Marriage and Virginity (continued)
Distinguishing the "Permissible" from the "Good"
16, 17. It is not easy to give a general rule to define what the difference is between something that is forbidden and therefore not good, and something that is permissible but not good. It would be easy enough for someone to say: "Anything it is not good to do is a sin; and all sins are forbidden. Therefore, anything it is not good to do is forbidden." If, then, everything that is not good is forbidden, what becomes of the things the apostle said are not forbidden but not good? Accordingly, since we cannot doubt that what the apostle says is true, and we dare not say that some sins are not forbidden, the only alternative is to say that there can be something that it is not good to do, and yet, if it is not forbidden, it is not a sin, even though, because it is not good, it certainly ought not to be done. If it seems absurd to say that something is done that it is not good to do, but whoever does it does not commit a sin, it should be appreciated that this absurdity is due to a customary manner of speaking. This is so common that often we even say that donkeys ought to be beaten when they sin, even though they lack the power of reason. Yet, strictly speaking, sinning is confined to creatures with the use of reason and free will, and of all mortal creatures only humans have been endowed by God with this. It is one thing, however, to use language in its literal sense, but another to borrow words from other contexts and either use them in a figurative sense or even misuse them.
What Is Not Permissible Violates Justice
17, 18. Let us try then to draw a precise line to distinguish between what is permitted but not good, and what is not permitted and therefore not good. It seems to me that things that are permitted but not good are those that are permitted by justice, upheld by God, but should be avoided because of possible harm to other persons (to prevent it being a hindrance to their salvation). On the other hand, things that are not permitted and therefore not good are those that even justice forbids, so that they may not be done, even if they would be applauded by people who came to hear about them. If this is right, then only the things that are illicit are forbidden by God, and those that are permitted but not good are not ruled out by the power of the law but by the unforced goodness of love.
19. It follows that if it were wrong to divorce a husband or wife who did not believe, the Lord would forbid it, and the apostle would not say, It is I, not the Lord, who says it (1 Cor 7:12). If