Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh 35
He also commands us to fear the one who can kill both body and soul in Gehenna—that is, the Lord alone—not those who kill the body but cannot harm the soul, that is, human authorities. This shows that the soul is recognized here as having an immortal nature, one that men cannot kill; and it shows the mortality of the flesh, which can be killed; and thus it also shows the resurrection of the dead flesh, which cannot be killed in Gehenna unless it is first raised to life. Since the meaning of ‘body’ is disputed here, I understand the human body to be nothing other than the entire mass of flesh, composed and varied from whatever materials, which is seen, touched, and finally killed by men. Just so, I would not admit that a wall’s body is anything other than its mortar, stones, and bricks. If someone proposes some other kind of body, let him demonstrate, reveal, and prove that it too is something that men can kill, and the statement will apply to that. Likewise, if someone opposes the soul’s body, his cleverness will come to nothing. For when both body and soul are presented as being killed in Gehenna, the body is distinguished from the soul, and we are left to understand the body as what is immediately at hand—namely, the flesh. This flesh, just as it is killed in Gehenna if it did not fear being killed by God more, so also will it be brought to life in eternal life if it preferred to be killed by men. Therefore, if anyone seizes on the killing of flesh and soul in Gehenna as the destruction and end of both substances—not as punishment, as if for consumption, not as if for chastisement—let him recall that the fire of Gehenna is proclaimed as eternal for eternal punishment, and from that let him recognize the eternity of that killing, because it is to be feared by men as temporal. Then he will also believe in eternal substances, whose killing is eternal for punishment. Certainly, when after the resurrection the body together with the soul is to be killed by God in Gehenna, it will be sufficiently established concerning both, and concerning the bodily resurrection, and concerning the eternal killing. Otherwise it would be absurd: if the resuscitated flesh is killed in Gehenna so that it may be finished off, it would suffer the same fate even if it had not been resuscitated. For in that very act it is restored, so that it may not cease to be what it has already ceased to be. In this hope we are supported; the example of the sparrows is added—not one of two falls to the ground without God’s will—so that you may also believe that the flesh which has fallen to the ground can rise again through the will of the same God. For although this is not granted to sparrows, we surpass many sparrows in that we rise again when we fall. Finally, by affirming that all the hairs of the head are numbered, he promises that they will be saved. For what reason would they have been reduced to a number, unless it is that everything the Father has given me, I will not lose any of it—that is, not even a hair, just as not an eye, not a tooth? Moreover, whence will there be weeping and gnashing of teeth in Gehenna, if not from eyes and teeth? That is, with the body also killed in Gehenna and cast into outer darkness—which are the proper torments of the eyes—if someone has been clothed in unworthy works at the wedding, he is to be bound immediately hand and foot, as one who has risen with the body. So, therefore, to recline in the kingdom of God, to sit on the thrones of Christ, to stand then at the right or left, and to eat from the tree of life, are the most faithful indications of a bodily disposition.
Latin
Sed et praecipit, eum potius timendum, qui corpus et animam occidat in gehennam, id est Dominum solum; non qui corpus occidant, animae autem nihil nocere possint, id est, humanas potestates. Adeo hic et anima immortalis natura recognoscitur, quae non possit occidi ab hominibus; et carnis esse mortalitatem, cujus sit occisio; atque ita resurrectionem quoque mortuorum carnis esse, quae in gehennam, nisi resuscitata, non poterit occidi. Sed quoniam et hic de interpretatione corporis quaestio cavillatur, ego corpus hominis non aliud intelligam, quam omnem istam struem carnis, quoquo genere materiarum concinnatur atque variatur, quod videtur, quod tenetur, quod denique ab hominibus occiditur. Sic et parietis corpus non aliud admittam quam caementa, quam saxa, quam lateres. Si quis areanum aliquod corpus inducit, ostendat, revelet, probet ipsum esse etiam quod occidatur ab homine, et de illo erit dictum. Item si animae corpus opponitur, vacabit astutia. Cum enim utrumque proponitur, corpus atque animam, occidi in gehennam, distinguitur corpus ab anima, et relinquitur intelligi corpus id quod in promptu sit; caro scilicet, quae sicut occidetur in gehennam, si non magis a Deo timuerit occidi, ita et vivificabitur in vitam aeternam, si maluerit ab hominibus potius interfici. Proinde si quis occisionem carnis atque animae in gehennam ad interitum et finem utriusque substantiae arripiet, non ad supplicium, quasi consumendarum, non quasi puniendarum, recordetur ignem gehennae aeternum praedicari in poenam aeternam, et inde aeternitatem occisionis agnoscat, propterea humanae, ut temporali, praetimendam. Tunc et aeternas substantias credet, quarum aeterna sit occisio in poenam. Certe cum post resurrectionem corpus cum anima occidi habeat a Deo in gehennam, satis de utroque constabit, et de carnali resurrectione, et de aeterna occisione. Absurdissimum alioquin, si idcirco resuscitata caro occidatur in gehennam, uti finiatur, quod et non resuscitata pateretur. In hoc scilicet reficietur, ne sit, cui non esse jam evenit. Eidem nos spei fulciens passerum quoque subjungit exemplum, quod ex duobus non cadat unus in terram sine Dei voluntate: ut et carnem, quae ceciderit in terram, proinde credas et resurgere posse per ejusdem Dei voluntatem. Nam etsi passeribus hoc non licet, sed nos multis passeribus antistamus, eo quod cadentes resurgamus. Quorum denique capillos capitis omnes numeratos affirmans, salvos utique repromittit. Perituros enim quae ratio in numerum redegisset, nisi quia hoc est, ut omne quod Pater mihi dedit, non perdam ex eo quicquam, id est, nec capillum, sicut nec oculum, nec dentem? Caeterum unde erit fletus, et dentium frendor in gehenna, nisi ex oculis et dentibus? occiso scilicet etiam corpore in gehennam, et detruso in tenebras exteriores, quae oculorum propria sunt tormenta, si quis in nuptiis minus dignis operibus fuerit indutus, constringendus statim manibus et pedibus, utpote qui cum corpore surrexit. Sic ergo et recumbere ipsum in Dei regno, et sedere in thronis Christi, et assistere tunc ad dexteram vel sinistram, et edere de ligno vitae, corporalis dispositionis fidelissima indicia sunt.