Hippolytus of Rome, Fragments from Other Writings of Hippolytus §3: Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, in a letter to a certain queen

III.

1. He calls Him, then, “the first-fruits of them that sleep,” as the “first-begotten of the dead.” For He, having risen, and being desirous to show that that same (body) had been raised which had also died, when His disciples were in doubt, called Thomas to Him, and said, “Reach hither; handle me, and see: for a spirit hath not bone and flesh, as ye see me have.”

2. In calling Him the first-fruits, he testified to that which we have said, viz., that the Saviour, taking to Himself the flesh out of the same lump, raised this same flesh, and made it the first-fruits of the flesh of the righteous, in order that all we who have believed in the hope of the Risen One may have the resurrection in expectation.