When he had said, "Amen, I say to you, that the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead, that is, the unbelievers, will hear the voice of the Son of God, that is, the Gospel, and those who hear, that is, those who obey, will live, that is, they will be justified, and will no longer be unbelievers"; therefore, when he had said this, because he saw that we should also be taught about the resurrection of the flesh, not to be left thus, he followed and said: "For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself." This is for the raising of minds, this is for the quickening of minds. Then he added: "And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the son of man." This Son of God is the son of man. For if the Son of God had remained the Son of God and had not become the son of man, he would not have freed the sons of men. He who had made man, was made what he made, so that what he made might not perish. Thus he was made man in such a way that he remained the Son of God. For he was made man by taking on what he was not, without losing what he was; remaining God, he was made man. He took you on, he was not consumed in you. Thus, therefore, he came to us, the Son of God, the son of man, making and made, the creator and created; the creator of the mother, created from the mother: thus he came to us. According to what the Son of God is, he said: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God." He did not say: "the son of man"; for he was commending the truth, in which he is equal to the Father. And those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself; not by participation, but: in himself. For we do not have life in ourselves, but in our God. However, the Father has life in himself; and he begot such a Son, who would have life in himself; he would not be a participant of life, but he himself would be life, of which we would be participants; clearly that he would have life in himself, and he himself would be life. But to become the son of man, he received from us. The Son of God in himself; to be the son of man, he received from us. From his own, the Son of God; from our own, the son of man. He received from us what is lesser; he gave to us what is greater. For he died from what he is as the son of man, not according to what he is as the Son of God. Yet the Son of God died: but according to the flesh he died, not according to the Word which was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Therefore, what he died from, he died from our own; what we live from, we live from his own. Neither could he die from his own, nor could we live from our own. Therefore, as God, as the Only Begotten, as equal to the begetter, our Lord Jesus commended to us that if we hear, we shall live.
Christ the judge in the form of a servant.
But: And he has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Therefore, that form will come for judgment. The form of a man will come for judgment; hence he says: He has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. The judge here will be the Son of Man; that form will judge here which has been judged. Listen, and understand, this the Prophet had already said: They will look on the one they have pierced. They will see that very form, which they pierced with a lance. The judge will sit, who stood before the judge. He will condemn the true guilty, who was made a false guilty one. He himself will come, that form will come. You have this also in the Gospel: when, before the eyes of his disciples, he went into heaven, they were standing and watching, and an angelic voice sounded: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking? etc. This same Jesus will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven. What does it mean: he will come in the same way? He will come in the same form: For he has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. See, however, in what way this was necessary, and it was right, that those to be judged should see the judge. For both the good and the bad were to be judged. But blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. It remains, then, that in judgment the form of a servant should be shown to both the good and the bad, the form of God should be reserved for the good alone.
To see God, the highest happiness.
For what will the good receive? Behold, I now say: what I did not say a little before; and yet in saying I do not say. For I said that we will be there saved, we will be unharmed, we will be living, we will be without punishments, we will be without hunger and thirst, we will be without deficiency, we will be without the loss of our eyes. I said all this; and what we will have more, I did not say.
We shall see God. But this alone will be, and such a great thing it will be, that in comparison with it everything will be nothing. I have said that we will be alive, that we will be safe and sound, that we will not suffer hunger and thirst, that we will not fall into weariness, that sleep will not press upon us. What is all this in comparison to that happiness by which we shall see God? Because God Himself, as He is, cannot be shown now, but whom we shall see; therefore what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, this the good will see, this the pious will see, this the merciful will see, this the faithful will see, this those who will have a good fate in the resurrection of the body will see, because they had good obedience in the resurrection of the heart.
The form of a servant will be seen by all, the form of God only by the pious.
Therefore, will the wicked also see God? Of whom Isaiah says: Let the wicked be taken away, lest he see the glory of God. Therefore, both the wicked and the righteous will see that form; and when the judgment is pronounced: Let the wicked be taken away, lest he see the glory of God, it remains that among the righteous and good is fulfilled what the Lord himself promised, when he was here in the flesh, and was seen not only by the good, but also by the wicked. He spoke among the good and the wicked, and was visible to all, God hidden, man manifest; God ruling men, man appearing among men; he spoke, therefore, among them, and said: He who loves me will keep my commands; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him. And as if it were said to him: And what will you give him? And I will show, he said, myself to him. When did he say this? When he was seen by men. When did he say this? When he was seen even by those by whom he was not loved. How then would he show himself to his lovers, unless as he was seen by them? Therefore, because the form of God was preserved, the form of man was shown; speaking to men through the form of man, visible and seen by all, to the good and the wicked he showed himself, to his lovers he reserved himself.
After the resurrection, eternal life in the vision of God.
When will He be shown to His beloved? After the resurrection of the body, when the impious will be taken away, lest he see the glory of God. Then indeed: When He appears, we shall be like Him; because we will see Him as He is. This is eternal life. For everything we were saying is nothing compared to that life. Because we live, what is it? Because we are saved, what is it? Because we will see God: great. This is eternal life; He Himself said this: And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. This is eternal life, that they may know, see, grasp, know what they had believed, receive what they could not yet grasp. Now the mind will see what the eye had not seen, nor had the ear heard, nor had it ascended into the heart of man; this will be said to them in the end: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Therefore those wicked ones will go into eternal burning. But the righteous, where? Into eternal life. What is "eternal life"? This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
The resurrection of the flesh shall come.
Therefore, speaking about the future resurrection of the body, and not leaving us in doubt, he says: He gave him the power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming. There he did not add: and now is; because that hour will be later, because that hour will be at the end of the world, because that hour will be the last, at the last trumpet. Do not marvel, because I said this: He gave him the power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel. I said this because it is necessary for man to be judged by men. Which men are to be judged? Those who are found alive? Not only them. But what? The hour is coming, when those who are in the graves. How did he express the dead in the flesh? Those who are in the graves, whose buried bodies lie there, whose ashes are covered, whose bones are scattered, whose flesh is no longer there, and yet it is whole to God. The hour is coming, when all who are in the graves will hear his voice, and all will come forth. Whether they are good or bad, they will hear the voice, and they will come out. All the bonds of the underworld will be broken: everything that perished, or rather is thought to have perished, will be restored. For if God made man who did not exist, can he not restore what did exist?
The resurrection of the dead by God is no less credible than creation.
I think that when it is said: God will raise the dead, no incredible thing is said, because it is said of God, not of man. It is a great thing that will happen, and an incredible thing that will happen. But it should not be incredible, because consider who will do it. He who is said to raise you is the one who created you. You were not, and you are; and having been made, will you not be? Far be it, do not believe such. God did something more miraculous when He made what did not exist: and yet He made what did not exist; and is it not believed that He will restore what existed, by those whom He made out of nothing? Is this what we repay to God, to whom we owe our existence from non-existence? Is this what we repay to Him, that we believe He cannot resurrect what He made? Is this the reward that His creature gives back to Him? Therefore, God says to you, O man, I made you before you were, so that you would not believe you will be what you were, since you could be what you were not? But behold, he says, in the tomb what I see is ashes, dust, bones; and this, again, will take on life, skin, flesh, and rise again? What, is this ashes, these bones, which I see in the tomb? Even if you see ashes, see bones in the tomb; in your mother's womb there was nothing. What you see now, whether ashes or bones, are still something; you, before you existed, were neither ashes nor bones; yet you were made when you did not exist at all: and you do not believe that these bones (whatever form they may be, however they may be, they still are bones) will receive the form they had, when you received what you did not have? Believe: because if you believe this, then your soul will be resurrected. And if your soul is now resurrected: The hour is coming, and now is; then your flesh will rise for your good, when the hour comes, when all who are in the graves will hear His voice, and come forth. For not simply because you hear and come forth should you rejoice: hear what follows: Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. Turned to the Lord...