Second, Wisdom 3[:13]: “Blessed is she who is barren and undefiled,” etc.
Second, Wisdom 3[:13]: “Blessed is she who is barren and undefiled,” etc.
§ 94. (II) Bellarmine takes his second testimony of Scripture for establishing works of supererogation from Wisdom 3:13[–14]: “Blessed is she who is barren and undefiled, who has not known the bed in sin. She shall have fruit in the review of holy souls; and the eunuch who has not worked iniquity with his hands nor thought wicked things against God, for the precious gift of faith will be given to him and a lot in the temple of God.” Bellarmine understands “precious gift” to mean “singular gift,” corresponding to the will of the eunuch.
We respond. (1) The Book of Wisdom is outside the canon.
(2) The author of the book has been discussing the wicked posterity of wicked people, that in those who are born of wicked parents, especially out of wedlock, there are very often special seeds of great vices. Thus he calls the barren woman blessed, just as he generally says elsewhere that being childless is an unrecognized good. Next, he says that the married are blessed who do not agree to illicit intercourse but faithfully preserve their conjugal chastity. He says that they will receive the rewards for their chastity at last when God repays the piety of holy people. Finally, since eunuchs were once considered people without a blessing, he adds a consolation on their behalf, that if they do not work iniquity with their hands and do not think wicked things against God, it will come to pass that they will be given the precious gift of faith. Therefore he is not describing a merit of celibacy but is showing that celibacy does not stand in the way of piety and of the rewards of piety.
(3) Thus this passage by no means establishes the merits of the counsels but condemns unlawful sexual liaisons. Indeed, it is a doctrine of demons to contrast devout marriage with such statements in which defilement, impurity, and unchastity are condemned. The word “undefiled” is used for marriage itself (Heb. 13:4).
(4) Furthermore, the evangelical counsels, as things proper to the New Testament, should not be proved from the Old Testament.