ACC ~ Matthew 10 v28

DO NOT FEAR THOSE WHO KILL THE BODY

ANONYMOUS: “Do not fear those who kill the body.” The essence of the human is not the body, but the soul. It is the soul alone that God made in his own image and the soul that he loves. For the sake of the soul he even created the world. Our enemies are jealous of the soul and persecute the soul. For the sake of the soul even the Son of God came into the world. But the body is the garment of the soul, as the apostle says: “For while we are still in this body, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” [1] If a madman destroyed someone’s garment that is worn over the body, his victim would think of him as the inflicter of an injury, but there would be no harm to the victim’s nature. In the same way if unbelievers murder the body that is worn over the soul, the soul is grieved by the murder, but there is no harm to the soul’s nature. … What do you mean that the soul perishes? Was not the soul created to be immortal? “Death” can mean not only the snuffing out of the body but also torment. Thus Paul says, “Every day I die for your glory, which I possess in Jesus Christ.” [2] And John says this in Revelation: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power.” [3] For the second death is fire and sulphur. You can see therefore that by “damnation of the soul” he does not mean the disappearance of the soul but the torture of the soul in hell, which is the second death. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 25. [4]

[1] 2 Cor 5:4.

[2] 1 Cor 15:31.

[3] Rev 20:6.

[4] PG 56:762-64.

DO NOT BEWAIL DEATH, BUT SIN

AUGUSTINE: The gospel is life. Impiety and infidelity are the death of the soul. So then, if the soul can die, how then is it yet immortal? Because there is always a dimension of life in the soul that can never be extinguished. And how does it die? Not in ceasing to be life but by losing its proper life. For the soul is both life to something else, and it has it own proper life. Consider the order of the creatures. The soul is the life of the body. God is the life of the soul. As the life that is the soul is present with the body, that the body may not die, so the life of the soul (God) ought to be with the soul that it may not die.

How does the body die? By the departure of the soul. I say, by the departure of the soul the body dies, and it lies there as a mere carcass, what was a little before a lively, not a contemptible, object. There are in it still its several members, the eyes and ears. But these are merely the windows of the house; its inhabitant is gone. Those who bewail the dead cry in vain at the windows of the house. There is no one there within it to hear. … Why is the body dead? Because the soul, its life, is gone. But at what point is the soul itself dead? When God, its life, has forsaken it. … This then we can know and hold for certain: the body is dead without the soul, and the soul is dead without God. Every one without God has a dead soul. You who bewail the dead rather should bewail sin. Bewail ungodliness. Bewail disbelief. SERMON 65.5-7. [1]

[1] PL 38:428-30; NPNF 1 6:307** (Sermon 15).

DESTROYED IN HELL

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: When Jesus says “hell,” he is emphasizing that punishment there is eternal. By “hell” he means the condemnation awaiting those who receive recompense according to their life.

His choice of words shows that there is a great difference between the two things. He first says “kill” but next says “destroy,” and from destruction there is no longer any salvation. FRAGMENT 56. [1]

[1] MKGK 114-15.