Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Chapter 7
Marriage
Lecture 1
Good of marriage and celibacy
7:1 Now concerning the things whereof you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman. [n. 312]
7:2 But for fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife: and let every woman have her own husband. [n. 315]
7:3 Let the husband render the debt to his wife: and the wife also in like manner to the husband. [n. 320]
7:4 The wife has not power of her own body: but the husband. And in like manner the husband also has not power of his own body: but the wife. [n. 322]
7:5 Do not defraud one another, except, perhaps, by consent, for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer: and return together again, lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency. [n. 325]
7:6 But I speak this by indulgence, not by commandment. [n. 326]
7:7 For I would that all were even as myself. But every one has his proper gift from God: one after this manner, and another after that. [n. 330]
7:8 But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they so continue, even as I. [n. 334]
7:9 But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt.
312. After rebuking the fornicator and those who upheld him, the Apostle now begins to treat of marriage.
In regard to this he does three things.
First, he discusses those joined in matrimony;
second, virgins, at now, concerning virgins (1 Cor 7:25);
third, widows, at a woman is bound by the law (1 Cor 7:39).
In regard to the first he does two things.
First, he instructs those not joined in matrimony whether to contract matrimony;
second, he clarifies what he had said, at but I speak this by indulgence.
In regard to the first he does two things.
First, he shows what is essentially good in this matter;
second, what is necessary, at but for fear of fornication.
313. In regard to the first it should be noted that in their dislike for fornication, against which he had just spoken, some, whose zeal for God was not accompanied by wisdom, arrived at a point where they even condemned marriage. Hence it is said: through the hypocrisy of liars who forbid marriage (1 Tim 4:2ff). Because this seemed harsh to the Corinthian believers, they wrote to the Apostle about it. Therefore, the Apostle answered: I have disapproved of things you do. Now concerning the things whereof you wrote to me, I answer in regard to matrimony: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
314. In this matter it should be noted that the woman was given to man as a help in generation, and the generative power differs from the nutritive power in the fact that the latter serves man in preserving him as an individual. Hence, it is good for man to take nourishment, because his life is preserved by it. But the generative power does not serve man as a help in preserving him as an individual, but to preserve the species. Hence, it cannot be said that it is good for a man, as his own individual, to touch a woman; first, in regard to the soul, because as Augustine says in the Soliloquies: nothing so casts a man down from the citadel of his power as that contact of bodies without which a wife cannot be had. Consequently, it is said to the people about to receive the law: be ready by the third day; do not go near a woman (Exod 19:15); and: I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women (1 Sam 21:4).
Second, as to the body, the fact that a man subjects himself to a woman by marriage and makes himself a slave out of a freedman. This is the most bitter of all servitudes. Hence it is said: I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets (Eccl 7:26).
Third, as to external things with which a man must occupy himself, when he has a wife and children to be fed; whereas it is said: no soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him (2 Tim 2:4).
315. Then when he says, but for fear of fornication, he shows what is necessary in this matter.
First, as to contracting marriage;
second, as to the use of the matrimony once contracted, at let the husband render the debt.
316. In regard to the first it should be noted that the act of the generative power is ordained to the conservation of the species by the generation of offspring. And because the woman was given to the man as a helper in generation, the first need for touching a woman is for the procreation of children. Hence it is said: male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them: be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen 1:27). But this need was directed to the formation of the human race, as long as there was need for the people of God to be multiplied by succession according to the flesh.
But the Apostle, considering that the human race had now multiplied and that the people of God were now increased not by fleshly propagation but by the generation which is from water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5), he passed over this necessity whereby marriage had been originally instituted as a function of nature, and proposed a second necessity according to which it was instituted as a remedy for sin. For since carnal desire remains alive in believers even after baptism, although it does not rule, it impels men especially toward venereal acts on account of the vehemence of their pleasure. And because it requires greater virtue to conquer this desire entirely than can belong to men, according to Matthew: not all men can receive this saying (Matt 19:11), it is necessary that this desire be in part yielded to and in part mastered. This, indeed, happens when the act of generation is ordained by reason and man is not totally mastered by the desire, but the desire is rather subjected to reason.
317. Natural reason teaches that man use the act of generation according as it is suitable for generation and education of children. But in brute animals it is found that in certain species the female alone is not sufficient for the training of the offspring, but the male takes care of the offspring with the female. For this it is required that the male recognize its offspring. Therefore, in all such animals, as doves, pigeons and the like, solicitude for the training of offspring is inspired by nature. Wherefore, in such animals coition is not random and indiscriminate, but a definite male is joined to a definite female, not one to another promiscuously, as happens in dogs and such animals, in which the female alone takes care of the offspring.
But above all in the human species, the male is required for the education of the offspring, which are attended to not only regarding bodily nourishment, but to a greater degree regarding the nourishment of the soul, as it says in Hebrews: we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them (Heb 12:9). And consequently, natural reason dictates that in the human species coition is not random and uncertain, but is by a definite man to a definite female, who in fact made the arrangement through the law of matrimony.
318. Thus, therefore, matrimony has three goods. The first is that it is a function of nature in the sense that it is ordered to the production and education of offspring; and this good is the good of offspring.
The second good is that it is a remedy for desire, which is restricted to a definite person; and this good is called fidelity, which a man preserves toward his wife, by not going to another woman, and similarly the wife toward the husband.
The third good, insofar as the marriage is contracted in the faith of Christ, is called the sacrament, inasmuch as it signifies the union of Christ and the Church, as it is said: this mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church (Eph 5:32).
319. This therefore is what he says: it has been stated that, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because all men are not equipped for this good, for fear of fornication, which must be shunned, let every man have his own wife, that is, determined by himself, so as to avoid uncertain and promiscuous concubinage, which pertains to fornication: rejoice in the wife of your youth (Prov 5:18); why should you be infatuated, my son, with a loose woman? (Prov 5:20)
320. Then when he says, let the husband render, he deals with the use of the marriage contract.
First, about rendering the conjugal debt;
second, about postponing the debt, at do not defraud one another.
321. In regard to the first he does two things.
First, he states his proposition, saying: it has been stated that a man should have a wife and a wife her husband. The reason for the ‘having’ is that the husband render the debt to his wife, namely, with his own body through carnal union, and the wife also in like manner to the husband, because in this matter they are judged equal. Hence the woman was not formed from the feet of the man as a servant, nor from the head as lording it over her husband, but from the side as a companion (Gen 2:21). Hence, they must pay the debt to one another: pay all of them their dues (Rom 13:7).
322. Second, he assigns the reason for the debt saying, the wife has not power of her own body, namely, in regard to the act of generation as though she could by her own choice be continent or give herself to someone else; but the husband, that is, has power over her body as to the use of carnal union. Therefore the wife must offer the husband the use of her body. And in like manner the husband also has not power of his own body: but the wife. Hence he must offer the use of his body to the wife, when any lawful impediment ceases. Hence it is said: therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh (Gen 2:24).
323. Then when he says, do not defraud one another, he deals with postponing the debt to be rendered. First, he shows how the conjugal act should be postponed.
In regard to this he teaches that one thing must be avoided, saying, do not defraud one another, as, for example, the husband might wish to abstain when the wife is unwilling, or even conversely. The Apostle calls this fraud, because one is taking away what belongs to another—and this pertains to fraud no less in marriage than in other affairs (Prov 12:27): the fraudulent man will not catch his prey, namely, because one who offers God his continence accompanied by that fraud does not gain merit for eternal life. For as Augustine says, God does not want such gain compensated with such harm, so that while one of the spouses is continent against the will of the other, the former falls into dangerous temptations.
324. Three things must be observed in such postponement. The first is that it be done with mutual consent. Hence he says, except, perhaps, by consent. Hence it is said: my soul takes pleasure in three things, and they are beautiful in the sight of the Lord and of men; agreement between brothers, friendship between neighbors, and a wife and a husband who live in harmony (Sir 25:1). The second is that it be for a definite time. Hence he says, except perhaps for a time: a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing (Eccl 3:5). The third is that it be done for a suitable purpose, that is, for the sake of spiritual acts, for which continence renders one more suitable. Hence he adds, that you may give yourselves to prayer: a cereal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God (Joel 2:14), and later he adds, let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber (Joel 2:16).
325. Then he deals with the resumption of the conjugal act. First he presents the teaching, saying, and return together again, that is, in order that you may render to each other the debt, now that the time of prayer is finished. Hence it is said that after celebrating the dedication of the feast: they went to their homes joyful and glad of heart (1 Kgs 8:66).
Second he assigns a reason for the teaching. For he does not say this as though it were necessary for salvation, but to avoid danger. Hence he adds, lest Satan tempt you, that is, lest he subvert you with his temptation: for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain (1 Thess 3:5). Satan’s temptation should not be feared by the strong, about whom it is said: I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one (1 John 2:14). But he should be feared by the weak. Hence he says, through lack of self-control, that is, for your incontinency, as a result of which the devil overcomes man by tempting, and he is inclined to tempt: the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour (1 Pet 5:8).
326. Then when he says, but I speak this, he tells in what sense the above doctrine should be taken.
First, he does what has been said;
second, he assigns a reason, at for I would that all;
third, he explains what he had said, at but I say to the unmarried.
327. First, therefore, he says: I have said that each one should have his own wife and each woman her own husband; furthermore, after practicing continence for a time, they should return once more to each other. But I speak this by indulgence, that is, to spare your weakness, not by commandment, namely as though necessary for your salvation. For certain things must be conceded to subjects on account of their weakness, and they should not be compelled by commanding what is good. Hence it is said against some prelates: with force and harshness you have ruled them, so they were scattered (Ezek 24:4).
328. But the Apostle seems to be speaking in an unsuitable manner, for concessions are concerned only with sin. Therefore, by the fact that the Apostle says he is speaking by way of concession, he seems to express that marriage is a sin.
But this can be answered in two ways. In one way so that the concession is taken for permission. But there are two kinds of permission: one is concerned with a lesser evil: for your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives (Matt 19:8), that is, to avoid the murder of one’s wife, to which they were prone. Such a permission is not found in the New Testament on account of its perfection: let us go on to perfection (Heb 6:1). Another permission is about the lesser good, namely, when a man is not compelled by precept to a greater good. This is the sense in which the Apostle makes a concession here, that is, permits matrimony, which is a lesser good than virginity, which is not commanded and is a greater good.
In another way, concession can be taken as regarding guilt: but you have increased the nation, O Lord, you have increased the nation (Isa 26:15). In this sense, concession refers to the conjugal act, accordingly as it has venial guilt attached to it along with the good of matrimony, without which it would be mortal.
329. Hence it should be noted that the conjugal act is sometimes meritorious and without any mortal or venial sin, as when it is directed to the good of procreation and education of a child for the worship of God; for then it is an act of religion; or when it is performed for the sake of rendering the debt, it is an act of justice. But every virtuous act is meritorious, if it is performed with charity. But sometimes it is accompanied with venial sin, namely, when one is excited to the matrimonial act by concupiscence, which nevertheless stays within the limits of the marriage, namely, that he is content with his wife only. But sometimes it is performed with mortal sin, as when concupiscence is carried beyond the limits of the marriage; for example, when the husband approaches the wife with the idea that he would just as gladly or more gladly approach another woman.
In the first way, therefore, the act of marriage requires no concession; in the second way it obtains a concession, inasmuch as someone consenting to concupiscence toward the wife is not guilty of mortal sin; in the third way there is absolutely no concession.
330. Then when it says, for I would that all, he assigns the reason for what he has said.
First, why he does not speak as commanding;
second, why he speaks according to a concession, at but every one has his proper gift.
331. In regard to the first it should be noted that no wise man commands that whose opposite he would rather have done. Therefore, the Apostle does not command that men contract marriage or make use of a marriage already contracted, because he wishes rather that men be continent. And this is what he says: for I would that all men were even as myself, that is, continent as I am. He says likewise: I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am (Acts 26:29).
332. But there seems to be something against this, because if all men practiced continence, as the Apostle did, generation would cease and, as a result, the number of the elect would never be fulfilled, and this is against God’s arrangement.
Some say that it had been revealed to the Apostle that if all men were saved practicing continence, as he practiced it, it would suffice to fill up the number of the elect. But this rests on no authority; consequently, it can be said that the Apostle wished all men to be continent, because he wished this for certain individuals, but he did not wish that all would be continent at the same time.
Or it can be said, and this is better, that he wished all men to be continent in his antecedent will: God desires all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), but not by his consequent will, by which God wills to save certain persons, namely the predestined and to damn others, namely, the reprobate: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau (Mal 1:2ff). Now the antecedent will is concerned with that which considered absolutely is better, as all men to be saved or continent; but the consequent will is concerned with that which is better considering circumstances of persons and events, and according to this, God wills to damn some and the Apostle wishes some to be united in marriage.
333. Then when he says, but every one, he tells the reason why he permitted marriage as a concession, namely, because each one has not received from God so much virtue as to enable him to practice total continence, as the Lord himself said: not all men can receive this saying. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it (Matt 19:11f). And this is what he says: I should wish that all were continent, but every one has his proper gift from God, that is, in a definite measure, one after this manner, for example, to serve God in virginity, and another after that, say, to serve God in marriage. Hence it is said: to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability (Matt 25:15). And: but I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—and it was a mark of insight to know whose gift she was (Wis 8:21).
334. Then when he says, but I say to the unmarried, he explains what he had said obscurely.
First, as to his statement, I would that all were even as myself, namely, because this is absolutely better. Hence he says, to the unmarried, that is, virgins, and to the widows: it is good for them if they so continue to be continent, even as I, for it is said: blessed is the chaste generation with glory (Wis 4:1).
335. Second, as to his statement, but every one has his proper gift; as if to say: not everyone has received from God the gift of continence. Hence he says, if they do not contain themselves, that is, if they have not yet received this gift, let them marry, that is, be joined in matrimony: I would have younger widows marry (1 Tim 5:14).
Then he gives the reason, saying, it is better to marry than to be burnt, that is, be overcome by concupiscence. For concupiscence is a harmful heat; therefore one assailed by concupiscence is warmed but not burned, unless he is overcome by concupiscence and destroys the water of grace. Hence it is said: a fire which consumes unto Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase (Job 31:12).
It should be noted that the Apostle uses a helpful comparison here, for it is good to marry, although it is a lesser good. But to be burned is an evil. Therefore it is better, that is, more tolerable, that a man should have the lesser good than incur the evil of incontinence. And this is what he said above: for fear of fornication, which must be shunned, let every man have his own wife: and let every woman have her own husband; and later: lest Satan tempt you for your incontinency.