Thesium de vita aeterna et eius haeredibus decades X

THESES OF THE FIRST DISPUTATION
ON THE HEIRS OF THE BLESSED LIFE.
WOLFGANG MUSCULUS, OF BERN.

1. It is proposed to us, with God original: "σὺν θεῷ", first of all to establish the definition of that blessed life, gathered here and there original: "σποράδην" from the divine Scriptures: and then indeed, to demonstrate who its heirs are. May the Lord Jesus grant that all may contribute to His glory and our restoration. Amen.

2. Moreover, students ought to accept original: "ποτίθεσθαι" those things which even the sounder philosophers and physicians have piously and truly said concerning the life of man; among which are these: "The life of man is the union of soul and body," which is a material definition. "Life is the activity original: "ἐνέργεια" of understanding." And that saying of Aristotle: "Life is rational living" original: "βίος ἐστὶ λογικὴ ζωή". Likewise that of Plato in the Philebus: "A life of intellect and wisdom, a divine arrangement" original: "βίος τοῦ νοῦν τε καὶ φρόνην, θεῖος τάξ". Furthermore, the noble statement of Galen, in book 9 of the Method of Healing: "The greatest dignity of the powers themselves is when living itself consists for us in the custody of these: as it is necessary that either the powers themselves, or their actions, are life." And this one of the same author: "The action of the soul is life, which is greatly aided by respiration," in the book on the Use of Respiration.

Genus 3. That life is a gift original: "χάρισμα", not a reward properly so-called, the Apostle Paul is the author, when he says: "The gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. 6, verse 23.

4. Moreover, it is an activity original: "ἐνέργεια" by which man is vivified and illuminated by Christ the head, of whom it is said: "In him was life, and the life was that light of men," John 1, verse 4.

5. We gather, therefore, that it consists of the light of the knowledge of God the Redeemer, and the life of God, by which He lives in His children and illuminates them with the lovable light of grace. According to the saying: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent," John 17, verse 3.

Difference 6. That it is eternal, since it is not psychic natural/soulish but pneumatic spiritual, no intelligent person fails to see. Matt. 25, verse 46; 1 Cor. 15, verse 46.

Proper characteristic 7. It is also indissoluble original: ἀκατάλυτος (Heb. 7, verse 16) because in the future Regeneration, the body, soul, and spirit of man will be so conjoined that they can never be separated for eternity. For Death will be abolished, so that it can no longer rule over us than it can over Christ our head. 1 Cor. 15, verse 54; Rom. 6, verse 9.

Adjuncts 8. Its adjuncts will be to see face-to-face those things which we now see through a mirror and