Interpretation of the First Letter to the Corinthians

“Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.” He has shown clearly that he is answering the matters on which they brought inquiries. The Corinthians asked whether those who had been joined to wives by the law of marriage, and were then deemed worthy of saving baptism, ought to share in marital intercourse. He writes, then, praising continence, accusing sexual immorality, and conceding marital fellowship. For having said that it is good …

“But because of sexual immorality let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.” He legislates the same things for husbands and for wives, since the nature is one. And he has added “because of sexual immorality” opportunely, since he had already accused [them] of this …

“Let the husband render to the wife the goodwill that is due, and likewise the wife to the husband.” He legislates these things about chastity, bidding husband and wife draw the yoke of marriage equally, and not look elsewhere and corrupt the yoke, but render each other the fitting goodwill. He has legislated this to the husband first, since the husband is the head of the wife. For human laws bid women be chaste and punish those who transgress the law, but do not demand equal chastity of men. Since those who laid down the laws were men, they took no thought for equality, but granted themselves indulgence. But the divine Apostle, inspired by divine grace, legislates chastity first for husbands. And since it happened that wives or husbands, desiring continence, separated from marital intercourse when their spouses did not wish it, he rightly gives direction about this too.

“The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.” Since the law of marriage declared them one flesh, he rightly called the wife's body the husband's, and again placed the husband's under the wife's authority. Here, however, he brought the law to wives first, since they especially, more than husbands, are wont to embrace continence. “Do not deprive one another, except by agreement for a time, that you may devote yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again.” … willingly gives. He has, then, set this down very fittingly for those who choose continence without agreement. For if the wife alone embraces it, the husband is surely displeased, since she practises continence against his judgment; and the wife suffers the same feeling when the husband chooses the better things. Rightly, then, he said, “Do not deprive one another,” and added, “except by agreement”; and knowing the weakness of nature, he added, “for a time.” He taught the time too, saying, “that you may devote yourselves to fasting and prayer”; for fasting must be honoured with holiness. After the fast he permits intercourse; for this is what he says: “and come together again.” And teaching that he legislates these things suspecting something else, he added: “so that Satan may not tempt you.” And showing that we ourselves increase his power against us, he added: “because of your lack of self-control.” For when you live in sloth and choose to serve pleasures, [you give] the devil a pretext for his battle against you. And that he measured the laws to human weakness, he taught by what follows.

“But I say this by way of concession, not of command. For I wish all men to be as I myself am.” In continence. He both showed perfection and conceded the lesser things; the word offered remedies to ward off the harm of weakness, while for the choice of the better it rouses by an example; and he set himself forth as the example, compelled to reveal to us the wealth of his own purity. “But each has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that.” He consoled those in marriage too, calling marriage a gift of God. For one who is helped by that grace achieves chastity in marriage too. And grace helps those who bring good eagerness: “For ask,” he says, “and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find.” Having answered these things to the Corinthians' questions, and legislated what is suitable for those in marriage, he writes also to those who have not yet received the yoke of marriage, and to those who received it and were then separated by death and lament their widowhood, what they ought to do.

“But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they remain as I am.” He showed himself again to be of the company of the unmarried. For one could not reasonably [count] him among those who are widowed, since he was still a young man when he was deemed worthy of the calling. Let no one think that he [prescribes] celibacy for men and continence after marriage for women only …

“But if they are not self-controlled, let them marry; for it is better for them to marry than to burn.” By “burning” he means not the harassment of desire, but the enslavement of the soul and its inclination to the worse. What he says is this: It is better that you who have not yet shared in marital intercourse, and you who were joined but then separated by death, should choose continence. But if you cannot bear the assault of desire, but are weakly disposed in soul toward this contest, through not having a warm eagerness for good things, no law keeps you from marriage. From here [he passes] to …

“To the married I command, not I but the Lord: a wife is not to be separated from her husband; but if she is in fact separated, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband; and a husband is not to send away his wife.” He recalled the legislation of the Gospel. For the Lord said in the holy Gospels: “Everyone who puts away his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.” That is why he added, “not I but the Lord.” And “let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband” is not contrary to “Do not deprive one another, except by [agreement].” For those words were said to those who separate for no other pretext than continence alone; but here he legislates for those who are at odds over other matters. He tries to keep the yoke of marriage unbroken; but condescending to weakness, he legislates continence for the one who separates, and by this too he prevents the division of the marriage. For by forbidding her to be joined to another, [he presses her] to return to the first marriage …

“To the rest I say, not the Lord.” “I say” means: I did not find this law written in the holy Gospels, but I lay it down now. But that the Apostle's laws are the laws of Christ the Master is clear to those instructed in divine things. For his is the voice: “Since you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me”; and, “I say through the grace given to me.” So here too he legislates, the all-holy Spirit speaking through him …

“If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, let him not send her away. And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, let her not send him away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean; but as it is they are holy.” He does not legislate taking an unbelieving wife, nor bid a believing wife be joined to an unbelieving husband; he says entirely the opposite. For a little later, legislating for widows, he added, “only in the Lord,” that is, to a believer, a pious man, chastely, decently. Here he spoke about those joined before the preaching. For it happened that the husband believed while the wife remained in unbelief, and again that the wife received the preaching while the husband was wrapped in the ruin of unbelief. He exhorts the healthy to bear the weakness of their spouses and to work for their salvation. For this is what he says: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband,” that is, has hope of salvation. And even if he or she should persist in the disease, the seed will share in salvation. He set this down somewhat hyperbolically, persuading them not to abandon the union.

“But if the unbeliever separates, let him separate; the brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases.” Let the believing party, he says, give no pretext for the separation. But if the sick one wishes to depart, you are guiltless and free of the accusation. “But God has called us in peace.” And yet the Lord said, “I did not come to bring peace on earth, but a sword, to divide a man from his neighbour.” But this is not contrary to that; the Apostle is interpreting the Lord's teaching. For the saving preaching, he says, does not bring confusion into life, but rather works true and God-loving peace. It does first divide the [bad] harmony, and by discord works the concord that is praised. For those who received the divine preaching, becoming teachers of the unbelievers, worked … and led whole houses to the lovely harmony. This he says here too: “For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Only, as God has apportioned to each.” Take up the labour, he says, with good hopes; you have God as helper of your

eagerness. “As the Lord has called each, so let him walk; and so I direct in all the churches.” He taught clearly here that he did not exhort [believers] to be joined to unbelieving husbands or wives, but legislated those things for those called in that state. Then, as usual, he passes from the matter at hand to others, legislating what is fitting for all.

“Was anyone called circumcised? Let him not undo it. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God.” Let neither one called uncircumcised receive circumcision, nor the circumcised man try to make himself [appear] uncircumcised … circumcision took place according to the old law. What is praised is not the thing itself, but the [keeping] of the divine commandment …

“Let each remain in the calling in which he was called.” Then he passes to other things too. “Were you called as a slave? Do not let it trouble you; but even if you can become free, use it rather.” Grace does not know the difference between slavery and mastery. [Do not], then, flee slavery as unworthy of the faith; but even if it is possible to obtain freedom, remain serving, and await the recompense. He set down this hyperbole not without reason, but to persuade them not to flee slavery on the pretext of piety. And he offers another consolation too.

“For the one called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman; likewise the one called as free is a slave of Christ.” We are wont to call a freedman one who was formerly a slave. By this name he called the one deemed worthy of the faith …; and he called the free man Christ's slave and the slave a freedman, teaching the free that they have Christ as Master, and the slaves likewise that they have enjoyed true freedom. For who is so free as one released from sin? And who serves so bitter a slavery as one subject to the slavery of the passions?

“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” He has not legislated things contrary to what was said. He bids neither the one called a slave nor the one addressed as free have a servile mind. Very wisely he declared both slaves and masters fellow slaves, saying to both, “You were bought with a price.” For the Master bought you by giving his own blood. “Let each remain before God in that in which he was called.” He has set this as both the opening and the conclusion of the exhortation. And he passes again to another [subject].

“Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord.” For the Lord, when the apostles had said, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry,” answered: “Not all can receive this word”; and again, “Let the one who is able to receive it receive it.” That is why the divine Apostle too said, “I have no command of the Lord.” If, then, you did not receive a law, what does your word mean? “But I give my judgment.” I do not bring in a law, but offer counsel. For God, having legislated what is according to nature, exhorts to what is above nature. And since it was likely that some would object to the counsel as an innovation, he added, “as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful.” With his usual moderation he showed his apostolic dignity. I am a worthy counsellor, he says, having been called by the great mercy of the Master and entrusted with the preaching. And what do you counsel?

“I think, then, that this is good because of the present necessity, that it is good for a person to be so. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you loosed from a wife? …” … not doubting that virginity is good, and the most beautiful of beautiful things; but so that the exhortation should not become a law, he added the [expression of] doubt. For a law brings with it keeping, transgression, and the punishment of transgressors. That is why he does not legislate the great things, but exhorts to them; and having said not …

“But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned.” And why do you counsel not to marry, if marriage is free of sin? “But such will have affliction in the flesh.” And what is this to you? “But I spare you.” He laid bare his fatherly affection and showed the usefulness of celibacy. One must know, however, that he did not say, “If you marry, you have not sinned; and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned,” about those who have once renounced [marriage] in life, but about those who have not yet chosen either this or that, but stand on the border between marriage and celibacy. Then from another side too he [strengthens] …

“This I say, brothers: the time has been shortened from now on.” Life is driving to its end; the consummation of the present age is near. “So that those who have wives may be as though they had none,

and those who weep as though they did not weep, and those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, and those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as though not misusing it.” Present things, he says, are not our own; for we pass from here very quickly. Let no one, then, lament poverty, nor be proud of wealth, nor let those who have acquired very much spend it on luxury and prodigality; let them reap from it only what is needed. For this is what he says: “and those who use this world as though not misusing it.” This too God charged against the rams through Ezekiel, that they grazed the good pasture and trampled the rest with their feet, and drank the clean water and fouled the rest with their feet. With this agrees “those who use the world as though not misusing it.” Then, showing that present things are temporary, he added: “For the form of this world is passing away.” For [there will be] no longer farming and seafaring, no longer kingship and generalship, no longer slavery and mastery, no longer arts and sciences, no longer poverty and wealth; of these and such things the present life is made up. This too blessed Isaiah foretold of the future: “And the slave will be as his master, and the maidservant as her mistress, and the buyer as the seller, and the debtor as one who does not owe.” For the life to come has another difference of things. The divine Apostle, however, having shown the temporariness of life, added:

“I want you to be free from anxieties.” He showed clearly the aim of virginity. For the one who keeps virginity has a soul free from superfluous and foolish cares, and imitates the life to come as far as possible. For he says this through what follows: “The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the things of the world, how to please his wife. The wife and the virgin are divided too: the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the things of the world, how to please her husband.” He showed briefly the difference of care between the one who chooses the yoke of marriage and the one who embraces celibacy. It is easy for anyone who wishes to learn the toils and cares of those occupied in life. We too set these out more broadly when we composed our discourses On Virginity, and exhorted lovers of good things to its wealth. Persisting in the counsel, the divine Apostle added this too: “I say this for your own benefit, not to lay a noose on you, but for what is seemly and for constant attendance on the Lord without distraction.” I do not drag you by necessity to this wealth, he says, using a noose as it were and hunting you by force; but I show the gain that grows from it. For it is not otherwise possible for us to attend continually on the service of God unless the things of life …

“If anyone thinks that he is behaving unseemly toward his virgin, if she is past her prime, and it ought to be so, let him do what he wishes; he does not sin; let them marry.” One who regards celibacy as unseemly, and for this reason wishes to join his daughter to a husband, let him do what seems good; for marriage is free of sin. Here again he gave his exhortation about those who have not yet chosen virginity. “But he who stands firm in his heart, having no necessity, but has authority over his own will, and has judged this in his heart, to keep his virgin, does well.” “Having no necessity” means being his own master, not subject to a master. … “will do better.” He showed the one to be good and the other most excellent, and bound the tongues of the heretics who accuse marriage. And he thought it necessary to counsel widows too what is suitable: “A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband falls asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord”; that is, to a fellow believer, a pious man, chastely, lawfully.

“But she is more blessed if she remains as she is, in my judgment.” Again he has not laid down a law, but brought in counsel; and making it trustworthy, he added: “And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.” The words are not mine, he says, but of the grace of the all-holy Spirit; for I am its instrument. One must note, however, that he did not call her simply [blessed, but “more blessed”] …, teaching that not even the woman who has to do with a second marriage is wretched, but blessed, being joined according to the apostolic law. For the comparison declared her too blessed. And this is a sufficient accusation of the followers of Novatus, who accuse digamy as sexual immorality, directly opposing the apostolic laws. Having written these things after the former accusation, and brought in the fitting counsel on marriage and celibacy, and also on widowhood and virginity, he touches again on another accusation, whose subject it is necessary to state first in summary. Some of those in Corinth who had perhaps believed, having acquaintances and friends held in error, ate with them in the temples of the idols, not partaking of what was set before them as offerings to idols, but as persuaded that all things are God's works. But for those who did not yet have this knowledge, what these did was very harmful; for seeing them doing this fearlessly … they [were led] to do the same thing, and the offence became greater. For these did not partake according to the aim of the former, but ate the food as offered to idols, not having their knowledge. Learning this, the divine Apostle accuses what was done and applies all kinds of remedies to the disease.