Chapter 32. The Saints Will Be Rewarded in the Very Bodies in Which They Suffered. All Creation Is Awaiting This, Which
Chapter 32
1. Since, therefore, the opinions of certain people are derived from heretical discourses, and since they are ignorant of God’s economies and of the mystery of the resurrection and of the kingdom of the just, which is the beginning of imperishability, and by means of which [kingdom] those who are worthy gradually become accustomed to receiving God, it is necessary to talk about these things.
It is necessary that the just, when they rise at the Lord’s appearance, first receive the inheritance, promised by God to the forefathers, in this creation which is being renewed, and to reign in it. After that will be the judgment of all men. For it is proper that they receive the fruits of their suffering in the creation in which they labored, having been tested by every mode of suffering; and to be brought to life in the creation in which they were killed for the sake of God; and to reign in the creation in which they endured the servitude. For God is rich in all things, and all things belong to him. Therefore, it is proper that the creation itself, after being restored to its pristine state, be of unhindered service to the just. The Apostle revealed this in his Letter to the Romans: For the creation waits with eager longing the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.
2. And so also the promise that God made to Abraham remains assured. This is what he said: Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. And he added: Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you. Yet he did not receive the inheritance in it, not even one footstep, but he was always a pilgrim and a stranger in it. And when his wife Sarah died, and the Hittites wished to give him a place of burial gratis, he refused to take it; instead he bought a monument from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. He gave four hundred didrachmas for it. [He showed that] he waited for the promise of God, not wishing to appear to take from men what God had promised to give to him, when he also said to him: To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River. And he counted up ten nations that dwelled in all that country.
Consequently, if God promised him the inheritance of the land, and he did not receive it during his entire sojourn, it is necessary that he receive it in the resurrection together with his offspring, that is, those who fear God and believe in him. But the offspring is the Church which through the Lord receives the adoption relative to him [Abraham]. That is what John the Baptist said, For God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. The Apostle, too, says in the Letter to the Galatians, But you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of the promise. Again, in the same letter he clearly states that those who believe in Christ will receive through Christ the promise to Abraham. He says: The promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many; but, referring to one, “And to your offspring,” which is Christ. To confirm what he said, he remarked: Thus Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” So you see that it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are men of faith are blessed with Abraham who had faith. As a consequence, men of faith will be blessed with Abraham who had faith, and it is they who are the children of Abraham. But God promised the inheritance of the land to Abraham and his offspring. Now neither Abraham nor his offspring, that is, those who are justified through faith, do at present receive the inheritance in this land; but they will receive it in the resurrection of the just. For God is true and reliable in all things; and so he called the meek blessed, for they shall inherit the earth.