{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/103/1030507.htm","path":"chr/ecf/103/1030507.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/103/1030507.htm","text":"24. If what we have made mention of out of the Apostolic Epistles seem to you to fall short of an answer, hear yet others, if ye have ears. What saith the utterly mad Manich\u00e6an of the Flesh of Christ? That it was not true, but false. What saith the blessed Apostle to this? \u201cRemember that Christ Jesus rose again from the dead of the seed of David, according to my Gospel.\u201d 1890 And Christ Jesus Himself saith, \u201cHandle and see, that a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me to have.\u201d 1891 How is there truth in their doctrine, which asserts that in the Flesh of Christ there was falsehood? How was there in Christ no evil, in Whom was so great a lie? Because forsooth to men over-clean true flesh is an evil, and false flesh instead of true is not an evil: it is an evil, true flesh of one born of the seed of David, and it is no evil, false tongue of one saying, \u201cHandle, and see, that a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me to have.\u201d Of the Church what saith the deceiver of men with deadly error? That on the side of souls it pertains unto Christ, on the side of bodies unto the devil? What to this saith the Teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth? \u201cKnow ye not,\u201d saith he, \u201cthat your bodies are members of Christ?\u201d 1892 Of the sex of male and female what saith the son of perdition? That either sex is not of God, but of the devil. What to this saith the Vessel of Election? \u201cAs,\u201d saith he, \u201cthe woman from out the man, so also the man through the woman: but all things of God.\u201d 1893 Of the flesh what saith the unclean spirit through the Manich\u00e6an? That it is an evil substance, and not the creation of God, but of an enemy. What to this saith the Holy Spirit through Paul? \u201cFor as the body is one,\u201d saith he, \u201cand hath many members, but all the members of the body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.\u201d 1894 And a little after; \u201cGod hath set,\u201d saith he, \u201cthe members, each one of them in the body, as He willed.\u201d 1895 Also a little after; \u201cGod,\u201d saith he, \u201chath tempered the body, giving greater honor unto that to which it was wanting, that there should be no schisms in the body, but that the members have the self-same care one for another: and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: or one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it.\u201d 1896 How is the flesh evil, when the souls themselves are admonished to imitate the peace of its members? How is it the creation of the enemy, when the souls themselves, which rule the bodies, take pattern from the members of the body, not to have schisms of enmities among themselves, in order that, what God hath granted unto the body by nature, this themselves also may love to have by grace? With good cause, writing to the Romans, \u201cI beseech you,\u201d saith he, \u201cbrethren, by the mercy of God, that ye present your bodies a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God.\u201d 1897 Without reason we contend that darkness is not light, nor light darkness, if we present a sacrifice, living, holy, pleasing to God, of the bodies of the \u201cnation of darkness.\u201d\n1 Cor. 12:24, 25, 261 Cor. 12:24, 25, 26\n389:1897","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III: Moral Treatises...","type":"page"}