Opening the library…

Search the Bible

Address to the Greeks

Tatian

Chapter 6

About this work

Tatian attacks Greek claims to cultural and philosophical superiority, defends Christian teaching about God, creation, resurrection, and ethics, and argues for the antiquity of biblical wisdom.

Author: Tatian
Date: c. AD 165–175
Origin: Rome or the eastern Mediterranean
Genre: Apology

Christians’ Belief in the Resurrection.

And on this account we believe that there will be

‹ Chapter 5 Chapter 7 ›

a

resurrection

of

bodies

after

the

consummation

of

all

things

;

not

,

as

the

Stoics

affirm

,

according

to

the

return

of

certain

cycles

,

the

same

things

being

produced

and

destroyed

for

no

useful

purpose

,

but

a

resurrection

once

for

all

,

when

our

periods

of

existence

are

completed

,

and

in

consequence

solely

of

the

constitution

of

things

under

which

men

alone

live

,

for

the

purpose

of

passing

judgment

upon

them

.

Nor

is

sentence

upon

us

passed

by

Minos

or

Rhadamanthus

,

before

whose

decease

not

a

single

soul

,

according

to

the

mythic

tales

,

was

judged

;

but

the

Creator

,

God

Himself

,

becomes

the

arbiter

.

And

,

although

you

regard

us

as

mere

triflers

and

babblers

,

it

troubles

us

not

,

since

we

have

faith

in

this

doctrine

.

For

just

as

,

not

existing

before

I

was

born

,

I

knew

not

who

I

was

,

and

only

existed

in

the

potentiality

(

ὐπόστασις

)

of

fleshly

matter

,

but

being

born

,

after

a

former

state

of

nothingness

,

I

have

obtained

through

my

birth

a

certainty

of

my

existence

;

in

the

same

way

,

having

been

born

,

and

through

death

existing

no

longer

,

and

seen

no

longer

,

I

shall

exist

again

,

just

as

before

I

was

not

,

but

was

afterwards

born

.

Even

though

fire

destroy

all

traces

of

my

flesh

,

the

world

receives

the

vaporized

matter

;

and

though

dispersed

through

rivers

and

seas

,

or

torn

in

pieces

by

wild

beasts

,

I

am

laid

up

in

the

storehouses

of

a

wealthy

Lord

.

And

,

although

the

poor

and

the

godless

know

not

what

is

stored

up

,

yet

God

the

Sovereign

,

when

He

pleases

,

will

restore

the

substance

that

is

visible

to

Him

alone

to

its

pristine

condition

.

Notes

17
[Comp. cap. xvii., infra, note 5, p. 72. ἐν ἡμέρα συντελείας.]
18
[A supposed discovery of modern science. See Religion and Chemistry, by Professor Cook of Harvard, pp. 79, 101. Revised Edition, Scribners, 1880.]