Fourth, Matthew 19[:11–12]: “Some castrate themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”
Fourth, Matthew 19[:11–12]: “Some castrate themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”
§ 96. (IV) The fourth testimony is taken from Matt. 19:11–12. When the apostles had said that “it is not expedient to marry” [v. 10], Christ responded: “Not all men can receive this word but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been born so from the mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who have been made so by men, and there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”
Bellarmine points out: (a) “Here a counsel and not a commandment is being given about continence. (b) This is the sense of Christ’s words: ‘You have spoken the truth that marriage is not expedient. In fact, it is rather a hindrance. Nevertheless all people do not understand this.’ (c) Continence has its reward in heaven.”
We respond. (1) It is rightly said that there is no general commandment about celibacy. Rather, persons who are suitably equipped with the gift of continence can select this kind of life freely. It is in this sense that the apostle says, “Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give my counsel as one who has received mercy from the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:25). But by the word “counsel” the apostle does not mean the kind of counsel of perfection that would be above the Commandments of God and by whose observance one might perform a work of supererogation and collect a merit to be paid out [erogandum] for others. (For this obviously stands in opposition to the entire system of the apostle’s teaching about justification.) Instead, in this doubtful situation he is prescribing what one ought to follow and choose. It is just as Christ proves in this passage: “He who is able to receive this, let him receive it” [Matt. 19:12]. That is, he whom God has equipped with the gift of being able to live chastely apart from being married and without offense should use this gift religiously for the building up of the church. He is not sanctioning a universal law but is counseling each person, in proportion to his gifts, to select that which he knows he can do with a completely free conscience. In the Old Testament, barrenness was considered a disgrace. But Christ teaches that it is not only a matter of freedom to live without marrying—that is, for those who can accept this and to whom the power is given—it is also at times useful, especially if this occurs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore Bellarmine is taking the term “counsel” in a far different sense from that which the apostle is using.
(2) Bellarmine is playing the fine sophist in his perversion of this passage, for Christ does not mean that not all people should understand that those who live apart from marriage are free from a great quantity of trouble. For a little earlier the apostles themselves said that if the case of a man with his wife is like that, it is not expedient to marry. Furthermore, all the books of the Gentiles are filled with detestations and reviling of marriage. But Christ is teaching that celibate continence is a singular gift which does not belong to all people, for He explains Himself a little later in this way: “Not all receive this word, but those to whom it has been given.” He is not simply denying that one can lead a less bothersome life without marrying but is saying that after the fall human nature is so corrupted that not all are suited for celibacy, but only those to whom this is granted by God as a special privilege. Thus the word χωρεῖν [“accept”] in this passage does not mean the same thing as “to understand” as it is used in John 8:[37]: “My words do not have a place (οὐ χωρεῖ) in you,” namely, because of their unbelief. Instead, [here] it means to have the capacity, so that the meaning is that the special gift of continence has not been given to all.
The apostle clearly approves of this interpretation: “I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another” (1 Cor. 7:7). Here the gift of celibate continence is included among those particular, private gifts about which there is no promise that God wants to give them to all who believe and who ask for them. Therefore he does not encourage celibacy for those who burn but adds: “It is better to marry than to burn. If they are not continent, let them marry” [v. 9]. “Because of fornication, let each man have his own wife” [v. 2].
(3) “To castrate oneself for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” [Matt. 19:12] surely does not mean to choose celibacy for this end: that it be the greatest satisfaction for sin and a merit for eternal life. This idea makes “a doctrine of demons” out of celibacy (1 Tim. 4:1). Rather, “the kingdom of heaven” in Scripture means either eternal blessedness or the ministry of the Gospel and the exercise of faith, repentance, piety, invocation. But now, the apostle explains how the words “kingdom of heaven” in Christ’s statement should be understood: “The man without a wife is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the man with a wife is anxious about the things of the world, how to please his wife” (1 Cor. 7:32–33). That is, marriage has many diversions, and thus, in suitable persons endowed with the gift of continence, celibacy is more advantageous for the burdens of the ministry and the practice of piety. Dr. Luther says: “The married man is divided into many responsibilities that are foreign to the Word. He cannot always devote himself to his reading; he cannot always be present at the common prayers, the public assemblies, etc. He is often distracted from his thoughts on the First Table to a concern for his family property. But the celibate is able to concentrate more freely and promptly on the Word, on faith, and on prayer day and night.”1 Nor yet should the apostle’s words be taken absolutely, as if the married cannot have a concern for those things that belong to the Lord, for the examples of the patriarchs and prophets show that they were no less concerned for the Lord’s affairs than were celibates. But these words must be taken comparatively, as the apostle himself explains in the same place: “I think that this is useful in view of the current necessity” (v. 26).
(4) Bellarmine especially presses the fact that most of the ancients take “kingdom of heaven” to mean eternal life, something which nevertheless does not yet support the Papists’ opinion regarding celibacy. Let us pass over Erasmus’s complaint that many castrate themselves not for the sake of the kingdom but for the sake of ecclesiastical taxes, rich prebends, and for the sake of the glory of the kingdom of this world. It is a gross corruption of Christ’s statement to say that to castrate oneself for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is to take up celibacy to the end that one may pay [supereroget] more than the perfect obedience that the Law requires, that the merits of perfection accrue to oneself and to others for the remission of sins, that one can make satisfaction for his sins and earn eternal life. But this stands in opposition not only to Scripture but also to the fathers themselves. Instead, the devout ancients intend the following. At times they take “the kingdom of heaven” in Christ’s statement for eternal life. The kingdom of heaven or eternal life will be the common lot of all the saints; nevertheless just as one star differs from another in brightness, so also in eternal life there will be a certain prerogative for celibacy ahead of marriage. For if the gift is more excellent, the reward will be more excellent too. Dr. Brenz believes that Christ’s statement can be taken in this sense not unsuitably, since believers do not reach the end goal of all piety and of all their actions in this transitory life but look forward to the life to come, so long as the idea of celibacy meriting eternal life is not added to it. This is something of which the fathers also disapprove, as we shall teach in greater detail in its own place [On Marriage, Celibacy, and Similar Topics (Commonplace XXVIII), §§ 489–554].