Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 5.6
God indeed forms the human person within his own creation, and what follows is an adaptation to his child. For it is through the Father's hands — that is, through the Son and the Spirit — that a human being is made in the likeness of God, yet no single part constitutes the whole. The soul and the spirit may each be a part of a human being, but a human being is never merely one of them. A perfect human being is the mixture and union of the soul, which takes on the Spirit of the Father, blended with the flesh that has been formed according to the image. That is why the Apostle says, "We speak wisdom among the perfect" (1 Cor 2:6); by the perfect he means those who have received the Spirit of God and speak in tongues through the Spirit of God, just as we have heard many brothers speaking in the Church. They possess prophetic gifts, speak in every tongue through the Spirit, bring hidden human matters to light for the common good, and unfold the mysteries of God. The Apostle calls such people "spiritual" (1 Cor 2:15); they exist as spiritual by sharing in the Spirit, not by depriving or sidelining the flesh, and not by the Spirit alone. If someone strips away the substance of the flesh — that is, the formed body — and considers only the spirit, the result is not a spiritual human being but merely a human spirit or the Spirit of God. But when the spirit, mingled with the soul, is united to the formed body, then by the outpouring of the Spirit a spiritual and perfect human being comes into existence; and this is the one who is made in the image and likeness of God. If the Spirit is absent from the soul, that person is truly animal — carnal, abandoned, imperfect — possessing the image in the formed body but not taking on the likeness through the Spirit; such a one remains imperfect. Likewise, if anyone discards the image and despises the formed body, he can no longer grasp what a human being is, but only some part of a human being, as we have said before, or something else entirely apart from a human being. For the forming of the flesh, by itself, is not the perfect human being; it is the human body, a part of the human being. Nor is the soul by itself the human being; it is the human soul, a part of the human being. Nor is the Spirit the human being: the Spirit is called Spirit, not human being. The mixture and union of all these elements, however, produces the perfect human being.
For this reason the Apostle, explaining himself, sets forth the perfect and spiritual human being of salvation. In his first letter to the Thessalonians he prays: "May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:23). What other reason could he have had to ask for the integrity and perfection of these three — soul, body, and spirit — except that he knew their restoration, their union, and their one and the same salvation? That is why he also says the perfect are those who present the three without blame to the Lord. Therefore the perfect are those who keep the Spirit of God persevering within them and who have preserved their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith that belongs to God — that is, faith directed toward God — and maintaining the justice owed to the neighbor.
From this it follows that the Apostle also calls the formed body the temple of God: "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Cor 3:16–17). He plainly identifies the body as the temple in which the Spirit dwells. Just as the Lord said of himself, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19), and the Evangelist notes that he was speaking of his own body. And not only is it a temple, but it is also the temple of Christ, as he tells the Corinthians: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?" (1 Cor 6:15). He is not saying this about some other spiritual man; such a man does not join himself to a prostitute. Rather, our body — that is, the flesh that perseveres in holiness and purity — he declares to be members of Christ; but when it joins itself to a prostitute, the members become members of a prostitute. And because of this he said, "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person" (1 Cor 3:17). So then, if the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ do not share in salvation but are handed over to perdition, is that not the height of blasphemy? Since our bodies are raised not from their own substance but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians: "The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power" (1 Cor 6:13–14).
Latin
GuoriricaprrurR autem Deus in suo plasmate, et consequens suo puero adaptans. Per manus enim ? Patris, id est, per Filium et Spiritum fit homo secundum similitudinem Dei, sed non pars hominis. Anima autem et spiritus pars hominis esse possunt, homo autem nequaquam: perfectus autem homo commixtio et adunitio est anime: assumentis spiritum Patris, et admixta ei carni, quee est plasmata secundum imaginem Propter quod et Apostolus ait: Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos; perfectos dicens eos qui perceperunt Spiritum Dei, et Somnibus linguis loquuntur per Spiritum Dei, quemadmodum et Quemadmodum et multos audivimus fratres in ipse loquebatur. Ecclesia, prophetica habentes charismata, et per Spiritum universis linguis loquentes, et absconsa hominum in manifestum producentes ad utilitatem, et mysteria Dei enarrantes, quos et spiritales” Apostolus vocat; secundum participationem Spiritus exsistentes spiritales, sed non secundum defraudationem et interceptionem carnis, et nude hoc ipsum solum. Si enim substantiam tollat aliquis carnis, id est plasmatis, et nude ipsum solum spiritum intelligat, jam non spiritalis homo est quod est tale, sed spiritus hominis, aut Spiritus Dei. Cum autem spiritus hic commixtus anime unitur plasmati, propter effusionem Spiritus spiritalis et perfectus homo factus est : et hic est qui secundum imaginem et similitudinem factus est Dei. Si autem defuerit anime Spiritus, animalis est vere, qui est talis, et carnalis derelictus imperfectus imaginem quidem habens in plasmate, similitudinem vero non assumens per Spiritum; sicut autem hic imperfectus est. Sic iterum si quis tollat imaginem, et spernat plasma, jam non hominem intelligere potest, sed aut partem aliquam hominis, quemadmodum preediximus, vel aliud aliquid preter hominem. Neque enim plasmatio carnis ipsa secundum se homo perfectus est ; sed corpus hominis, et pars hominis. Neque enim et anima ipsa secundum se homo; sed anima hominis, et pars hominis. Neque Spiritus homo: spiritus enim, et non homo vocatur. Commixtio autem et unitio horum omnium perfectum hominem efficit. Et propter hoc Apostolus seipsum exponens, explanavit perfectum et spiritalem salutis hominem, in prima epistola ad Thessalonicenses dicens sic: Deus autem pacis sanctificet vos perfectos, et integer vester spiritus, et anima, et corpus sine querela in adventum Domini Jesu Christi servetur. Et quam utique causam habebat his tribus, id est anime et corpori et spiritui, integram et perfectam © perseverationem precari in adventum Domini, nisi redintegrationem et adunitionem trium, et unam et eandem ipsorum sciebat salutem? Propter quod et perfectos ait eos, qui tria sine querela exhibent Domino. Perfecti igitur, qui et Spiritum in se perseverantem habuerint Dei, et animas et corpora sine querela servaverint, 4 Dei, id est, illam quee ad Deum est, fidem servantes, et eam qui ad proximum est ®justitiam custodientes. 2. Unde et templum Dei plasma esse ait: JVescitis, dicens, quoniam templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Dei habitat in vobis? Si quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus. Templum enim Dei sanctum est, quod estis vos; manifeste templum corpus dicens in quo habitat Spiritus. Quemadmodum et Dominus de se ait : hoc templum, et in tribus diebus suscitabo illud. Hoc autem, inquit, dicebat de corpare suo. Et non tantum templum, sed et templum Christi scit corpora nostra, Corinthiis dicens sic: Nescitis quoniam corpora vestra membra Christi sunt? Tollens ergo membra Christi, faciam membra meretricis? Non de alio homine spiritali dicens hee; non enim ille complectitur meretricem; sed corpus nostrum, id est, caro quae cum sanctimonia perseverat et munditia, membra dixit esse Christi; quando autem complectitur meretricem, membra fieri meretricis. Et propter hoe dixit: Si quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Templum igitur Dei, in quo spiritus inhabitat Patris, etmembra Christi non participare salutem, sed in perditionem redigi dicere, quomodo non maxime est blasphemize? Quoniam autem corpora nostra, non ex sua substantia, sed ex Dei virtute suscitantur, Corinthiis dicit: Corpus autem non fornicationi, sed et Dominus corpori. Deus autem ' et Dominum suscitavit, et nos suscitabit per virtutem suam.