Psalms 64:3

11. But some one will say to me that it is one thing to live after man, another thing to live after the flesh; because man forsooth is a rational creature, and there is in him a rational soul, whereby he differs from the beast: but the flesh is the lowest and earthly part of man, and thus to live after it is faulty: and for this reason, he who lives after man, assuredly lives not after the flesh, but rather after that part of man, whereby he is man, that is, after the spirit of the mind whereby he excels the beasts. …

He goes on to remark: “But the apostle, by saying, ‘And He Himself giveth life and spirit to all,’ and then by adding the words, ‘And hath made the whole race of men of one blood,’ has referred this soul and spirit to the Creator in respect of their origin, and the body to propagation.” Now, certainly any one who does not wish to deny at random the propagation of souls, before ascertaining clearly whether the opinion is correct or not, has ground for understanding, from the apostle’s words, that he meant the expression, of one blood , to be equivalent to of one man , by the figure of speech which understands the whole from its part. …

5. “Hearken,” he saith, “to my prayer, unto Thee every flesh shall come” ( ver. 2 ). And we have the Lord saying, that there was given to Him “power over every flesh.” That King therefore began even now to appear, when there was being said, “Unto Thee every flesh shall come.” “To Thee,” he saith, “every flesh shall come.” Wherefore to Him shall “every” flesh come? Because flesh He hath taken to Him. Whither shall there come every flesh? He took the first-fruits thereof out of the womb of the Virgin; and now that the first-fruits have been taken to Him, the rest shall follow, in order that the holocaust may be completed. Whence then “every flesh”? Every man. …

9. “Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour” ( ver. 5 ). He hath disclosed now Whom he nameth as God. The “Saviour” specially is the Lord Jesus Christ. It hath appeared now more openly of Whom he had said, “Unto Thee every flesh shall come.” That One Man that is taken unto Him into the Temple of God, is both many and is One. In the person of One he hath said, “Hearken, O God, i.e., to my hunger:” and because the same One of many is composed, now he saith, “Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour.” Hear Him now more openly preached: “Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour, the Hope of all the ends of the earth and in the sea afar.” Behold wherefore hath been said “Unto Thee every flesh shall come.” From every quarter they come. …

Orth. Then hear too the psalmist David, “Unto thee shall all flesh come.” Hear too, the prophet Isaiah foretelling “All flesh shall see the salvation of our God.”

Before passing on, however, to what follows, I will further mention the one text, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Just as we, through soul and body, become a temple of Him Who “dwelleth in us and walketh in us,” even so the Lord terms their combination a “temple,” of which the “destruction” signifies the dissolution of the soul from the body. And if they allege the passage in the Gospel, “The Word was made flesh,” in order to make out that the flesh was taken into the Godhead without the soul, on the ground that the soul is not expressly mentioned along with the flesh, let them learn that it is customary for Holy Scripture to imply the whole by the part. …

If, however, they rely on the passage, The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, and because of this erase the noblest part of Man (as cobblers do the thicker part of skins) that they may join together God and Flesh, it is time for them to say that God is God only of flesh, and not of souls, because it is written, “As Thou hast given Him power over all Flesh,” and “Unto Thee shall all Flesh come;” and “Let all Flesh bless His holy Name,” meaning every Man. Or, again, they must suppose that our fathers went down into Egypt without bodies and invisible, and that only the Soul of Joseph was imprisoned by Pharaoh, because it is written, “They went down into Egypt with threescore and fifteen Souls,” and “The iron entered into his Soul,” a thing which could not be bound. …