Apologetics -- History -- Early church, ca. 30-600; Celsus (Platonic philosopher), active 180; Theology -- History -- Early Church, ca. 30-600
They are
accustomed also to adduce, in support of their assertion, the
declaration of the apostle, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
poisonings,[701] hatred, contentions, emulations, wrath, quarrelling,
dissensions, heresies, sects, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and the
like;”[702] asserting that all these do not derive their origin from the
habits or pleasures of the flesh, so that all such movements are to be
regarded as inherent in that substance which has not a soul, _i.e._ the
flesh. The declaration, moreover, “For ye see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men among you according to the flesh are
called,”[703] would seem to require to be understood as if there were
one kind of wisdom, carnal and material, and another according to the
spirit, the former of which cannot indeed be called wisdom, unless there
be a soul of the flesh, which is wise in respect of what is called
carnal wisdom. And in addition to these passages they adduce the
following: “Since the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh, so that we cannot do the things that we would.”[704]
What are these things now respecting which he says, “that we cannot do
the things that we would?” It is certain, they reply, that the spirit
cannot be intended; for the will of the spirit suffers no hindrance. But
neither can the flesh be meant, because if it has not a soul of its own,
neither can it assuredly possess a will. It remains, then, that the will
of this soul be intended which is capable of having a will of its own,
and which certainly is opposed to the will of the spirit. And if this be
the case, it is established that the will of the soul is something
intermediate between the flesh and the spirit, undoubtedly obeying and
serving that one of the two which it has elected to obey. And if it
yield itself up to the pleasures of the flesh, it renders men carnal;
but when it unites itself with the spirit, it produces men of the
spirit, and who on that account are termed spiritual. And this seems to
be the meaning of the apostle in the words, “But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the spirit.”[705]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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