Tractates on the Gospel of John

⁸ How can I know, you will say, that mine dies not? Slay it not yourself, and it cannot die. How, thou asks, can I slay my soul? To say nothing meanwhile of other sins, “The mouth that lies, slays the soul.” How, you say, can I be sure that it dies not? Listen to the Lord Himself giving security to His servant: “Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” But what in the plainest terms does He say? “Fear Him who has power to slay both soul and body in hell.” Here you have the fact that it dies, and that it does not die. What is its dying? What is dying to your flesh? Dying, to your flesh, is the losing of its life: dying to your soul, is the losing of its life. The life of your flesh is your soul: the life of your soul is your God. As the flesh dies in losing the soul, which is its life, so the soul dies in losing God, who is its life. Of a certainty, then, the soul is immortal. Manifestly immortal, for it lives even when dead. For what the apostle said of the luxurious widow, may also be said of the soul if it has lost its God, “she is dead while she lives.”