Marriage and Virginity (continued)
with good works, and that has to do with justice. He too did not omit to mention our purpose in doing these things, adding the words, Be like persons waiting for their master to return from a wedding (Lk 12:36). When he comes, he will reward us for holding back from what sensuality demanded and for doing what charity directed, and so we shall reign in his perfect, everlasting peace, without any struggle against evil and with perfect enjoyment of good.
18. We believe in the true, living God, whose supremely good and immutable nature neither does any evil nor suffers any evil. Every good thing has its origin in him, even those that can suffer diminution, although he is absolutely incapable of suffering any diminution of his goodness. When all of us who believe these things hear the apostle say, Walk with the spirit and do not carry out the desires of the flesh. The flesh has desires opposed to those of the spirit, and the spirit has desires opposed to those of the flesh. These two work against each other with the result that you do not do what you want to do (Gal 5:16-17), far be it from us to accept the insane belief of the Manichees that this shows that there are two kinds of being warring against each other, one good and the other evil, coming from two opposing sources.
Those two things are certainly both good; the spirit is good and the flesh also is good; and human nature, which is made up of both, one in control and the other subordinate, is certainly good, but a good that is subject to change. It cannot be made, however, except by the immutable good. All created good, large or small, has its origin in him. However small it is, it is created by the one who is great; and however great it is, it is in no way comparable to the greatness of its maker. Nevertheless, in this human nature that is good, and made and set up in a good way by the one who is good, there is at present a war being waged, because salvation has not yet been achieved. Let the weakness be cured, and there will be peace. That weakness was incurred because of guilt; it was not natural. Certainly God's grace has already wiped away that guilt for the faithful through the cleansing of rebirth; but in the hands of that doctor nature continues to battle with its infirmity. Good health will come with total victory in that battle, not a temporary good health, but everlasting. Not only will this infirmity end then, but afterward no further iniquity will arise. Therefore the just man addresses these words to his own soul: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all that he has done for you; he is merciful toward all your iniquities and heals all your infirmities (Ps 103:2-3). He is merciful toward iniquities when he forgives sins, and heals infirmities when he restrains evil desires; he is merciful toward iniquities by giving forgiveness, and heals infirmities by giving continence. The former is bestowed when we acknowledge him in baptism, the latter as we strive in the combat, where with his help we must conquer our affliction. The former also happens now when our prayer, Forgive us our debts, is heard; and the latter when our prayer, Lead us not into temptation (Mt 6:12-13), is heard. As the apostle James says, Everyone is tempted, pulled and attracted by his own desires (Jas 1:14). We pray for help and a cure for this defect from the one who is able to heal all such infirmities, not by removing from us a foreign substance, but by repairing our own nature within us. For the same reason that apostle did not say: Everyone is tempted, pulled and attracted by desires, but he said also, his own, so that everyone who hears this will understand how he ought to cry out: I said, Lord, be merciful to me, heal my soul, because I have sinned against you (Ps 41:4). The soul would not have needed healing, if it had not weakened itself by sinning, with the result that its flesh has desires opposed to it; that is to say, to the extent that it has acquired a carnal weakness it is in conflict with itself.
The Struggle Between the Flesh and the Spirit
8, 19. The flesh can desire nothing except by means of the soul; but the flesh is said to have desires opposed to the spirit, when the soul struggles against the spirit because of carnal desires. All of this is ourselves, and even the flesh, which dies when the soul leaves it, is the lowly part of ourselves. It is not cast off to be abandoned, but it is put aside to be received back, and once received back it will never again be relinquished. A material body is sowed, however, and a spiritual body rises up (1 Cor 15:44). Then the flesh will no longer have any desires opposed to the spirit. It will itself be called spiritual, as it will be subject to the spirit without any resistance, and without any need of bodily food to sustain its eternal life.
Accordingly, because we are made up of both these two things, that at present oppose each other within us, we pray and work to bring them into harmony. We must not think that one of them is the enemy. The enemy is the defect whereby the flesh has desires opposed to the spirit. When this is cured it will no longer exist, and the two substances will both be sound, and there will be no fighting between the two. Let us listen to the apostle. I know, he says, that goodness does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh (Rom 7:18). He undoubtedly says this because the defect of the flesh, although it occurs in something good, is not itself good; when it ceases to exist, there will still be the flesh, but it will no longer be defective or sinful. The same Doctor shows that the flesh is part of our nature by saying first, I know that goodness does not dwell in me, and adding by way of explanation, that is, in my flesh. He says, therefore, that he is his flesh. Therefore it is not our enemy; and when its faults are resisted it