St. Paul persuades by mingling Fear with Shame.

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terrifies, saying, Know ye not that the covetous shall not 1 Cor.6. inherit the kingdom of God?

27.

15.

And in regard to the fornicator, he again uses this order of discourse. For having terrified him by what he had said before; first cutting him off and delivering him to Satan, and then reminding him of that day which is coming; he abashes him again by saying, Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? thenceforth speaking as to children of noble birth. For whereas he had said, Now the body is for the Lord, he indicates it more plainly now. And in another place as well he does this same thing, saying, 'Now1 c. 12. ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And the same figure he often employs, not on the same subjects, but at one time to shew His love, and at another to increase their fear. But here he has employed it to startle and fill them with alarm. Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Nothing can be apter to strike horror than this expression. He said not, "Shall I take the members of Christ, and join them on to a harlot?" but what? make them the members of an harlot; which surely would strike more keenly.

Then he makes out how the fornicator becomes this, saying thus, Know ye not, that he that is joined unto an harlot is one body? How is this evident? For two, saith He, shall be one flesh.

Ver. 17. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. For the conjunction suffers the two no longer to be two, but makes them both one.

[2.] Now mark again, how he proceeds by means of the bare general terms, conducting his accusation in the names of the harlot and of Christ.

Ver. 18. Flee fornication.

He said not," abstain from fornication," but Flee: that is, with all zeal make to yourselves deliverance from that evil. Every sin which a man committeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. This is less than what went before; but since he had to speak of fornicators, he amplifies that guilt by topics drawn from all quarters, from greater things and smaller alike, making the charge heinous. And in fact, that former topic was addressed

236 Force of the Phrase, Sin against one's own Body. HOMIL. to the more religious, but this to the weaker sort. For this XVIII. also is characteristic of the wisdom of Paul, not only to allege the great things wherewith to abash men, but the lesser also, and the consideration of what is disgraceful and unseemly.

(2.)

"What then," say you, " does not the murderer stain his hand? What, of the covetous person and the extortioner?" I suppose it is plain to every one. But since it was not possible to mention any thing worse than the fornicator, he amplifies the crime in another way, by saying that in the fornicator the entire body becomes defiled. For it is as polluted as if it had fallen into a vessel of filth, and been immersed in defilement. And this too is our way. For from covetousness and extortion no one would make haste to go into a bath, but as if nothing had happened, returns to his house. Whereas from intercourse with an harlot, as having become altogether unclean, he goes to a bath. To such a degree does the conscience retain from this sin a kind of sense of unusual shame. Both however are bad, both covetousness and fornication; and both cast into hell. But as Paul doeth every thing with good management, so by whatever topics he had he magnified the sin of fornication.

[3.] Ver. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is within you?

He did not merely say, of the Spirit, but, which is in you; which was the part of one who also was soothing. And again, explaining himself still further, he added, which ye have from God. He hath mentioned Him that gave also, both exalting the hearer and putting him in fear, both by the magnitude of the deposit and by the loving desire of Him that has made it.

And ye are not your own. This is not only to abash, but even to force men towards virtue. "For what?" says he; "doest thou what thou wilt? thou art not thine own master." But these things he said, not to take away freewill. For so in saying, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient, he does not take away our liberty. And here again, writing, Ye are not your own, he makes no infringement upon freedom of choice, but he leads away from vice, and indicates the guardian care of the Lord. And therefore he added, For ye are bought with a price.

237

19, 20.

"We are not our own," an Argument for Purity. "But if I am not my own, upon what ground do you demand 1COR.6. of me duties to be done? And why do you go on to say again, Glorify therefore God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's?" What then is the meaning of ye are not your own? And what does he wish to prove thereby? To settle them in a state of security against sin, and against following the extravagant desires of the mind. For indeed we have many extravagant wishes: but we must repress them, for we can. And if we could not, exhortation would be in vain. Mark, accordingly, how he secures his ground. For having said, Ye are not your own, he adds not, "But are under compulsion;" but, Ye are bought with a price. Why sayest thou this? Surely on another ground, one might say perhaps, you should have persuaded men, pointing out that we have a Master. But this is common to the Greeks also together with us: whereas the expression, Ye are bought with a price, belongs to us peculiarly. For he reminds us of the greatness of the benefit, and of the mode of our salvation, signifying that when we were alienated, we were bought and not simply bought, but, with a price.

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rec.text.

Glorify then, take up and bear1, God in your body, and in ägars your spirit. Now these things he says, that we may not only flee fornication in the body, but also in the spirit of our portate mind abstain from every wicked thought, and from driving so St. Vulg.

Ignatius

was

away grace. Which are God's. For as he had said your, he added called therefore, which are God's: continually reminding us that all Theophorus. things belong to the Lord, both body and soul and spirit. For so some say, that the words in the spirit mean the gracious Gift; for if That be in us, God is glorified. And this will be, if we have a clean heart.

But He has spoken of these things as God's, not only because He brought them into being, but also because, when they were alienated, He won them again a second time, paying as the price, the blood of the Son. Mark how He has brought the whole to completion in Christ, how He hath raised us up into heaven. Ye are members of Christ, saith he, ye are the temple of the Spirit. Become not then members of a harlot for it is not your body which is insulted; since it is not your body at all, but Christ's. And

238

Our Deliverance by the Indwelling Spirit.

HOMIL. these things he spake, both to make manifest His loving-kind

XVIII.

ness, in that our body is His, and to withdraw us from all evil licence. For if the body be another's, "you have no authority," says he, " to insult another's body; and especially when it is the Lord's; nor yet to pollute the temple of the Spirit." For if any one who invades a private house, and makes his way revelling into it, must answer for it most severely; think what dreadful things he shall endure who makes the temple of the King a robber's lurking place.

Considering these things therefore, reverence thou Him that dwelleth within. For the Paraclete is He. Thrill before Him that is enfolded and cleaves unto thee; for Christ is He. Hast thou indeed made thyself members of Christ? Think thus, and continue chaste: whose members they were, and Whose they have become. Erewhile they were members of an harlot, and Christ hath made them members of His own Body. Thou hast therefore henceforth no authority over them. Serve Him that hath set thee free.

For supposing you had a daughter, and in extreme madness had let her out to a procurer for hire, and made her live a harlot's life, and then a king's son were to pass by, and free her from that slavery, and join her in marriage to himself; you could have no power thenceforth to bring her into the brothel. For you have given her up once for all, and sold her. Such as this is our case also. We let out our own flesh for hire unto the Devil, that grievous procurer: Christ saw and set it free, and withdrew it from that evil tyranny; it is not then ours any more, but His who delivered it. If you be willing to use it as a King's bride, there is none to hinder; but if you bring it where it was before, you will suffer just what they ought, who are guilty of such outrages. Wherefore you should rather adorn instead of disgracing it. For you have no authority over the flesh in the wicked lusts, but in those things alone which God may enjoin. Let the thought enter your mind at least from what great outrage God hath delivered it. For in truth never did any harlot expose herself so shamefully as our nature before this. For robberies, murders, and every wicked thought entered in and lay with the soul, and for a small and vulgar hire, the present pleasure. For the soul, being mixed up with

Contrast of those joined to Christ and to the Devil. 239

all wicked devices and deeds, reaped this reward and no 1COR.6. other.

19.

However, in the time before this, bad though it were to be (3.) such as these, it was not so bad: but after heaven, after the King's courts, after partaking of the tremendous Mysteries, again to be contaminated, what pardon shall this have? Or, dost thou not think that the covetous too, and all those whom he recounted before, have the Devil to lie with them? And dost thou not judge, that the women who beautify themselves for pollution have intercourse with him? Why, who shall gainsay this word? But if any be contentious, let him uncover the soul of the women who behave in this unseemly manner, and he will surely see that wicked demon closely entwined with them. For it is hard, brethren, it is hard, perchance even impossible, when the body is thus beautified, for the soul to be beautified at the same time: but it must needs be that the one must needs be neglected, while the other is cared for. For it is not natural that these should take place together.

[4.] Wherefore he saith, He that is joined to an hurlot is one body; but he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit. For such an one becomes thenceforth Spirit, although a body envelope him. For when nothing corporeal nor gross nor earthly is around him, the body doth but merely envelope him. When the whole government of him is in the soul and the Spirit, in this way God is glorified. Wherefore both in the Prayer we are commanded to say, Hallowed be Thy Name: and Christ saith also, Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

So do the heavens also glorify Him, uttering no voice, but by the view of them attracting wonder, and referring the glory unto the Great Artificer. So let us glorify Him also, or rather more than they. For we can if we will. For not so much do the heaven, nor the day, nor night, glorify God, as a holy soul. For as one that gazeth upon the beauty of the heaven, saith, "Glory be to Thee, O God! How fair a work hast Thou formed!" so too when beholding virtue in any man: nay, and much more so in the latter instance. For from those works of creation all do not glorify God; but many even assert that the things which exist are self-moving: and others impute to demons the workmanship of the world, and providence; and