Tertullian, Against Marcion 10
We return now to the resurrection. I have already taken on every heretic in my own volume and satisfied them on this point, but I will not leave it alone here, not when some still ignore that earlier work. "What will those do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise?" (1 Corinthians 15:29). Let that practice answer for itself; perhaps the February Kalends will speak up for those who petition on behalf of the dead. So do not make the apostle the author or confirmer of that rite, as if he used it to prop up the resurrection of the flesh — as if those who are baptized in vain for the dead do so only because they believe in the resurrection. We have him somewhere defining one baptism. Therefore, to be baptized for the dead is to be baptized for bodies, since we have shown the body to be dead. What will those do who are baptized for bodies, if bodies do not rise?
And so we rightly plant this step: the apostle also introduced a second argument, equally about the body. "How will the dead rise? With what body will they come?" (1 Corinthians 15:35). Once the resurrection — which was being denied — was defended, it followed naturally to discuss the quality of the body, which was not yet seen. But that discussion belongs with others. Marcion, who refuses the resurrection of the flesh altogether and promises salvation only to the soul, makes the issue one of substance, not quality. Furthermore, it is most clearly shown from these very passages what the apostle treats regarding the body's quality on account of those who ask, "How will the dead rise? With what body will they come?" He has already preached that the body will rise; otherwise he would not have treated the body's quality. Finally, if he offers examples like a grain of wheat or anything of that sort — to which God gives a body as he wishes — if he says each seed has its own body, so that there is one flesh of humans, another of animals and birds, and heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, and another glory of the sun and another of the moon and another of the stars — does he not portend a fleshly, bodily resurrection, which he commends through fleshly, bodily examples?
Latin
Reuertamur nunc ad resurrectionem, cui et alias quidem proprio uolumine satisfecimus omnibus haereticis resistentes; sed nec hic desumus, propter eos, qui illud opusculum ignorant. quid, ait, facient qui pro mortuis baptizantur, si mortui non resurgunt? uiderit institutio ista: kalendae, si forte, Februariae respondebunt illi pro mortuis petere. noli ergo apostolum nouum statim auctorem aut confirmatorem eius denotare, ut tanto magis sisteret carnis resurrectionem, quanto illi, qui uane pro mortuis baptizarentur, fide resurrectionis hoc facerent. habemus illum alicubi unius baptismi definitorem. igitur et pro (mortuis) tingi pro corporibus') est tingi, — 'mortuum' enim corpus ostendimus — *** quid facient qui pro corporibus baptizantur, si corpora non resurgunt? atque adeo recte hunc gradum figimus, ut et secundam apostolus disceptationem aeque de corpore induxerit: sed dicent quidam: quomodo mortui resurgent? quo autem corpore uenient? defensa etenim resurrectione, quae negabatur, consequens erat de qualitate corporis retractare, quae non uidebatur. sed de ista cum aliis congredi conuenit. Marcion enim in totum carnis resurrectionem non admittens et soli animae salutem repromittens, non qualitatis, sed substantiae facit quaestionem. porro et ex his manifestissime obducitur, quae apostolus ad qualitatem corporis tractat propter illos, qui dicunt: quomodo resurgent mortui? quo autem corpore uenient? iam enim praedicauit resurrecturum esse corpus, si de corporis qualitate tractauit. denique si proponit exempla grani tritici uel alicuius eiusmodi, quibus det corpus deus prout uolet, si unicuique seminum proprium ait corpus esse, ut aliam quidem carnem hominum, aliam uero pecudum et uolucrum, et corpora caelestia atque terrena, et aliam gloriam solis et lunae aliam et stellarum aliam, — nonne carnalem et corporalem portendit resurrectionem, quam per carnalia et corporalia exempla commendat?