Marriage and Virginity
20. So it is unthinkable that when the apostle said to married people, and those who were going to marry, but I will spare you that (1 Cor 1:28), he wanted to avoid mentioning a punishment incurred by married persons in the next life. It is unthinkable that Paul consigns to hell the woman Daniel saved from judgment in this life. It is unthinkable that in Christ's court the marriage bed will incur punishment for her, who chose to risk being put to death on a false charge of adultery rather than to be unfaithful to it. What was the point of those words, It is better for me to fall into your hands than to sin in the sight of God (Dn 13:23), if God was not going to save her because she preserved married chastity, but was going to condemn her because she had married. Whenever now the true words of holy scripture come to the support of married chastity against those who slander and make false accusations against marriage, Susanna is once again defended by the Holy Spirit against false witnesses, and she is saved again from a false accusation, one of much greater consequence. Then it was one woman being accused on the evidence of what the wicked elders said; now it is all husbands and wives being accused on the evidence of what the apostle would not say. They say that when he said, but I will spare you that (1 Cor 7:28), he was keeping silent about your damnation.
Who was doing this? The same one who said previously, And if you have married, you have not committed a sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not commit a sin (1 Cor 7:28). Why then do you detect a denunciation of marriage in his discreet silence, and do not recognize the defense of marriage in what he said openly? Does he condemn by his silence those he exonerates when he speaks? Would it not be more generous now to accuse Susanna, not just of marriage but even of adultery, rather than to accuse the apostle of teaching lies? In a matter of such importance, what would we do if it were not clear and certain that chaste marriages should not be condemned, no less than it is clear and certain that holy scripture cannot lie.
Paul's Teaching Is Distorted by Extremists
21, 21. At this point someone might say, "What has this to do with holy virginity or perpetual chastity, which this discussion set out to extol?" My first answer to this is what I remarked previously, namely, that the glory of the superior perfection is even greater because of the fact that to achieve it the perfection of marriage is surpassed, rather than the sin of marriage avoided. Otherwise, if perpetual chastity were practiced only because marriage was a sin, it would be enough merely to refrain from belittling it, without commending it particularly.
Furthermore, since people are being urged to aspire to such a splendid gift, not because of a merely human opinion, but on the authority of divine scripture, this should not be done cursorily and without due thoroughness, so that no one will think the divine scripture contains lies. Those who would persuade sacred virgins to maintain that way of life by condemning marriage are really taking away incentive rather than encouraging them. How can they be sure that the text, And anyone who does not have his daughter married does better (1 Cor 7:38), is the truth, if they think that what was written just before, And whoever has a virgin married does well, is untrue? If, however, they believe the scripture without question when it talks about the excellence of marriage, then they will find security in that absolutely trustworthy authority of the heavenly words, and will hurry on with enthusiasm and confidence to what it says about their own superior perfection.
So, we have already said enough in support of the task at hand. To the best of our ability we have shown that the words of the apostle, My opinion, however, is that because of present needs this is good (1 Cor 7:26), must not be taken to mean that in this life consecrated virgins are better off than the faithful who marry, but in the kingdom of heaven and in the next life they are equal. We have also shown to the best of our ability that when he says about married people, Such people will be troubled by the flesh, but I will spare you that (1 Cor 7:28), this must not be taken to mean that he preferred to say nothing rather than say that marriage is a sin and brings damnation. Through failure to understand them properly, mutually contradictory errors have subscribed to each of these interpretations. The first, the one about present needs, is the interpretation adopted in support of their own position by those who argue that those who marry and those who do not marry are of equal merit. The other, about the text, But I will spare you that, is the interpretation adopted by those who presume to condemn those who marry. We, on the other hand, relying on the reliable and salutary doctrine of the holy scriptures, not only say that marriage is not a sin, but also rank it as inferior both to virginity and to celibate widowhood. We say also that the demands made on married persons in this life prevent them having merit, not indeed for obtaining eternal life, but for achieving the superior glory and honor reserved for perpetual chastity; and we say that in the present era marriage is of benefit only for those who lack self-control. As for the material troubles arising out of physical feelings, necessarily present in the marriages of the persons who lack self-control, in the course of giving honest advice the apostle did not wish to be silent about them, but in consideration of human weakness he did not want to be more detailed about them.
Paul's Preference for Celibacy Did Not Pertain Only to This Life
22, 22. With the very clear evidence of the divine scriptures, which we have been able to recall even with the limitations of our memory, it is now more obvious than ever that perpetual chastity should not be cherished on account of life in this present world, but on account of the promised life to come in the kingdom of heaven. Is there anyone, however, who does not notice what the same apostle says a little further on: A man who does not have a wife thinks about what concerns the Lord, how to please the Lord. One who is married, however, thinks about the affairs of the world, and how to please his wife. An unmarried woman too, and a virgin, is set apart. The woman who is not married is concerned about what has to do with the Lord, in order to be holy both in body and mind; but the one who is married is concerned about the affairs of the world and how to please her husband (1 Cor 7:32-34). He certainly does not say, "She thinks about how to be protected in this world, to pass through life with the least trouble." Nor does he say that the woman who is unmarried and a virgin is set apart, that is to say different and distinct, in that the unmarried woman has security in this life, being spared the worldly worries that the married woman finds unavoidable. She thinks about what concerns the Lord, he says, how to please the Lord, and, She is concerned about what has to do with the Lord, in order to be holy both in body and mind (ibid.). Presumably no one is so stupidly argumentative as to try to claim that we do not want to please God on account of the kingdom of heaven, but on account of this world, or that we want to be holy in body and mind on account of this life and not on account of eternal life. Surely, to believe this is to be nothing but the most wretched of all people. That is what the apostle said: If we hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most wretched of all people (1 Cor 15:19). Or is it the case that someone who shares food with the hungry, and does so only on account of this life, is foolish, whereas someone who disciplines his or her body to the point of practicing complete celibacy, if it brings no benefit in the kingdom of heaven, has good sense?
Jesus Spoke of Celibacy for the Kingdom of Heaven
23, 23. Finally, let us listen to the Lord as he makes abundantly clear his views on the matter.
When he was speaking with the awesome authority of God about husbands and wives not divorcing except in the case of adultery, the disciples said to him: If that is how it is for someone with a wife, it is better not to marry. In reply he said this: What you say is not accepted by everyone. There are some who are born eunuchs; and there are others who are made eunuchs by man; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone who is able to accept this accept it (Mt 19:10-12). What could be said more honestly or more clearly? It is Christ saying this, it is the Truth saying it, it is the Power and Wisdom of God saying it: those who with devout intentions refrain from taking a wife make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. Does human vanity with sacrilegious recklessness contradict it, and argue that those who act in this way only escape the pressures here and now of the unavoidable troubles of marriage, and in the kingdom of heaven are no better off than the rest?
Isaiah's Prophecy about Eunuchs in God's Kingdom
24, 24. Who are the eunuchs God speaks of through the prophet Isaiah, when he says he will give them a special inner place in his home, far better than the one his sons and daughters have, if he is not speaking about those who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven?†19 As for those who have been made impotent by having their male organs mutilated, as is the case with the eunuchs kings and rich people have, when they become
Christians and keep God's commandments, but with the attitude that they would have married had they been capable of it, this entitles them to equality in God's house with the rest of the faithful who married and had children chastely and legitimately and brought them up in the fear of God, teaching their children to put their trust in God; but it is not enough for them to be given the special place better than that of the sons and daughters. This is because the reason they do not marry is not spiritual virtue, but physical impossibility. Anyone so inclined can argue, no doubt, that the prophet made this pronouncement in reference to those physically mutilated eunuchs; but even that error supports our case. For God did not prefer those eunuchs to persons who have no place in his home, but to those who occupy the place earned by those who marry and have children. When he says, I will give them a much better place (Is 56:5), he implies that married persons will be given a place too, though a much inferior one.
Let us grant, then, that it was being foretold that there would be physical eunuchs in God's house, though there were none among the people of Israel, since we see them too becoming
Christians, although they do not become Jews. Let us grant also that the prophet was not speaking about the other kind, those who put all thought of marriage aside because they have made a decision to be celibate and so make themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven.
Even so, are there any so demented in their opposition to the truth as to believe that in God's house those who have been made eunuchs physically have a more honorable place than married people, while arguing that those who choose to be celibate for religious reasons, and discipline their bodies to the point of rejecting marriage, and become eunuchs not by making their body impotent but by making the basic sensuality within them impotent, following a heavenly and angelic way of life while still in their earthly mortal condition, are only equal in merit to married persons? Would a Christian contradict Christ, when he praises those who make themselves eunuchs, not for this world but for the kingdom of heaven, and say that this is advantageous for this life but not for the next? What is left for them, except to assert that the kingdom of heaven refers to this earthly life where we are now?
Is there anything to stop blind supposition from going even to this ridiculous extreme? What greater madness can there be than to assert this? Even though the Church, which exists in this world, is sometimes called the kingdom of heaven, there is no doubt it is spoken of in this way because it exists for the future life of eternity. Although it has the promise of life now and in the future (1 Tm 4:8), in all its good works it is not looking to what is seen, but to what is unseen. For the things that are seen are passing, while the things that are not seen are eternal
Isaiah Spoke of Eternal Rewards for Celibacy
25, 25. The Holy Spirit was certainly not silent about another clear and unanswerable argument against their utterly shameless and insane obstinacy, repelling their ferocious onslaught on his flock with an unassailable defense. When he said about the eunuchs, I shall give them a special place in my home, within its walls, far better than the one for the sons and daughters (Is 56:6), to prevent any unduly carnal person from thinking these words give reason to hope for some temporal benefit, he immediately added, I shall give them an everlasting name, one that will never fail. It was the same as if he said: "O sacrilegious blindness, why, Oh why, do you quibble? Why do you obscure the clarity of truth with the fog of your perversions? Why do you look for shadows to hide and plot from in the shining light of scripture? Why do you promise advantages only in this life for holy persons who stay celibate? I shall give them an everlasting name. Why do you try to relate it to earthly advantage, when men and women abstain from all sexual union, and, precisely because they so abstain, have their mind on the things that concern God, how to please the Lord? I shall give them an everlasting name. Why do you argue that the kingdom of heaven, for which the holy eunuchs have made themselves impotent, must be understood as being only in this life? I shall give them an everlasting name. And just in case you try to interpret 'eternal' here as meaning the same as 'long-lasting,' I add more, I pile it on and press it down: it will never fail."
What more do you want? What more can you say? Whatever it is, that everlasting name, which certainly means some special higher honor, will not be something God's eunuchs will have in common with the multitude, even though they dwell in the same kingdom and the same home. Perhaps it is called a name precisely because it distinguishes those who obtain it from the rest.
There Is One Eternal Life, but Different Degrees of Glory
26, 26. "What," they ask, "is the meaning of that denarius that is given at the end of the work in the vineyard to everyone without distinction, whether they worked right from the first hour or only worked for one hour?"†20 What does it mean, indeed? What else does it stand for except something that everyone will have in common, such as eternal life, the kingdom of heaven itself, which will be the home of everyone whom God has predestined, called, justified and brought to glory? This corruptible nature has to put on incorruptibility, and this mortal nature immortality (1 Cor 15:53). This is that denarius, the wages everyone receives. At the same time, star differs from star in splendor, and it is like that with the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:41-42); these are the different rewards earned by the saints. If that denarius stood for the sky, is it not common to all the stars that they are in the sky? Yet the splendor of the sun is one thing, the splendor of the moon another, and the splendor of the stars another (1 Cor 15:41). If that denarius stood for bodily health, is it not the case that when we have our capacities in all parts of the body, there is health in all of them, and if it stays that way until death, it is present the same and equally in all of them? Yet God established the organs of the body in the way he wanted them to be (1 Cor 12:18), and so they are not all eyes, nor all for hearing, nor all for smell. Each of these, as well as any other, has its own special characteristics, although they all have health equally. In this way, because actual eternal life will be the same for all the saints, all receive the equal payment of a denarius; but because in that eternal life the brilliance of their merits will shine out differently, in the Father's house there are many rooms (Jn 14:2). So it will be that with the equal denarius no one will live more lavishly than anyone else; but with the many rooms some will be honored with greater distinction than others.
Virgins Follow the Lamb Wherever He Goes
27, 27. Press on, therefore, you saints of God, boys and girls, men and women, celibates and virgins; press on steadfastly to the end. Praise God more pleasingly because you think of him more frequently. Hope in him more gladly, because you serve him more earnestly. Love him more ardently, because you serve his pleasure more attentively. Dressed for action, with lamps alight, wait for the Lord to come from the wedding.†21 You will introduce a new song at the wedding of the Lamb, and you will sing it to the accompaniment of your lutes. It is certainly not a song like the one the whole universe sings, when it is told, Sing a new song to the Lord; all the world, sing to the Lord (Ps 96:1); but it is one no one can sing except you. This is how you were seen in the Apocalypse by a certain person whom the Lamb loved more than the others, who used to rest on his lap and drink in, and bring them up later, the supernatural wonders of the Word of God. He saw you as a hundred and forty-four thousand holy lutists, virginity unsullied in your bodies, truth inviolate in your hearts; and he wrote that you follow the Lamb wherever he goes.†22 Where do you think this Lamb goes, where no one but you dares, or is able, to follow him? Where do you think he goes? To what fields and pastures? To the place, I believe, where the pasture is joy. Not the shallow joy and foolish deceits of this world, not the kind of joy that even in the kingdom of heaven the rest who are not virgins will have, but a joy distinct from that enjoyed by everyone else. It will be the joy of the virgins of Christ, about Christ, in Christ, with Christ, following Christ, through Christ, because of Christ. The special joy of Christ's virgins is not the same as that of non-virgins, even if they too are Christ's. Others have other joys, but none of them have this kind. Go for these, follow the Lamb, because without doubt the body of the Lamb is virginal too. In his glorified state he himself retains what he did not take from his mother when he was conceived and born. Rightly you follow him by virginity in body and heart, wherever he goes. What does "follow" mean except "imitate"? Because Christ suffered for us, and left us an example, for us to follow in his footsteps.†23 Everyone follows him insofar as imitating him, not as the only Son of God, through whom all things were made, but as son of a human parent who, as was fitting, presented in his own person the model to be imitated. There are many things in him for everyone to imitate. Bodily virginity, however, is not for everyone. In fact, those who have already lost their virginity do not have the option of being virgins.
Married Christians Can Also Follow Christ
28, 28. The rest of the faithful, therefore, who have lost bodily virginity, must follow him, not wherever he goes, but wherever they can. They can, however, go everywhere, except when he walks with the honor of virginity. Blessed are the poor in spirit (Mt 5:3); imitate him who, although he was rich, became poor for you (2 Cor 8:9). Blessed are the meek (Mt 5:4); imitate him who said, Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart (Mt 11:9). Blessed are those who mourn (Mt 5:5); imitate him who wept over Jerusalem.†24 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice (Mt 5:6); imitate him who said, My food is to do the will of him who sent me (Jn 4:34). Blessed are the merciful (Mt 5:7); imitate him who came to the aid of the person wounded by the robbers and left lying on the road half dead and helpless.†25 Blessed are the clean of heart (Mt 5:8); imitate him who committed no sin and on whose tongue there was found no deception (1 Pt 2:22). Blessed are the peacemakers (Mt 5:9); imitate him who said this on behalf of his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Lk 23:34). Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice's sake (Mt 5:10); imitate him who suffered for you, leaving you an example, for you to follow in his footsteps (1 Pt 2:21). Those who imitate him in these respects, in that way are following the Lamb. No doubt even married people can follow those footsteps; even if they do not put their feet exactly in the same footprints, at least they walk the same path.
Married Christians Should Not Be Envious of Virgins
29, 29. See how that Lamb walks on the path of virginity! How will those who have lost this follow him, when it cannot be regained? You, therefore, you his virgins, follow him; you follow him in this too, since only in this way do you follow him wherever he goes. We can urge married people to strive for every other gift of holiness needed for following him, except this one that they have lost irrevocably. You, therefore, follow him by holding steadfastly to your ardent vow. See to it, while you can, that you do not lose the gift of virginity; you can do nothing to recover it afterward. The great numbers of the rest of the faithful, who are unable to follow the Lamb this far, will see you. They will see you, but they will not be jealous. They will rejoice with you because they will have in you what they do not have in themselves. They will not be able to sing that new hymn that is exclusively yours, but they will be able to hear it and to share your enjoyment of that special privilege. You, however, who both sing it and hear it, since you will also hear what you yourselves sing, will enjoy greater happiness and reign more joyously. Those, however, who do not have it, will have no sorrow because of your greater joy. The Lamb, whom you follow wherever he goes, will certainly not abandon those who are not able to follow him where you do. We are speaking of the Lamb who is almighty.
He will both go before you and also not go away from them, since he will be God, all things in all persons (1 Cor 15:8). Those who have less will not be resentful toward you. Where there is no envy, there is harmony in diversity. Have confidence, therefore, have trust, be strong and persevere, you who make the vow of perpetual chastity, and keep your vow to the Lord your God (Ps 76:11), not because of this world but for the kingdom of heaven.
Virginity Is Not Compulsory
30, 30. You too who have not yet made this vow, if you are able to accept it, accept it;†26 keep on running to win.†27 Each of you, Take your offerings and go into the halls of the Lord (Ps 96:8), not out of necessity but with freedom of choice. One cannot say "You shall not marry," in the same way as You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill (Ex 20:13,15).
The latter are commandments, the former refers to offerings. If offerings are given, they are praised; if commandments are not obeyed, there is condemnation. In the one case the Lord orders you to fulfill an obligation; in the other case when he returns he will repay you for undertaking something extra.†28 Think of that special place in his house, whatever it is, far better than the one for the sons and daughters; think of that everlasting name (Is 56:5). Who can explain what that name is? Whatever it is, it will be everlasting.
Believing in this and hoping for it and cherishing it, you will have the power, not to avoid marriage because it is prohibited, but to fly beyond it although it is allowed.†29
A New Argument: The Need for Humility
31, 31. To the extent that this undertaking, which we have urged on you with all our energy, is so excellent and so Godlike, so also the magnitude of it leads us to be concerned to say something, not only about the great glory of chastity, but also about the great security of humility. Accordingly, when those who profess perpetual chastity compare themselves with married persons, and perceive in accordance with the scripture that they are inferior to themselves in deed and merit and commitment and reward, immediately there comes to mind the text: The greater you are, the more humble you must always be, and then you will find favor with God (Sir 3:18). A person must have humility in proportion to his or her greatness.
The danger is pride, and the more exalted the person, the stronger will be its assault. After it, following behind like a maid-in-waiting, there comes envy; pride always gives birth to this, and never exists without this child and companion. In these two evils, pride and envy, the devil is at work, and so all of Christian teaching wages war most vigorously against pride, the mother of envy. It teaches humility, as the means of acquiring and preserving love. After saying on this point that love does not envy, as though we asked how it comes about that it does not envy, he continued straight on with, It is not puffed up (1 Cor 13:4), as if to say, "The reason why it does not have envy is that it is does not have pride." Therefore the teacher of humility, Christ, first emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, becoming like men and women, and being perceived as human; he humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil 2:7-8).†30 Who would find it easy to expound how persistently his teaching inculcates humility, and how strongly it insists on it as a commandment? Who would find it easy to gather together all the evidence to show this?
Someone who wishes to write specifically about humility should do this or attempt it; the present work has a different aim, derived from that matter of such importance, namely, to see that all precautions are taken to ward off pride.
Christ's Teaching on Humility
32, 32. Accordingly I shall recount from Christ's teaching about humility a few supporting statements that the Lord sees fit to bring to my mind, and this may be enough for my purpose.
His first long discourse to his disciples began like this: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3); and without fear of controversy we take this to mean the humble. He gave special praise to the faith of that centurion, and said he had not found such great faith in Israel, precisely because he was so humble in his faith that he said, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof (Mt
8:8-10). Also there is no reason for Matthew to say that the centurion himself came to Jesus, although Luke gives us to understand very clearly that he did not come himself but sent his friends,†31 except that through his great faith and humility he himself came to Christ in a more real way than those he sent. So that text is prophetic: The Lord is on high and he looks on things that are lowly; but things that are lofty he observes from a distance (Ps 138:6), surely because they are not coming closer to him. Hence he says to the Canaanite woman, Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done as you wish (Mt 15:28), although he had first called her a dog and replied that the children's bread should not be thrown to her.†32 She had accepted this with humility and said, Yes, Lord; but even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master's table (Mt 15:26). So then, by her humble admission she earned what she failed to obtain by loud insistence.†33
For the same reason, because of those who saw themselves as just and despised others, we are presented with those two praying in the temple, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector (Lk
18:10), and the confession of sins is preferred to the listing of virtues. Certainly the Pharisee gave thanks for these things, in which he took great pleasure. "I give you thanks," he said, "that I am not like the rest of people, unjust, robbers, adulterers, like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all I possess." The tax collector, however, stood at the back, and did not venture to raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and said: "Lord be merciful to me a sinner." There follows then the divine judgment: Truly, I tell you, the tax collector went down from the temple justified, rather than the Pharisee. Then the reason why this is right is disclosed: Because whoever exalts oneself will be humbled, and whoever humbles oneself will be exalted (Lk 18:11-14). It is possible, therefore, for someone both to avoid real evils and be aware of genuine goodness in himself or herself, and give thanks for this to the Father, from whom comes every excellent thing we receive and every perfect gift (Jas 1:17), and at the same time to be guilty of the sin of pride by being insulting to others who are sinners, especially those who confess their sins in prayer, even if this is only done in one's thoughts, before God. Those sinners should be pitied and not given up as lost, rather than blamed from an attitude of superiority. What about that occasion when the disciples were asking among themselves which of them was the most important, and he put a small child in