaks of its formal cause. To interpret the whole passage as merely voicing Job's confidence of regaining his health, will not do. For in that assumption, as even Rabbi Rosenmiiller admits, there
15 Job XIX, 23 sqq. : " Quis mihi conspecturi sunt, et non alius: re-
det, ut exarentur in libro stylo f err to posita est haec spes mea in sinu
et plumbi lamina vel celte sculpan- meo."
tur in silicet Scio enim quod Re- i*Ep. t 53,8: " lob resurrectionem demptor mens vivit, et in novissimo corporum sic prophetat, ut nullus de die de terra surrecturus sum: et rur- ea vel manifestius vel cautius scrip- sum circumdabor pelle mea, et in serit, . . . nullus tarn aperte post came mea videbo Deum meum, quern Christum, quam iste ante Christum." visnrus sum ego ipse, et oculi met
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would be no proportion between the majestic announce- ment with which the text opens, and the unimportant fact which it records. 17 The logical sequence of ideas demands that Job meet the charges of his friends by ex- pressing his belief that the due proportion between guilt and punishment will be restored in the world beyond, espe- cially since he himself had just closed his earthly account in the sure expectation of death. 18 " We must assume," says Rosenmiiller, " that his thoughts were directed to the final resurrection of the body and the restoration of all things/' 19
c) The deutero-canonical books of the Old Tes- tament teach the doctrine of the Resurrection ex- plicitly.
Ecclesiasticus is not entirely conclusive because the Greek text is badly corrupted and differs in many places from the Latin Vulgate. Nevertheless, the praise of Elias, who is expected to return at the end of the world, may be quoted. The Greek text says: "Blessed are they that saw thee [i. e. Elias at the end of the world] and were honored in love ; for we too shall live." 20
That the post-exilic Jews firmly believed in the Resur- rection of the flesh is proved by the glorious martyrdom of the seven brethren and their mother, recounted in 2 Mach. VII, 9 sqq. " Thou indeed, O most wicked man," says the second of the brothers to the cruel tyrant Anti- ochus, u destroyest us out of this present life, but the King
IT Rosenmiiller, Scholia in Li- brum lob, i. h. k is lob XVII.
it Scholia m Librum M, K I: " Oportet eum de venturo iudicio, corporum resurrection* ultimo) et re- run* omnium instaurotion* cogitasse."
aoEcclus. XL VIII, u, ed. Titchendorf, 1882: Maicdpiot ol I86rrt$ at Kal •! iw dyair/jm KtKotrftvftipor xal yhp ^/uett \u%
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of the world will raise us up, who die for his laws, in the resurrection of eternal life." 21 And the fourth declares : " It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him : for, as to thee thou shalt have no resurrection unto life." 22 The mother exhorts them all to be steadfast. " The Creator of the world," she says, ". . . will restore to you again in his mercy both breath and life." 28 When Razias, one of the ancients of Jerusalem, was put to death for his loyalty to the Jewish religion, we are told that, " as he had yet breath in him, being inflamed in mind, he arose, and while his blood ran down with a great stream, and he was grievously wounded, he ran through the crowd, and stand* ing upon a steep rock, when he was now almost without blood, grasping his bowels with both hands, he cast them upon the throng, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to restore these to him again: and so he departed this life." 2 *
d) In the New Testament we have the distinct assurance of Christ and His Apostles that the dead will rise again.
«) Our Lord says: 'Tear ye not them that
21 2 Mach. VII, 9: " Tu quidem> scelestissime in praesenti vita nos perdis : sed Rex mundi defunctos nos pro suis legibus in aeternae vitae resurrection* suscitabit."
222 Mach. VII, 13: " Potius est ab hominibus morti datos spent ex' pectars a Deo, Iterum ab ipso re* suscitandos: tibi enim resurrectio ad vitam non erit."
282 Mach. VII, 23: "mundi Creator et spiritum . . . vobis ite* rum cum misericdrdio reddet et vitam."
24 a, Mach. XIV. 46: quum adhuc spiraret. accensus any mo, surrexit: et quum sanguis eius magno Huxu deHueret, et gravisshms vulneribus esset saucins. cursu tur- bam pertranwt: of stans supra quondam petram praeruptam, et tarn ex sanguis effect us, complexes in* testma sua, utrisque manibus proie- cit super turbos, invocans domino- torem vitae ac spiritus, ut haec iUi iterum redderet: at que ita vita de- functus est."
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kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell." 25 He accuses the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, of ignorance. "You err," he says, "not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." 26 When Martha before the tomb of her brother exclaimed, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day," 27 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live." 28 On another occasion He predicted that He Himself would raise the dead to life: "The hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg- ment." 29 Those who eat of the "true bread of heaven," i. e. His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, have our Lord's solemn promise that He will "raise them up in the last day." 80
25Matth. X, a8: " Nolite timere eos, qui occidunt corpus, animam autem non possunt occidere: sed po- tius timete turn, qui potest et ani- mam st corpus ptrdert in gehen* nam."
acMatth. XXII, 39: " Erratis nescient es Scriptures, neque virtu* Urn Dei."
27 John XI, 24: "Scio quia re- surget in resurrections in novissimo die."
28 John XI, 25: Ego sum re- surrectio et vita: qui credit in me, etiam si mortuus fuerit, vivet."
29 John V, a8 aq.: . . venit hot a, in qua omnes, qui in monu- mentis sunt, audient vocem Filii Dei: et procedent qui bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem vitae, qui vero mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii."
80 John VI, 40: "Ego resu- scitabo eum in novissimo die."
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P) The Apostles testified both to the Resurrec- tion of Christ and to the General Resurrection of the dead, with such power that the Sadducees were "grieved." 31 St. Paul places the Resurrec- tion of the dead on the same level, as regards cer- tainty, with the Resurrection of our Lord: "Now if Christ is preached as risen from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resur- rection of the dead, neither is Christ risen; and if Christ is not risen, vain truly is our preach- ing, vain too your f aith." 32 Again he says : "If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you : he that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bod- ies, because of his spirit that dwelleth in you." 38 And : "Know you not that all we who are bap- tized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death? For we are buried together with him by bap- tism into death ; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life." 84 The Apostle pro- si Acts IV, 2: " Dolentes quod ergo praedicatio nostra; inanis est docsrent populum. et annuntiarent et fides vestro." in Issu rssurrectionem ex mortuis." 33 Rom. VIII, x x : " Quod si 32 i Cor. XV, 12 sqq.: "Si au- spiritus eius, qui suscitavit Iesum tern Christus praedicatur quod r*« a mortuis, habitat in vobis, qui surrexit a mortuis, quomodo quidam suscitavit Iesum Christum a mortuis, dicunt in vobis, quoniam resurrectio viviUcabit et mortaUa corpora vestro, mortuorum non estf Si autem propter inhabitantem SpirUum eius resurrectio mortuorum non est, in vobis."
neque Christus resurrexit; si autem 84 Rom. VI, 3 sqq.: " An ignora- Chrlstus non resurrexit, inanis est tis quia quicunque baptieati sumus
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claimed the doctrine of the Resurrection before the Epicureans and the Stoics, 35 and courage- ously upheld it in the presence of Felix, the gov- ernor, 36 and King Agrippa. 37 Hymeneus and Philetus were publicly denounced by him as apos- tates for having taught that "the resurrection is past already/ 1 88
4. Proof from Tradition. — The Tradition of the early Church agrees perfectly with the teaching of the Bible. To construe a complete Patristic argument for the Resurrection, "one would have to transcribe almost all the writings of the early Fathers," 89 for not only do they all mention the dogma occasionally, but a number of them (Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ephraem, Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Am- brose, and others) have left special treatises on the subject.
If we study the arguments of these Fathers we find that they embody splendid proofs for the fitness of the Res- urrection. Thus Minucius Felix points to the analogy
in Christo Iesu, in morte ipsius bap- tizati sumusf Consepulti enim sumns cum iUo per baptismum in mortem: ut quomodo Christus sur- rexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in nvvitate vitae ambit- lemus." (Cfr. 2 Cor. IV, 14; Heb. VI, 2).
85 Acts XVII, 18 sqq.
•e Acts XXIV. 15.
87 Acts XXVI, 8, 33.
883 Tim. II, 18: M . . . resurrec- Hon em esse iam factam*" — The Scriptural argument for the Resur- rection of the dead is more fully developed by Fr. Schmid, Der Unsterblichkeitsglaube in der Bibel, Brixen 1902.
89 Thus Oswald, Eschatologie, p. 288.
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existing between revelation and nature. " The sun," he says, "sinks down and rises, the stars pass away and return, the flowers die and revive again, the shrubs re- sume their leaves after their wintry decay, seeds do not flourish unless they are rotted. ... So we, too, must wait for the springtime of the body." 40
The Fathers refute the objection that it is impossible for the dead to return to life by pointing to the divine omnipotence. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem says: "God created us out of nothing; why should He not be able to re-awaken that which is destroyed?" 41 St. Irenaeus emphasizes the dignity of the body as the temple of the Holy Ghost and receptacle of the Eucharistic Christ. " How can it be asserted," he asks, " that the flesh which is nourished with the Body and Blood of our Lord shall not partake of the life ? " 42 St. Clement of Rome declares that the body must rise again in order to be rewarded for the merits it has acquired here below. 4 * Tertullian argues that if there were no resurrection of the body, the devil would prove mightier than God and the divine econ- omy of grace would show a fatal defect. 44
toOctavius. 34: "Sol demerge dpacHjceis r^y adpica pov ratir)*
tur et nascitur, astro labuntur et re- t^p dparK^aaaaw raora w&wra. deunt, Hores occidunt et revwi- 44 De Resurrection* Camis, c. 46:
scunt, post senium arbusta frond* " Diabolus validior in hominem intel-
scant, semino nonnisi corrupta re- legitur totum eum elide ns, Dens in-
viviscunt. . . . Bxpectandnm nobis Urmior renuntiobitur nen totum re-
etiam corporis ver est," levans. Atqui et Apostolus suggerit,
41 Catech., 18. ubi delictum obandoverit, itlic gra-
4* Adv. Haeres., IV, iS: " Quo- Ham abundasse."— Cfr* G. Scheurer,
modo dicunt, cornem non percipere Das Auferstehungsdogma der vorni-
vitam, qua cor pore Domini et son- sanischen Zeis, Wtaburg 1896; H.
guine alitor t" (Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, Kihn, Potrologie, Vol. I, pp. 173
The Sacraments, Vol. II, pp. 71 *W-» 289 «qq. ; Vol. II, pp. i6ot 470
4S£/>. ad Corinth., I, 2$i ical et passim, Paderfoorn 1 904-1 908.
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