3. The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead,
not having life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God: [it is as] irrational
blood, like water poured out upon the ground. And therefore he says, "As
is the earthy, such are they that are earthy." But where the Spirit
of the Father is, there is a living man; [there is] the rational blood
preserved by God for the avenging [of those that shed it]; [there is] the
flesh possessed by the Spirit, forgetful indeed of what belongs to it,
and adopting the quality of the Spirit, being made conformable to the Word
of God. And on this account he (the apostle) declares, "As we have borne
the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him
who is from heaven." What, therefore, is the earthly? That which was
fashioned. And what is the heavenly? The Spirit. As therefore he says,
when we were destitute of the celestial Spirit, we walked in former times
in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; so now let us, receiving
the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore,
as without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us
through faith and chaste conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, lest,
having become non-participators of the Divine Spirit, we lose the kingdom
of heaven; and he exclaims, that flesh in itself, and blood, cannot possess
the kingdom God.
