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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable." What sayest thou, O Paul? How "in this life only have we hope," if our bodies be not raised, the soul abiding and being immortal? Because even if the soul abide, even if it be infinitely immortal, as indeed it is, without the flesh it shall not receive those hidden good things, as neither truly shall it be punished. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
If, he says, all that is ours is limited to this present life and we who hope in Christ, that is, who have our hope in Christ, exist only in it, and there is no other life beyond, then we are more miserable than all, since we have neither enjoyed the good things of this life, as was said above, nor shall we receive the future ones, because we shall not even rise again, as some say. Perhaps someone will say: the soul alone will enjoy them. But why so? It was not the soul alone that labored, but the body too. …
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius
For if our souls are mortal, if virtue is about to have no existence after the dissolution of the body, why do we avoid the goods assigned to us, as though we were ungrateful or unworthy of enjoying the divine gifts? For, that we may enjoy these blessings, we must live in wickedness and impiety, because virtue, that is, justice, is followed by poverty. Therefore he is not of sound mind, who, without having any greater hope set before him, prefers labours, and tortures, and miseries, to those goods which others enjoy in life. …
Western Saints
Ambrose of Milan
Paul says this, not because to hope in Christ is miserable but because Christ has prepared another life for those who hope in him. For this life is liable to sin. The life above is reserved for our reward.
Thomas Aquinas
923. – But because someone could still say: I do not care about sins, I do not care about the dead, as long as in this life I have peace and quiet. Therefore, he adds a third incongruity, when he says: If for this life only, we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. And he rests on this argument: if there is no resurrection of the dead, it follows that nothing good is possessed by men except in this life alone; and if this is so, then those who suffer many evils and tribulations in this life are more miserable. …
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