Marriage and Virginity (continued)
for the one with the faith either to be forbidden by God to divorce the unbeliever or to be commanded to do so. It was not proper for it to be forbidden, as justice allows separation from someone who commits adultery, and the adultery in the heart of an unbeliever is the worst.
Also, the unbeliever's chastity in relation to the marriage partner cannot be called true chastity, since everything that does not come from faith is sinful (Rom 14:23). On the other hand, the partner who believes has true chastity, even in relation to the unbelieving partner who does not have true chastity. The reason why it was also not proper for the faithful to be commanded to separate from unbelievers is that when they married they were both Gentiles and they were not doing anything that God forbade.
21. Because the Lord neither commands the believer to leave the unbeliever, nor forbids it, this is why it is not the Lord but the apostle who says not to leave. Certainly he possesses the Holy Spirit, which enables him to give advice that is useful and reliable. This is why, when he said to the woman whose husband had died, In my opinion she will be happier if she stays as she is (1 Cor 7:40), he added, I believe, though, that I too have the Spirit of God, so that no one would think that his advice should be dismissed as merely human and not from God.
Hence we must appreciate that when something the Lord does not command is recommended as beneficial by his holy servant, this recommendation is also inspired by God. When the Holy Spirit gives advice, far be it from the thoughts of any Catholic to say that it is not the Lord who gives the advice. The Spirit is Lord too, and the works of the Trinity are indivisible.
Nevertheless he says, About virgins I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give advice (1 Cor 7:24). This is not to have us think that this advice is different from what the Lord would give, since he immediately goes on to say, as someone who by God's mercy is faithful to him. The advice he gives, therefore, is true to what God wants and comes from that Spirit of whom he says, I believe, though, that I too have God's Spirit (1 Cor 7:40).
22. Just the same, a command given by God in the exercise of his authority is one thing, but the faithful advice of a fellow slave based on the compassionate love that he has by the inspiration and gift of the Lord is something else. In the first case it is wrong to act otherwise; in the other case it is not wrong, but in such a way that sometimes indeed it is good to do the thing that is not wrong but sometimes it is not good. It is good to do it on those occasions when not only is it permitted in justice, which God upholds, but also it does nothing to hinder the salvation of others. It is like this when the apostle gives virgins the advice not to marry, and for that reason he states that he does not have any command from God about it, and says it is not wrong to act differently, namely to marry and have the benefits of marriage, inferior though they are to those of virginity. Here what is not wrong is also good, because while honorable marriage rescues the weakness of the flesh from the danger of lapsing into deeds that are wrong and forbidden, at the same time this causes no hindrance to anyone's salvation, even though it would still be better and more honorable if the virgin chose to follow the advice she was not obliged to follow by any commandment. The occasions when it is not good to do what it is not wrong to do are those when one has the right to do something, but to exercise that right would cause hindrance to the salvation of others. This is how it is in the case of a Christian separating from a husband or wife who is not a Christian, which we have been discussing for so long. God does not forbid it with any commandment of his law, because he recognizes there is no injustice in it. The apostle, however, forbids it for reasons of charity, because it places an obstacle in the way of salvation for the unbelievers. Not only will they be harmed by very damaging scandal, but also they will enter into other marriages, while those who divorced them are still living, and afterward it will be very difficult to free themselves from those adulterous bonds.
It Is Better Not to Divorce the Unbelieving Spouse
19, 23. In this case, where it is not good to do what it is not wrong to do, you cannot say, "Anyone who divorces a husband or wife who is not a Christian does well, but anyone who does not divorce does better," in the same way it was said, Anyone who gives her in marriage does well, but anyone who does not give her in marriage does better (1 Cor 7:38). In the latter case neither course of action is wrong (so no one is obliged by any commandment from God to do one or the other), and both are good, one less so, the other more so; consequently in giving his advice the apostle calls on anyone capable of it to do the thing that is better. In the present case, however, where the question is about divorcing or not divorcing a husband or wife who does not have the faith, neither course of action is contrary to justice, which the Lord upholds, and therefore neither is forbidden by the Lord. Because of human weakness, however, they are not both good, and so the apostle forbids doing the thing that is not good. The Lord leaves room for the apostle to forbid it, because the Lord neither forbids what the apostle advises, nor commands what the apostle forbids. If this were not so, the apostle would neither advise something the Lord forbade, nor forbid something the Lord commanded. Hence in these two cases, one about marrying or not marrying, the other about divorcing or not divorcing a husband or wife who does not have the faith, there is some similarity in what the apostle says, but also some dissimilarity. The similarity is in saying, on the one hand, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give you advice (1 Cor 7:25), and on the other, I say it, not the Lord (1 Cor 7:12). I have no commandment from the Lord corresponds to The Lord does not say it; and I advise corresponds to I say it. The dissimilarity is that in the case of marrying and not marrying one can say that to do the first is good, but to do the other is better, as they are both good, only one less so and the other more so; whereas, in the case of divorcing or not divorcing a husband or wife who does not have the faith, one may not say, "Anyone who divorces does well, but anyone who does not divorce does better," as one of these is good and the other is not good, and one has to say instead, "The person should not divorce, because, although it is not wrong, it is not good." Therefore we can say that it is better not to divorce a husband or wife who does not have the faith, even though divorce is not forbidden, just as it is right for us to say that something that is not forbidden and also good is better than something that is not forbidden but not good.
Not All of the Apostle's Advice Has the Same Authority
20, 24. This is why, in commenting on the Lord's sermon on the mount, when I came to the question of divorcing or not divorcing, I cited the evidence of the apostle and said that when he said, For the rest, I say, not the Lord (1 Cor 7:12), this was an instruction from the apostle, not a commandment from the Lord.†11 He was advising those who had husbands and wives who were not Christians not to divorce them, if they agreed to continue living with them.
Undoubtedly the reason why this had to be advised rather than commanded is that an instruction to people not to do something that it is not good for them to do, though it is not wrong, cannot have the same weight as an instruction not to do something that is wrong. If on occasion the apostle saw fit to advise something that should have been commanded, he did this out of consideration for human weakness, and not to prejudice its status as a command.
So, if he said, I do not write this to confuse you, but to advise you as my dearest sons and daughters (1 Cor 4:14), what has this to do with him saying, I say, not the Lord? Likewise, when he said, See, I Paul say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ is of no benefit to you
5:2), did he also say then, I say, not the Lord? Those cases are different, because it is not inappropriate or contradictory for the apostle also to advise doing those things that the Lord commands. We advise those dear to us to do what God commands or orders. On the other hand, when he says I say, not the Lord, he is making it clear that what he forbids is not forbidden by the Lord. If it were wrong, however, the Lord would have forbidden it.
Therefore, in accordance with what we have said at length above, looking at it from many angles, it was not forbidden by justice, but unforced goodness required that even what justice did not forbid should not be done.
A Response to Pollentius' Interpretation
21, 25. You want it to be wrong to do what the apostle, and not the Lord, forbids, in the same way as it is wrong to do what the Lord forbids. So when you wanted to explain what he meant by saying, I say, not the Lord (1 Cor 7:12), in his words to the faithful who were married to unbelievers, you said: "Because the Lord commanded husbands and wives not to have the marriage act with husbands or wives of a different religion." And you invoked the evidence of the Lord's own words: You shall not marry your son to any of the daughters of foreigners, lest she induce him to follow her gods and his soul perish (Dt 7:3-4). You quoted also the apostle's own words, where he says: A woman is bound to her husband, as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free again, and she may marry as she chooses, although only in the Lord (1 Cor 7:39), adding your explanatory comment "That is, to a Christian." You then followed this up by saying, "This, therefore, is the Lord's commandment, both in the Old Testament and the New, that only husbands and wives of the same religion and faith should stay married to each other." If this is the Lord's commandment, in both the Old Testament and the New, and this is what the Lord commands, and this is what the apostle teaches, namely, that only husbands and wives of the same religion are to stay together, why then, in opposition to the Lord's commands, and in opposition to his own teaching, and in opposition to the commandment of the Old and the New Testaments, does the apostle order husbands and wives of different faiths to stay together? "Because," you say, "Paul, preacher to the Gentiles and apostle, not only advises, but commands, that if one or the other of two persons already married comes to believe, that partner should not divorce the one who does not believe, provided he or she agrees to continue living together." By saying this you show clearly enough that the two cases are different. The first has to do with people when they first marry; a woman may not marry a man of different religion, and a man may not marry such a woman.