Chapter VI.--Divinity of Virginity.
The womb of a holy virgin [338] carried our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and the body which our Lord wore, and in which He carried on the conflict in this world, He put on from a holy virgin. From this, therefore, understand the greatness and dignity of virginity. Dost thou wish to be a Christian? Imitate Christ in everything. John, the ambassador, he who came before our Lord, he "than whom there was not a greater among those born of women," [339] the holy messenger of our Lord, was a virgin. Imitate, therefore, the ambassador of our Lord, and be his follower [340] in every thing. That John, again, who "reclined on the bosom of our Lord, and whom He greatly loved," [341] --he, too, was a holy person. [342] For it was not without reason that our Lord loved him. Paul, also, and Barnabas, and Timothy, with all the others, "whose names are written in the book of life," [343] --these, I say, all cherished and loved sanctity, [344] and ran in the contest, and finished their course without blemish, as imitators of Christ, and as sons of the living God. Moreover, also, Elijah and Elisha, and many other holy men, we find to have lived a holy [345] and spotless life. If, therefore, thou desirest to be like these, imitate them with all thy power. For the Scripture has said, "The elders who are among you, honour; and, seeing their manner of life and conduct, imitate their faith." [346] And again it saith, "Imitate me, my brethren, as I imitate Christ." [347]
[338] Or "the Holy Virgin."
[339] Matt. xi. 11.
[340] Lit. "lover," or "friend."
[341] John xxi. 20.
[342] i.e., a virgin.
[343] Phil. iv. 3.
[344] i.e., virginity.
[345] i.e., celibate, or chaste.
[346] Heb. xiii. 7.
[347] 1 Cor. xi. 1.
Chapter VII.--The True Virgin.
Those, therefore, who imitate Christ, imitate Him earnestly. For those who have "put on Christ" [348] in truth, express His likeness in their thoughts, and in their whole life, and in all their behaviour: in word, and in deeds, and in patience, and in fortitude, and in knowledge, and in chastity, and in long-suffering, and in a pure heart, and in faith, and in hope, and in full and perfect love towards God. No virgin, therefore, unless they be in everything as Christ, and as those "who are Christs," [349] can be saved. For every virgin who is in God is holy in her body and in her spirit, and is constant in the service of her Lord, not turning away from it any whither, but waiting upon Him always in purity and holiness in the Spirit of God, being "solicitous how she may please her Lord," [350] by living purely and without stain, and solicitous to be pleasing before Him in every thing. She who is such does not withdraw from our Lord, but in spirit is ever with her Lord: as it is written, "Be ye holy, as I am holy, saith the Lord." [351]
[348] Rom. xiii. 14.
[349] Gal. v. 24.
[350] 1 Cor. vii. 32.
[351] 1 Pet. i. 15 (cf. Lev. xi. 44).
Chapter VIII.--Virgins, by the Laying Aside of All Carnal Affection, are Imitators of God.
For, if a man be only in name called holy, he is not holy; but he must be holy in everything: in his body and in his spirit. And those who are virgins rejoice at all times in becoming like God and His Christ, and are imitators of them. For in those that are such there is not "the mind [352] of the flesh." In those who are truly believers, and "in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells" [353] --in them "the mind of the flesh" cannot be: which is fornication, uncleanness, wantonness; idolatry, [354] sorcery; enmity, jealousy, rivalry, wrath, disputes, dissensions, ill-will; drunkenness, revelry; buffoonery, foolish talking, boisterous laughter; backbiting, insinuations; bitterness, rage; clamour, abuse, insolence of speech; malice, inventing of evil, falsehood; talkativeness, [355] babbling; [356] threatenings, gnashing of teeth, readiness to accuse, [357] jarring, [358] disdainings, blows; perversions of the right, [359] laxness in judgment; haughtiness, arrogance, ostentation, pompousness, boasting of family, of beauty, of position, of wealth, of an arm of flesh; [360] quarrelsomeness, injustice, [361] eagerness for victory; hatred, anger, envy, perfidy, retaliation; [362] debauchery, gluttony, "overreaching (which is idolatry)," [363] "the love of money (which is the root of all evils);" [364] love of display, vainglory, love of rule, assumption, pride (which is called death, and which "God fights against"). [365] Every man with whom are these and such like things--every such man is of the flesh. For, "he that is born of the flesh is flesh; and he that is of the earth speaketh of the earth," [366] and his thoughts are of the earth. And "the mind of the flesh is enmity towards God. For it does not submit itself to the law of God; for it cannot do so," [367] because it is in the flesh, "in which dwells no good," [368] because the Spirit of God is not in it. For this cause justly does the Scripture say regarding such a generation as this: "My Spirit shall not dwell in men for ever, because they are flesh." [369] "Whosoever, therefore, has not the Spirit of God in him, is none of His:" [370] as it is written, "The Spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him, which was sent upon him from God." [371]
[352] Rom. viii. 6 (phronema).
[353] Rom. viii. 9.
[354] Lit. "the worship of idols." The single word *** sometimes used to express "idolatry" (as in Eph. Syr., opp. tom. i. p. 116), is not found in these epistles.
[355] Lit. "much talking."
[356] Lit. "empty words."
[357] The word thus rendered is not in the lexicons, but is well illustrated by Isa. xxix. 21 ("that make a man an offender"), where the Hiphil of cht' is used, corresponding to the Aphel of the same root, from which the present word is derived.
[358] The word is used in the Peschito of 1 Tim. vi. 5, to express diaparatribai ("incessant quarrellings," Alf.); [R.V., "wranglings."--R.].
[359] Ex. Conject. Beelen. The word is not in the lexicons.
[360] Or "power."
[361] Lit. "folly;" but so used in 2 Cor. xii. 13.
[362] Or "returning of evils."
[363] Col. iii. 5.
[364] 1 Tim. vi. 10.
[365] 1 Pet. v. 5; Jas. iv. 6.
[366] John iii. 6, 31.
[367] Rom. viii. 7.
[368] Rom. vii. 18.
[369] Gen. vi. 3. [This is an example of the vicious method of interpretation, not yet extirpated, which carries Paul's distinctive use of the term "flesh" back to the Pentateuch, where no ethical sense is necessarily implied.--R.]
[370] Rom. vii. 9. [The Apostle speaks of "the Spirit of Christ."--R.]
[371] 1 Sam. xvi. 14.