Apologetics -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Celsus (Platonic philosopher), active 180; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
7. But that fate also which is mentioned in the Gospels as overtaking
unfaithful stewards, who, it is said, are to be divided, and a portion
of them placed along with unbelievers, as if that portion which is not
their own were to be sent elsewhere, undoubtedly indicates some kind of
punishment on those whose spirit, as it seems to me, is shown to be
separated from the soul. For if this Spirit is of divine nature, _i.e._
is understood to be a Holy Spirit, we shall understand this to be said
of the gift of the Holy Spirit: that when, whether by baptism, or by the
grace of the Spirit, the word of wisdom, or the word of knowledge, or of
any other gift, has been bestowed upon a man, and not rightly
administered, _i.e._ either buried in the earth or tied up in a napkin,
the gift of the Spirit will certainly be withdrawn from his soul, and
the other portion which remains, that is, the substance of the soul,
will be assigned its place with unbelievers, being divided and separated
from that Spirit with whom, by joining itself to the Lord, it ought to
have been one spirit. Now, if this is not to be understood of the Spirit
of God, but of the nature of the soul itself, that will be called its
better part which was made in the image and likeness of God; whereas the
other part, that which afterwards, through its fall by the exercise of
free-will, was assumed contrary to the nature of its original condition
of purity,—this part, as being the friend and beloved of matter, is
punished with the fate of unbelievers. There is also a third sense in
which that separation may be understood, this viz., that as each
believer, although the humblest in the church, is said to be attended by
an angel, who is declared by the Saviour always to behold the face of
God the Father, and as this angel was certainly one with the object of
his guardianship; so, if the latter is rendered unworthy by his want of
obedience, the angel of God is said to be taken from him, and then that
part of him—the part, viz., which belongs to his human nature—being rent
away from the divine part, is assigned a place along with unbelievers,
because it has not faithfully observed the admonitions of the angel
allotted it by God.
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