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1 Cor 6:1-6

1 When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, matters pertaining to this life! 4 If then you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who are least esteemed by the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood, 6but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

264. – After rebuking the Corinthians for failing to judge, the Apostle now rebukes them for other failings in matters of judgment. First, in regard to the judges before whom they present their grievances; secondly, in regard to the grievances themselves (v. 7). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he charges them with unbecoming conduct; secondly, he gives the reason for this charge (v. 2); thirdly, he applies a remedy (v. 4).

265. – First, therefore, he says: You fail to judge yourselves but allow yourselves to be judged by the unrighteous. Hence he says: When one of you has a grievance, i.e., secular business, against a brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous, i.e., submit to the decision of an unbeliever, instead of the saints, i.e., before believers, who have been sanctified by the sacraments of faith?

266. – This is unbecoming in a number of ways. First, because it detracts from the full power of believers; secondly, it insults the dignity of believers to take their lawsuits to unbelievers; thirdly, it gives unbelieving judges occasion for looking down on believers, whom they see at odds among themselves; fourthly, it gives the same judges occasion for calumniating and oppressing believers, whom they hate on account of their faith and rites which differ from their own. Hence it says in Dt (1:15): “I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and set them as heads over you. And I charged them: ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother.’” Again in Dt (17:15): “You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.”

267. – But this seems contrary to what is commanded in 1 Pt (2:13): “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors sent by him”; for it pertains to the prince’s authority to judge his subjects. Therefore, it is against the divine law to forbid one’s conforming to the decision of a judge, who is an unbeliever. The answer is that the Apostle is not forbidding believers who are under the jurisdiction of unbelieving princes to accept their judgment, if they are summoned; for this would be contrary to the loyalty owed to princes, but he is forbidding believers voluntarily to prefer being judged by unbelievers.

268. – Then when he says, Do you not know, he gives a reason against this policy, inasmuch as it detracts from the full power of the saints. First, in regard to the power they have over worldly affairs; secondly, in regard to the power they have over other-worldly things, i.e., over angels (v. 3).

269. – First, therefore, he says: It is unbecoming to take your lawsuits to unbelievers, because believers have authority to judge, for do you not know that the saints will judge the world, i.e., the worldly men of this world? They do this in three ways: first, comparatively, i.e., not only in the sense that good men will judge evil men, and saints the worldly, but also that the good will be judged by the better and the evil by the worse, according to Matt (12:41): “The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.” Secondly, they will judge by approving the sentence of the judge, i.e., Christ; and this will be reserved to the just: “The just man will rejoice when he sees the vengeance” (Ps 58:10); “The saints shall judge nations” (Wis 3:8). In a third way by passing sentence, and this will be done by the apostles and those like them who held worldly things in contempt and clung only to spiritual things, as it says above (2:15). Hence Matt (19:28) says: “You who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel,” and in Ps 149 (v. 4): “Two edged swords in their hands to wreak vengeance on the nations.” This passing of sentence will not be vocal but spiritual, inasmuch as lesser saints or even sinners will be enlightened with a spiritual light by the higher saints to understand what sort of punishments or rewards are owed to them; just as even now men are enlightened by angels, or even lesser angels by higher ones.

270. – Secondly, from what has been stated he argues to his proposition, saying: If the world, i.e., worldly men, is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases, i.e., worldly business: “He who is dishonest in a very little, is dishonest also in much” (Lk 16:10).

271. – Then when he says, Do you not know that we, namely, the faithful of Christ, will judge angels? This can be understood of bad angels, who will be condemned by the saints, by whose virtue they were overcome. Hence the Lord says in Lk (10:19): “I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy.” And in Ps 91 (v. 3): “The young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.” It can also be understood of good angels, most of whom in some way will be found inferior to Paul and others like him. Hence, it is significant that he does not say “they” but “we” shall judge. For although it might be said, as a consequence, that if saints will judge good and evil men, there will be a judgment of good angels, whose accidental reward is increased by the reward of saints enlightened by angels and a judgment of evil angels, whose punishment is increased by the punishment of men led astray by them.

272. – Secondly, he argues to the proposition, saying: How much more, matters pertaining to this life will we be fit to judge. For one capable of greater things is capable of lesser. Hence to the person entrusted with five talents the Lord later entrusted one (Matt 25:28).

273. – Then when he says, If then you have such cases, he applies the remedy for their fault: first he mentions the remedy; secondly, he explains (v. 5).

274. – First, therefore, he says: Therefore, since the saints will judge this world, if you should have secular trials among you, which, nevertheless you should not have, those least esteemed in the Church should be appointed to judge, rather than be judged by unbelievers. “Let a good man strike or rebuke me in kindness, but let the oil of the wicked never anoint my head” (Ps 141:5); and in Ec (9:4) it says: “A living dog is better than a dead lion.”

275. – Then when he says, I say this, he explains in what sense he meant the foregoing. For someone who could believe that literally the least esteemed were to be chosen judges. But he excludes this, saying: I say this to your shame. As if to say: I did not say this as though it were to be done, but I said it to shame you, namely, with that confusion which brings grace and glory, as it says in Sirach (4:25): For the least esteemed in the Church should be chosen for judging, if no wise men were to be found among you, which would be shameful for you. That is why he continues: Can it be that there is no man among you wise enough to decide between members of the brotherhood? Rather than do this, you should appoint the least esteemed in the Church to judge and to supply for the lack of wisdom, which, of course, is not wanting to you, as I said above (1:5): “In every way you were enriched in him with all speech and all knowledge.”

276. – Or in another way from v. 4: For he had said that the saints are worthy to judge worldly matters; consequently, he wants to show by whom worldly judgments should be passed, namely, by the least esteemed in the Church. By “least esteemed” he means those who are wise in worldly matter as opposed to those wise in divine matters and are not occupied with temporal things, in order to devote themselves strictly to spiritual things. And this is what is added to: I say this to your shame. Hence the apostles said in Ac (6:2) “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” After that he returns to what he had censured earlier, namely, that the Corinthians took their lawsuits to unbelieving judges, saying: Can it be that there is no man among you wise, namely in temporal affairs, which he called contemptible earlier. Hence the other things are not changed from the first explanation, which seems to be more literal.

 

6-2

            1 Cor 6:7-13a

7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that even your own brethren. 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other.

277. – After rebuking the Corinthians for brining their lawsuits before unbelieving judges, the Apostle now rebukes them for the judgments themselves. In regard to this he does three things: first, he states how they sinned in regard to judgments; secondly, he clarifies what he had said (v. 9). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he rebukes them in something lawful in regard to judgment, but not expedient; secondly, what is utterly unlawful (v. 8). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he rebukes them; secondly, he rejects an excuse (7b).

278. – First, therefore, he says: It has been stated that brother contends with brother in judgment. It is not only bad that you contend before unbelievers, but after your conversion, it is a defeat for you, i.e., it is regarded as a failing, to have lawsuits at all with one another, between whom there should be peace, because, as it says in 2 Tim (2:24): “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone.”

279. – It appears from this, as a Gloss of Augustine says, that it is a sin to have a lawsuit against anyone; but this seems to be false. For if it is a sin to have a lawsuit, it seems to follow that it is also a sin to appoint judges, since this is tantamount to giving an occasion to those having lawsuits, whereas it says in Dt (1:16): “Hear the cases between your brethren and judge righteously.” For it is answered in a Gloss that the weak are permitted to seek their rights in a lawsuit, but not the perfect, who can lawfully seek their rights but not in a lawsuit. But it should be noted that something is lawful for the perfect and something for all others. The perfect, indeed, do not have anything they can call their own; for it says in Matt (19:21): “If you would be perfect, go see what you possess and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Consequently, it is not lawful for them to seek in a lawsuit anything that can be considered their own, since it is not lawful for them to possess anything as their own, although they may seek common property in a lawsuit. For they do not sin in doing this, but rather they merit. For it is a work of charity to defend or recover the property of the poor, as it says in Ps 82 (v. 4): “Rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” But a lawsuit against anyone is unlawful for four reasons. First, as to its cause on account of which one brings a lawsuit, say from covetousness and greed. Hence Lk (12:13), when someone had said to the Lord: “Bid my brother divide the inheritance with me,” the Lord said: “Who made me judge or divider over you”; then he added “Take heed and beware of covetousness.” Secondly, in regard to the way a lawsuit is conducted, because it is conducted with strife and harm to peace: for as Jas (3:16) says: “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” And this is what the Apostle seems to rebuke them for, as is clear from what he had said above (6:6): “But brother goes to law against brother.” Thirdly, on account of the perversity of the judgment, say when someone proceeds unjustly and fraudulently in a lawsuit, as it says in Is (10:2): “You turn aside the needy from justice and rob the poor of my people of their right.” This, too, the Apostle reprehends in them, as he shows from what he adds: But you yourselves wrong and defraud. Fourthly, on account of the scandal which follows. Hence the Lord commands in Matt (5:40): “If anyone would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well.” But out of charity it is lawful to seek your own in a lawsuit. Hence Gregory in Morals: “When necessity forces us to have charge of things, some are merely to be tolerated, when they demand things, but others to be forestalled, as long as charity is preserved, from snatching what is not theirs and thus destroying themselves.”

280. – Then when he says, Why not rather suffer wrong, he takes away their excuse. For they could say a necessity forces us to have lawsuits in order to resist harm and dishonesty from other men. But he rejects this, saying: Why not rather suffer wrong by enduring it with patience, as the Lord says in Matt (5:31): “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” As to the second he says: Why not rather be defrauded? i.e., suffer the crafty wheedling, for it says in Matt (5:41): “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him another two miles.” But, as Augustine says in The Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, these precepts of the Lord are not always to be observed in the performance of a work, but we should be prepared to obey them, so that we would be always prepared to do this or endure that, rather than do anything against fraternal charity.

281. – Then when he says, But you yourselves, he rebukes them for something altogether illicit. First, he accuses them of obvious injustice, when he says: But you yourselves wrong, namely, by speaking openly against the justice of others either in court or outside: “Do not delight in what pleases the unjust” (Sir 9:12). Secondly, for crafty deception when he says: and defraud: “The counsels of the wicked are treacherous” (Pr 12:5), and that even to your own brethren, i.e., believers to whom you should do good: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (Gal 6:10). Therefore, it is said against some: “Every brother is a supplanter, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer (Jer 9:4).

282. – Then when he says, Do you not know, he clarifies what he had said: first, as to what is altogether unlawful; secondly as to what is unlawful but not expedient (v. 12). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he presents a question; secondly, he answers it (v. 9b).

283. – First, therefore, he says: I have stated that you do wrong and defraud, which is to commit sin, but do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? As if to say: you seem not to know this, as long as you do not give up your sin; whereas it says in Ps 6 (v. 8): “Depart from me all you workers of evil.”

284. – Then when he says, Do not be deceived, he determines the truth: first he shows the impious their danger; secondly he shows how they were snatched from this peril and feared falling into it again (v. 11).

285. – First, therefore, he says: Do not be deceived, which is said with a purpose, because some have been deceived frequently about sinning with impunity, as it says in Wis (2:21): “Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray.” For certain philosophers erred in believing that God does not have charge of human affairs, as it says in Zeph (1:12): “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.” But others, believing that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, according to Jn (11:26): “Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die”; others believing that they will be saved just by Christ’s sacraments, on account of what is said in Mk (16:16): “He that believes and is baptized will be saved,” and Jn (6:55): “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life.” Still others suppose that they can sin with impunity on account of the works of mercy they perform, inasmuch as it says in Lk (11:40): “Give for alms those things which are within you; and behold, everything is clean for you.” But they do not understand that all these things are of no benefit without charity, for it says in 1 Cor (13:2ff): “If I have all faith; if I give away all I have to the poor, and I have not charity, I gain nothing.” Therefore, he continues: sins contrary to charity exclude one from the kingdom of God, which charity alone permits one to enter, saying: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, concerning whom Heb (13:4) says: “God will judge fornicators and adulterers”; nor homosexuals, of which it says in Gen (13:13): “The men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord”; nor the greedy nor thieves, of whom Zech (5:3) says: “Everyone that steals shall be cut off henceforth”; nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. For it says in Is (35:8): “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it”; and in Rev (21:27): “But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor anyone who practices abominations. It should be noted that the vices mentioned here are the same as those mentioned in the previous chapter. But he added some in the category of lust, namely, adultery, and sins against nature, and thievery in the category of injustice.

286. – Then when he says, And such were some of you, he shows how they escaped from the above-mentioned danger. First, he reminds them of their past state, saying: And such were some of you, namely, fornicators and idolaters, etc. He makes particular mention of these vices, because they abounded in them, as it says in Eph. (5:8): “For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.”

287. – Secondly, he shows how they were freed of them inwardly, saying: But you were washed by the power of Christ’s blood in baptism, as it says in Rev (1:5): “He freed us from our sins in his blood.” You were sanctified by the power of Christ’s blood and consecrated in grace, as it says in Heb (3:12): “So Jesus also suffered outside the gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood”; you were justified, i.e., raised to the state of justice, according to Rom (8:30): “Those whom he called he also justified.”

288. – Then he mentions the cause of these blessings: first, on the part of the humanity of Christ when he says: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., in believing and calling on that name, as it says in Acts (4:12): “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which they must be saved.” Secondly, on the part of the divinity when he adds: and in the Spirit of our God, as it says in Ez (37:3): “Behold, I shall cause breath to enter you and you shall live.” Therefore, since you have been freed by such great power, you should not return to the same former ways.

289. – Then when he says, all things are lawful, he clarifies what he had said about forbidding lawsuits, and shows in what sense he rejects them, namely, he does not reject them as altogether unlawful, but as not expedient and as harmful. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states his proposition; secondly, he assigns a reason (v. 13).

290. – First, he states that what he rejects is lawful but not expedient, saying, All things are lawful for me. Now those things are lawful which a man is not forbidden to do. But prohibitions are of two kinds: one is by force and the other by precept. According to this, some have understood that something is lawful from which they are not prohibited by any necessitating force; because man’s decision is naturally free of force, they understand the Apostle to mean it in that sense when he said: All things are lawful to me, namely, that all things are subject to man’s free choice, be they good or evil, according to what is said in Sir (15:17): “Before a man is life and death; which he chooses will be given to him.” But this way of speaking is alien to sacred scripture, in which it says that things forbidden by the divine law are not lawful, as in Matt (14:4): “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Consequently, what the Apostle says here, that all things are lawful for me, must not be understood absolutely but in this sense: all things are lawful to me which are not forbidden by the divine law.

291. – This can be referred to three things: first, to what he had said about lawsuits, namely, that it is lawful for anyone to obtain his property through lawsuits, since it is not forbidden by divine law. Secondly, it can be referred to what he will say below (8:8) about indiscriminate use of food, so that the sense would be: it is lawful for me to eat all foods according to Titus (1:15): “To the clean all things are clean.” Thirdly, it can be referred to what he will say below (9:4) about taking food and drink, so that the sense is this: all things are lawful for me, namely, to take what is necessary for life, just as it is for my co-apostles.

292. – But he adds, not all things are expedient. That is said to be expedient, which is without a hindrance to attaining an end. Now it happens that something does not entirely exclude the end, but it offers some hindrance, as marriage does not exclude a person from the kingdom of God, but it offers a hindrance, namely, because as it says below (7:34): “The married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband.” So fornication is neither lawful nor expedient, because it totally excludes one from the end, which is eternal life; but marriage is lawful but not expedient. Therefore, according to this mode, to get back one’s own in a lawsuit or to use all foods without distinction or to take one’s food from those to whom he preaches are all lawful, because they are not against justice or forbidden by any law; yet it is not expedient, either because peace towards one’s neighbor is endangered, or scandal of the weak is produced, or an occasion for reviling is offered: “Not everything is good for everyone” (Sir 37:28).

293. – In another way it can be understood not absolutely but conditionally, so that the sense is this: I have said that neither idolaters nor fornicators, etc. shall possess the kingdom of God. Therefore they are not lawful, because they exclude the end; but if all things were licit for me, not all are expedient, because they pose a hindrance to eternal life. Hence in the person of the wicked it says in Wis (5:7): “We took our fill of the power of lawlessness and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts.”

294. – Secondly, he shows that what he rejected above is harmful, saying: All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by any, namely, man. For one who uses something not expedient, whether it be lawful or unlawful, is somehow put under the power of that man or thing. Of a thing, indeed, because one who loves a thing too much is made its slave, as it says in Rom (16:18): “Such persons do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites.” But of a man, because as long as one does something not expedient, he is in thrall to the judgment of others; and particularly one who tries to get back his own in a lawsuit is under the power of the judge: “Why should my liberty be determined by another man’s conscience” (1 Cor 10:29).

295. – Then when he says, Food is meant for the stomach, he assigns a reason for what he has said. First, why all things are lawful, saying, Food is meant for the stomach, in order, namely that after the stomach has done its work, it may nourish the entire body; and the stomach for food, i.e., it serves to receive food and work on it. Therefore, since by God’s ordinance the stomach is desirous of receiving food, and food was made to be put in the stomach: “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food” (Gen 1:29), it is not unlawful for a man to get property back, or a preacher to get wages for necessary food, or even that a man eat all foods without distinction.

296. – Secondly, when he says, and God will destroy both, he gives the reason why all things are not expedient. For it is not expedient that a person suffer a loss in that which is never corrupted, namely, the heavenly kingdom, for the sake of something corrupted; and this happens in regard to food and stomach. After this life the use of good and of the stomach will cease, because the bodies of those who rise will be conserved without food by God’s power. And that is what he says: God will destroy, i.e. will make cease this, namely, the stomach, not as to its essence but as to its effect which it has now, and these, namely, foods, so far as they pertain to man’s use, because in the resurrection men will be as the angels in heaven, as it says in Matt (22:30).

 

6-3

            1 Cor 6:13b-20

13b The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two shall become one.” 17 But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

297. – After rebuking the Corinthians about lawsuits, the Apostle now returns to reprehending the sin of fornication, which he mentioned above in (5:11) and in the judgment of which the Corinthians had been negligent. He condemns fornication for four reasons: the first of which is taken from God’s ordinance; secondly, from one’s union with Christ (v. 16); thirdly, from bodily defilement (v. 18); fourthly, from the dignity of grace (v. 19). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he presents God’s ordinance; secondly, the end of the ordinance (v. 14).

298. – In regard to the first it should be noted that some take their argument for lascivious conduct from God’s ordinance. For those who fornicate use their body for a use established by God. But he excludes this, saying that food is ordained to the stomach and the stomach to food, but man’s body in not meant for fornication but for the Lord, i.e., it had been ordained to this, namely, that it be for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord for the body, i.e., Jesus Christ was given to man in order that human bodies be conformed to His glory, as it says in Phil (3:21): “He will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body.”

299. – But against this seems to be the fact that just as the stomach is ordained to the use of food, so certain members of the human body are ordained by God to be used for generation, i.e., the members by which fornication is performed. But attention must be paid to the difference between the two. First, the Apostle spoke above about one member of the body, namely, the stomach, but here he is speaking about the entire body, which is not ordained to fornication any more than it is ordained to eating food; rather, food is used for the benefit of the body and the body exists for the sake of the soul, from which it receives life according to its condition. And because all things are ordered to God as to an end, the body should be subjected to the Lord and dedicated to Him. And because he spoke above about the eating of food in general terms without disorder, but fornication is a disordered use of the member used in fornication. Hence, the members exist not for fornication, but for generation ordained by reason, which the members of the body should serve, just as even the stomach is not for gluttony and drunkenness, but for the proper use of food.

300. – Then when he says, and God raised the Lord, he indicates the end of the above-mentioned ordination. First, he indicates what God had done in regard to the Lord, saying: And God raised the Lord, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead, from whom Christ Himself petitions in Ps. 41 (v. 10): “Do thou, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up.” But God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; hence Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, also raised Himself and arose by His own power, as it says in Ps. 3 (v. 5): “I will lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me,” and in 2 Cor (13:4): “He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God.” Secondly, he indicates what he will do in regard to his saying: God will also raise us up by his power, by which He also raised up Christ, as it says in Rom (8:11): “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies.”

301. – It should be noted that when speaking above about food and stomach, which pertain to the use of animal life, he said that they would be destroyed by God; but now, speaking of the body and of the Lord, he makes mention of the resurrection, because when animal life ceases, the nature of the body will be transformed into something better. Hence it is clear that the body should not be used for fornication, which impedes future incorruption according to Gal (6:8): “He who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.”

302. – Then when he says, Do you not know, he presents a second reason, which is taken from the human body’s affinity to Christ, namely: the fornicating man’s members are the prostitute’s members, but a man’s members are Christ’s members. Therefore, by fornicating, Christ’s members become the prostitute’s members, which is unbecoming. In regard to this he does four things: first, he presents the major, saying: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? As if to say: you should not be unaware of this, because all of you reborn in Christ have become members of Christ, as it says below (12:27): “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it,” and this not only as to souls justified by him but also as to bodies, which will be raised up by him, as has been stated.

303. – Secondly, he presents the conclusion, saying: Shall I take the members of Christ, i.e., remove them from the service of Christ to whom they should be dedicated, as it says in Rom (6:13): “Yield your members to God as instruments of righteousness”, and make them be members of a prostitute by fornicating? Never! For this is a horrible sacrilege. Hence it says in Mal (2:11): “Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which he loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god.”

304. – Thirdly he presents the minor, saying: Do you not know that he who joins his body to a prostitute, namely, by fornicating, becomes one body with her? Namely, by an unclean union. To prove this he appeals to the authority of Genesis, saying, For it is written, namely in Gen (2:24), the two, namely man and woman, become one flesh, i.e., by the carnal union they are made one flesh, and so the members of one become the other’s members. For these are Adam’s words about husband and wife, which the Apostle here relates to fornication, because there is no specific difference between the two acts. But it should be noted that, as the Philosopher says in the book, On the Generation of Animals, the active principle of generation is in the male, and the passive in the female. And just as in a plant whose life is ordained chiefly to generation, there is always one body in which both principles are united, so in animals, which are ordained to higher acts of life, there is not always one body with these two principles, but one is made from two in the act of generation. In the case of humans, it is not only the man’s body, because as it says below (7:14): “The husband does not have rule over his own body, but the wife has.”

305. – Secondly he proves the minor saying: But he who is united to the Lord, namely, by faith and charity, is one spirit with him, namely, because he is united to Him in a spiritual, not a bodily, unity. Hence it says in Rom (8:9): “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him,” and in Jn (17:21): “That they may be one in us, as we are one,” namely by a connection of the Spirit. And because the body serves the spirit, it follows that our bodies too are members of Him to whom we are united by the Spirit, not of course, by a bodily but by a spiritual union. From the two reasons given above one reason can be formed, namely, that because our body is not destined for fornication but for the Lord in such a way that our members are Christ’s members, as he explains later, we should not make them members of a prostitute by fornicating.

306. – Then when he says, Flee fornication, he presents a third reason, which is taken from the body’s contamination. First, he presents the conclusion, saying, Flee fornication. Here it should be noted that other vices are overcome by resisting, because the more a man considers and deals with particulars, the less will he find in them anything in which to take delight, but more to be cautious about. But the vice of fornication is not overcome by resisting, because the more a man considers the particular case the more is he inflamed; but it is overcome by fleeing, i.e., by avoiding entirely all unclean thoughts and all occasions whatsoever, for it says in Zech (2:6): “Flee from the land of the north.”

307. – Secondly he assigns the reason, saying: Every other sin a man commits is outside the body. To understand this is should be noted that some sins do not end in carnal delight, but only in spiritual, and are then called spiritual sins; for example, pride, greed and spiritual apathy. But fornication is entirely completed in carnal delight. According to this it could be understood what is said here: Every other sin a man commits is outside the body, namely, because it is completed outside the pleasure of the body. But the fornicator sins against his own body, namely, because the sin is completed in the flesh.

308. – But the fact that the sin of gluttony is terminated in bodily pleasure seems to be contrary to the above explanation. A possible answer might be that the sin of gluttony is contained under lust, inasmuch as it is ordained to it, as it says in Eph (5:8): “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.” But it is better to say that the Apostle is not saying that whoever fornicates sins with his own body, which would agree with the first explanation, but he sins against his own body by corrupting and contaminating it beyond the bounds of reason. Hence it says in Rev (3:4): “You still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments,” and in Rev (14:14): “It is these who have not defiled themselves with women.” Or in another way according to Augustine: “Whoever fornicates sins against his own body, because his soul is totally subjected to the flesh in that act, so that it cannot at that time think of anything else.” “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding” (Ps. 32:9). Or in another way: he sins against his own body, i.e., against his wife, who is called the husband’s body, against whom other sins are not as directly opposed as the husband’s fornication. Hence it says in 1 Thess (4:4): “That each one of you know how to take a wife for himself in holiness and honor.” Or again according to Augustine, it can be understood of spiritual fornication through which the soul clings through love to the world and recedes from God: “Those who are far from you shall perish” (Ps. 73:27). The sense, therefore, is that whoever fornicates and recedes from God for love of the world sins against his own body, i.e., by bodily desire. But every other sin, for example, which one commits from forgetfulness or ignorance or negligence, is outside the body, i.e., outside of bodily desire.

309. – Then when he says, Do you not know, he presents the fourth reason, which is taken from the dignity of grace, which arises from two sources, namely, from the grace of the Holy Spirit and from the redemption of Christ’s blood. In regard to this he does three things: first, he declares the dignity of our body, which it has from the grace of the Holy Spirit, saying: Do you not know, as though you should not be unaware of it, that your body, namely, bodily, is a temple of the Holy Spirit, just as he said above (3:16): “Do you not know that you are God’s temple?” Then he assigns a reason for this, saying: who is within you. God’s house is called a temple. Therefore, because the Holy Spirit is God, it is correct to say that anyone in whom the Holy Spirit exists is called a temple of God. But the Holy Spirit is chiefly in the heart of men, in whom the love of God is poured out by the Holy Spirit, as it says in Rom (5:5). But secondarily, He is also in the bodily members, inasmuch as they perform acts of charity. Hence is says in Ps 84 (v. 2): “My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.” But lest they ascribe this dignity to themselves, he adds: which you have from God and not from yourselves. Hence Jl (2:28): “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.”

310. – Secondly, he mentions the dignity our bodies have from the redemption of Christ, saying: You are not your own but Jesus Christ’s, as it says in Rom (14:8): “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”; “Those who live no longer live for themselves” (2 Cor 5:15). He assigns the reason for this when he says: You were bought with a great price; therefore, you are slaves of Him who has redeemed you from the slavery of sin; hence it says below (7:22): “For he who was called in the Lord as a freedman is a slave of the Lord”; and in Ps 31 (v. 5): “You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.” The price of redemption is called great, because it is not corruptible, but has everlasting power, since it is the blood of the everlasting God. Hence it says in 1 Pet (1:18): “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.”

311. – Thirdly, he draws the intended conclusion, saying: So glorify and carry God in you body. For since your members are a temple of God, nothing should appear in your body except what pertains to God’s glory: and this is to glorify God in your body, because it says in Ps 29 (v. 9): “In his temple all cry, ‘Glory’”; and again, “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Ex. 40:34). Furthermore, because you are not your own, but you are slaves of God, you should carry God as a horse or other animal carries it lord. Hence it says in Ps. 73 (v. 23): “I was like a beast towards you.” Our body carries the Lord, inasmuch as it is deputed to a divine ministry. Thus, therefore, a man should avoid sinning against his own body by fornicating, which is against the glory of God and against the ministry our body owes to God.