"Resurrectionem vero futuram humanae credimus carnis..."
This statement from the Toledo Synod at the beginning of the 5th Century (see DH 190; DZ 20), which takes on the meaning of a Symbol of faith and corresponds to the final part of the Credo, is in harmony with previous Symbols, even though the Nicene Symbol (325) does not contain this affirmation, found instead in the Nicene-Constantinople Symbol (381). Denzinger introduces with a note this Libellus in modum Symboli: "Rule of Catholics against all heresies [This is the beginning of the rules of the Catholic faith against all heresies and in particular against the Priscillianists; rules established by the Tarragon, Carthaginian, Lusitanian and Betica Bishops, which they sent to Balconium, Bishop of Galicia, as ordered by Leo, Bishop of Rome...]".
The idea of mankind’s survival after death is undoubtedly certified by the multiplicity of mankind’s religious expressions which take many forms. The idea of survival however is nearly always represented as the perpetuity of mankind’s spiritual or interior aspects. There is already in the Old Testament a beautiful affirmation by Job: "... after this flesh of mine has been destroyed, with my flesh I shall see God. Whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold and not another" (Job 19,25-26).
The Christian perception of a human being’s survival after death has its fundamental reference point in the Risen Christ, triumphant over death. We must necessarily refer to the explanation offered by Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians, in chapter 15, where he speaks of a transformation of the carnal body into a spiritual body and he adds in verse 52, "and we shall be changed". One must understand that the biblical anthropology does not intend to be dualistic and, although Paul speaks of the human being’s constituting elements, when he mentions the "sarx", the flesh, he defines it as the totality of the human being. Therefore, in death the identity of human beings undergoes a transformation, but preserves its identity unaltered, albeit changing from a carnal body to a spiritual body (see 1 Cor 15,35-57).
We have received this seed of resurrection in the totality of our being on the day of our incorporation in the Christ’s Easter, as Paul says to the Romans: "For we are buried together with him by baptism into death, that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in a newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Rm 6,4-5).
The Church’s persuasion of faith, which is expressed by the Teachings on many occasions and that finds correspondence in the revelation, is therefore the human being’s total survival in its integrity beyond death. The God of the living has the power to bestow life in the form of immortality thanks to the transformation which took place in the creaturality made man in His Word. Really, paraphrasing Job, we shall see God in our transformed flesh. This experience constitutes for mystic life the summit of a process of purification, configuration and unity, the visio Dei. For the Christian faith it is instead the expression of existence in the Risen Lord: we will all rise with our human nature transformed.