Teaching Christianity
stuff imaginable. And sane people would much rather eat fish as the Lord did than lentils in the way Esau, Abraham's grandson, did,[31] or oats the way horses do. Just because most wild animals, after all, live on less refined kinds of food than we do, this does not mean that they are more selfrestrained than we are. For in all matters of this kind it is not the nature of the things we make use of, but our reason for making use of them and the manner in which we set about getting them, that decides whether what we do deserves approval or disapproval.
20. The just men of old in the earthly kingdom pictured the heavenly kingdom to themselves, and foretold it.[32]
Provision of offspring was the reason for the blameless custom of one man having several wives at once; and that is why it was not also decent for one woman to have many husbands, because that does not make her any the more fruitful. To seek either gain or children by sleeping around is simply the disgraceful style of the prostitute. In this sphere of morals scripture does not find fault with whatever the holy men of those times did without lustfulness, although they did what today can only be done out of lust or lechery. And all such stories as are told there are not only to be interpreted literally as historical accounts, but also to be taken figuratively as prophetic in some way, pointing to that end of the love of God or of neighbor, or of both.
Thus it was a matter of infamy among the ancient Romans to wear ankle-long, long-sleeved tunics, whereas now it is infamous for those born to high station not to wear them,[33] even when they are informally dressed. In the same sort of way we have to observe that such lustful inclinations should be banished from every other kind of use we make of things; for not only do they vilely abuse the very customs of the people among whom one is living, but they will even exceed all bounds and erupt, very often, in the most infamous display of their ugliness, which was previously lurking concealed behind the enclosure walls of conventional morals.[34]
13, 21. But anything that fits in with the customs of those among whom this life has to be spent, and is either imposed on one by necessity or undertaken out of duty, is to be seen as directed by good and important people to the end of usefulness and of kindness,[35] either literally, which is how we too should do it, or even figuratively, as befits the prophets.
14, 22. When unlearned people who have other customs come across such deeds in their reading, they think, unless checked by authority, that they are acts of infamy, and they are quite unable to appreciate that the whole of their own way of life, in their marriages, or their parties, or their clothing, and in all other aspects of human life and culture, would seem infamous to other nations and other times. Some people, moved by the variety of innumerable customs, and half asleep, if I may so put it, being neither sunk in the deep slumber of folly, nor able to wake up fully to the light of wisdom, have supposed that there is no such thing as justice in itself, but that each nation takes it for granted that its own customs are just; as these differ from nation to nation, while justice ought to remain immutable, it becomes obvious, they conclude, that there is no justice anywhere.
They have not understood, to mention just one point, that What you do not wish done to you, do not do to another (Tb 4:15)[36] can suffer no variation through any diversity of national customs. When this maxim is referred to love of God, all infamous conduct dies; when to love of neighbor, all crimes. We none of us, after all, like our dwellings ruined; so we ought not to ruin God's dwelling, namely ourselves. And we none of us wish to be harmed by anyone else; therefore let us not harm anyone else ourselves.
15, 23. The tyranny of cupidity or greed being thus overthrown, charity or love reigns supreme with its just laws of loving God for God's sake, and oneself and one's neighbor for God's sake. So this rule will be observed in dealing with figurative expressions, that you should take pains to turn over and over in your mind what you read, until your interpretation of it is led right through to the kingdom of charity. But if this is already happening with the literal meaning, do not suppose the expression is in any way a figurative one.
16, 24. If it is an expression of command, either forbidding infamy or crime, or ordering usefulness or kindness, it is not figurative. But if it seems to command infamy or crime, or to forbid usefulness or kindness, then it is figurative. Unless you eat, he says, the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you (Jn 6:53). He seems to be commanding a crime or an act of infamy; so it is said figuratively, instructing us that we must share in the Lord's passion, and store away in our minds the sweet and useful memory that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes.
Scripture says, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. Here there can be no doubt that it is enjoining a kindness upon us. But with what follows: For in doing this you will be heaping coals of fire upon his head (Rom 12:20; Prv 25:21–22), you might suppose a spiteful crime is being commanded. So you must have no doubt that it is said figuratively; and while it can be interpreted in two ways, in one for doing harm, in the other for giving support, let charity rather call you back to kindness, and to understanding by coals of fire the red hot pangs of repentance, which heal the pride of the man, who is grieved at having been the enemy of the person he is being helped by in his plight.
Again, when the Lord says, Whoever loves his life, let him throw it away[37] (Jn 12:25), he must not be supposed to be forbidding those useful acts by which we all ought to preserve our lives. But "let him throw away his life" is said figuratively; that is, let him do away with and lose that use he now makes of it, namely a perverse and topsy-turvy use, so taken up with temporal things that he gives no thought to eternity.
It is written, Give to the kindhearted person, and do not support the sinner (Sir 12:4). The second part of this maxim seems to be forbidding a kindness, in saying do not support the sinner. So you should understand that "sinner" is put figuratively for sin, and thus it means you must not support him in his sin.
Various other rules and considerations
17, 25. But it often happens that those who have reached a higher stage of the spiritual life, or think they have, consider that instructions meant for the lower stages are said figuratively; for example, those who have embraced the celibate life, and have castrated themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 19:12), will argue that whatever the holy books enjoin about loving and ruling wives[38] must be taken metaphorically and not properly; and anyone who has decided to keep his virgin unmarried[39] will attempt to give a figurative interpretation of the text, Give your daughter in marriage, and you have accomplished a great work (Sir 7:25).
Among points, therefore, to be observed in trying to understand the scriptures there will also be this one, that we should realize that some things are enjoined universally upon everybody, others upon this or that particular class of person; thus medicine is provided not only to ensure a general state of good health, but also to cope with each member's own peculiar weakness. What cannot be raised up to a higher class is of course to be cured in its own lower one.
18, 26. Again one has to be on one's guard against supposing that whatever in the Old Testament, with respect