Irenaeus — Against Heresies 5.6

God will bestow salvation upon the whole nature of man, consisting of body and soul in close union, since the Word took it upon Him, and adorned with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, of whom our bodies are, and are termed, the temples.

1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father , that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit , man, and not [merely] a part of man , was made in the likeness of God . Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father , and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God . For this reason does the apostle declare, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, 1 Corinthians 2:6 terming those persons perfect who have received the Spirit of God , and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church , who possess prophetic gifts , and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men , and declare the mysteries of God , whom also the apostle terms spiritual, they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit , and not because their flesh has been stripped off and taken away, and because they have become purely spiritual. For if any one take away the substance of flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be the spirit of a man , or the…

2. Whence also he says, that this handiwork is the temple of God , thus declaring: Do you not know that you are the temple of God , and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man, therefore, will defile the temple of God , him will God destroy: for the temple of God is holy , which [temple] you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to Himself, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spoke this, however, it is said, of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21 And not only does he (the apostle) acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ , saying thus to the Corinthians, Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ , and make them the members of an harlot? 1 Corinthians 3:17 He speaks these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do with an harlot: but he declares our body, that is, the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity, to be the members of Christ; but that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot. And for this reason he said, If any man defile the temple of God , him will God destroy. How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege, that the temple of God , in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ , do not partake of salvation , but are…