The Enchiridion 91
91 The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies PL 40, 274
The bodies of the saints, then, shall rise again free from every defect, from every blemish, as from all corruption, weight, and impediment. For their ease of movement shall be as complete as their happiness. Whence their bodies have been called spiritual, though undoubtedly they shall be bodies and not spirits. For just as now the body is called animate, though it is a body, and not a soul [anima], so then the body shall be called spiritual, though it shall be a body, not a spirit. Hence, as far as regards the corruption which now weighs down the soul, and the vices which urge the flesh to lust against the spirit, it shall not then be flesh, but body; for there are bodies which are called celestial. Wherefore it is said, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” and, as if in explanation of this, “neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” What the apostle first called “flesh and blood,” he afterwards calls “corruption;” and what he first called “the kingdom of God,” he afterwards calls “incorruption.” But as far as regards the substance, even then it shall be flesh. For even after the resurrection the body of Christ was called flesh. The apostle, however, says: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body;” because so perfect, shall then be the harmony between flesh and spirit, the spirit keeping alive the subjugated flesh without the need of any nourishment, that no part of our nature shall be in discord with another; but as we shall be free from enemies without, so we shall not have ourselves for enemies within.
Resurgent piorum corpora quo ad substantiam carnis, sed sine omni vitio. Resurgent igitur sanctorum corpora sine ullo vitio, sine ulla deformitate, sicut sine ulla corruptione, onere, difficultate: in quibus tanta facilitas, quanta felicitas erit. Propter quod et spiritualia dicta sunt, cum procul dubio corpora sint futura, non spiritus. Sed sicut nunc corpus animale dicitur, quod tamen corpus, non anima est; ita tunc spirituale corpus erit, corpus tamen, non spiritus erit. Proinde quantum attinet ad corruptionem, quae nunc aggravat animam , et ad vitia, quibus caro adversus spiritum concupiscit , tunc non erit caro, sed corpus; quia et coelestia corpora perhibentur. Propter quod dictum est, Caro et sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt: et tanquam exponens quid dixerit, neque corruptio, inquit, incorruptionem possidebit . Quod prius dixit, caro et sanguis; hoc posterius dixit, corruptio: et quod prius, regnum Dei: hoc posterius, incorruptionem. Quantum autem attinet ad substantiam, etiam tunc caro erit. Propter quod et post resurrectionem corpus Christi, caro appellata est . Sed ideo ait Apostolus, Seminatur corpus animale, resurget corpus spirituale : quoniam tanta erit tunc concordia carnis et spiritus, vivificante spiritu sine sustentaculi alicujus indigentia subditam carnem, ut nihil nobis repugnet ex nobis; sed sicut foris neminem, ita nec intus nos ipsos patiamur inimicos.