Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection 10
Resurrection belongs to the fallen body; spirit does not fall. The soul dwells in the body, yet it does not live in what is soulless; when the soul departs, the body ceases to be. The body is the soul's house, and the soul is the spirit's house. These three — body, soul, and spirit — will be saved for those who hold pure hope and unwavering faith in God.
Even if we weigh the world's own arguments, we find nothing in them that makes the body's rebirth impossible. On top of that, the Savior demonstrates the salvation of our flesh throughout the entire Gospel. So why do we still tolerate unbelieving, scandalous talk? Why do we forget ourselves and turn back when we hear that the soul is immortal while the body is perishable and supposedly unable to rise again? We heard that very claim long before we learned the truth from Pythagoras and Plato. If the Savior merely taught those things and proclaimed the soul's life alone, what new gift did he bring beyond Pythagoras, Plato, and their circle? But he came announcing a new and strange hope to humanity. And it was indeed strange and new: God promises not to preserve immortality by means of immortality, but to turn corruption into immortality.
Unable to destroy the Word in any other way, the ruler of wickedness dispatched his own apostles, choosing them from the very ones who crucified our Savior. They bore the Savior's name, yet they did the works of the one who sent them, and through them blasphemy clung to that name. They introduced evil, pestilential teachings.
If the body does not rise, why do we still guard it? Why not simply let it serve its desires? Why not imitate those physicians who, once they have a patient they cannot save, allow him to indulge his appetites? They know he is perishing. That is exactly what those who hate the body do: they cast it out of the inheritance, as far as they can, and they dishonor it as though it were already dead.
But our physician, Jesus Christ, has pulled us away from desires and puts our body on the sober, self‑controlled regimen that belongs to him. It is clear, then, that he guards the body because it carries the hope of salvation from sins — just as physicians do not permit patients who have hope of recovery to serve their pleasures.
Greek
Ἀνάστασίς ἐστι τοῦ πεπτωκότος σαρκίου· πνεῦμα γὰρ οὐ πίπτει. Ψυχὴ ἐν σώματί ἐστιν, οὐ ζῇ δὲ ἄψυχον· σῶμα, ψυχῆς ἀπολειπούσης, οὐκ ἔστιν. Oἶκος γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ψυχῆς, πνεύματος δὲ ψυχὴ οἶκος. Τὰ τρία δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐλπίδα εἰλικρινῆ καὶ πίστιν ἀδιάκριτον ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἔχουσι σωθήσεται. Θεωροῦντες γοῦν καὶ τοὺς κοσμικοὺς λόγους, καὶ κατ' αὐτοὺς οὐχ εὑρίσκοντες ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν παλιγγενεσίαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι τὸν σωτῆρα διὰ παντὸς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου δεικνύντα τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν, τί λοιπὸν ἀνεχόμεθα τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ σκανδάλων λόγων, καὶ λανθάνομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιστρέφοντες εἰς τοὐπίσω, ὁπόταν ἀκούσωμεν ὅτι ἡ μὲν ψυχὴ ἀθάνατός ἐστι, τὸ δὲ σῶμα φθαρτὸν καὶ οὐκέτι δυνάμενον ἀναζῆσαι; Ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ μαθεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρὰ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Πλάτωνος ἠκούομεν. Eἰ οὖν ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ μόνης τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ζωὴν εὐηγγελίζετο, τί καινὸν ἡμῖν ἔφερε παρὰ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Πλάτωνα καὶ τὸν τούτων χορόν; Νῦν δὲ τὴν καινὴν καὶ ξένην εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἦλθεν ἀνθρώποις ἐλπίδα. Ξένον δὲ ἄρα ἦν καὶ καινὸν τὸ τὸν θεὸν ὑπισχνεῖσθαι μὴ τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τηρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν φθορὰν ἀφθαρσίαν ποιεῖν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλως λυμαίνεσθαι τὸν λόγον δυνάμενος ὁ τῆς πονηρίας ἄρχων ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ, κακὰς καὶ λοιμώδεις διδασκαλίας εἰσάγοντας, ἐκλεξάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν σταυρωσάντων τὸν σωτῆρα ἡμῶν, οἵτινες τὸ μὲν ὄνομα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἔφερον, τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτοὺς ἐποίουν, δι' οὓς καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι ἠκολούθησεν ἡ βλασφημία. Eἰ δὲ μὴ ἀνίσταται ἡ σάρξ, διὰ τί καὶ φυλάσσεται καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον αὐτῇ συγχωροῦμεν χρήσασθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ οὐ μιμούμεθα τοὺς ἰατρούς, οἵτινες, ἐπειδὰν ἀπεγνωσμένον ἔχωσιν ἄνθρωπον σώζεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, ἐπιτρέπουσιν αὐτῷ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ὑπηρετεῖν; Ἴσασι γὰρ ὅτι ἀπόλλυται. Ὅπερ ἀμέλει ποιοῦσιν οἱ τὴν σάρκα μισοῦντες, ἐκβάλλοντες αὐτὴν τῆς κληρονομίας, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὡς νεκρὰν ἐσομένην ἀτιμάζουσιν αὐτήν. Eἰ δὲ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἰατρὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἡμῶν ἀποσπάσας, διαιτᾶται τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν σώφρονι καὶ ἐγκρατεῖ διαίτῃ τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν, δῆλον ὡς ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἔχουσαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτὴν φυλάσσει, καθάπερ τοὺς ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἔχοντας ἀνθρώπους οἱ ἰατροὶ οὐκ ἐῶσιν ὑπηρετεῖν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς.