[6161] Matt. xxii. 17.
[6162] 1 Pet. iii. 7.
[6163] Gal. vi. 2.
[6164] Matt. xix. 4-6.
[6165] Matt. xix. 6.
[6166] Gen. i. 27.
[6167] Gen. ii. 24.
[6168] Matt. xix. 6.
[6169] Gen. iii. 16.
[6170] 1 Cor. vi. 17.
[6171] Or, by God the woman is married to the man.
[6172] 1 Cor. vii. 7.
[6173] Eph. v. 25.
[6174] Matt. xix. 6.
[6175] 1 Tim. iv. 1-3.
17. Union of Christ and the Church.
But since the Apostle understands the words, "And they twain shall be one flesh," [6176] of Christ and the church, [6177] we must say that Christ keeping the saying, "What God hath joined together let not man put asunder," [6178] did not put away His former wife, so to speak--that is, the former synagogue--for any other cause than that that wife committed fornication, being made an adulteress by the evil one, and along with him plotted against her husband and slew Him, saying, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, crucify Him, crucify Him." [6179] It was she therefore who herself revolted, rather than her husband who put her away and dismissed her; wherefore, reproaching her for falling away from him, it says in Isaiah, "Of what kind is the bill of your mother's divorcement, with which I sent her away?" [6180] And He who at the beginning created Him "who is in the form of God" after the image, made Him male, and the church female, granting to both oneness after the image. And, for the sake of the church, the Lord--the husband--left the Father whom He saw when He was "in the form of God," [6181] left also His mother, as He was the very son of the Jerusalem which is above, and was joined to His wife who had fallen down here, and these two here became one flesh. For because of her, He Himself also became flesh, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," [6182] and they are no more two, but now they are one flesh, since it is said to the wife, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members each in his part;" [6183] for the body of Christ is not something apart different from the church, which is His body, and from the members each in his part. And God has joined together these who are not two, but have become one flesh, commanding that men should not separate the church from the Lord. And he who takes heed for himself so as not to be separated, is confident as one who will not possibly be separated and says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" [6184] Here, therefore, the saying, "What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," [6185] was written with relation to the Pharisees, but to those who are superior to the Pharisees, it could be said, "What then God hath joined together, let nothing put asunder," neither principality nor power; for God, who has joined together is stronger than all those which any one could conceive and name.
[6176] Matt. xix. 5.
[6177] Eph. v. 31, 32.
[6178] Matt. xix. 6.
[6179] John xix. 6, 15; Luke xxiii. 18.
[6180] Isa. l. 1.
[6181] Phil. ii. 6.
[6182] John i. 14.
[6183] 1 Cor. xii. 27.
[6184] Rom. viii. 35.
[6185] Matt. xix. 6.
18. The Bill of Divorcement.
After this we will discuss the saying of the Pharisees which they said to Jesus, "Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement and put her away?" [6186] And with good reason we will bring forward for this purpose the passage from Deuteronomy concerning the bill of divorcement, which is as follows: "But if a man taketh a wife and cohabit with her, and it shall be, if she do not find favour in his sight because he hath found in her a thing unseemly," etc., down to the words, "and ye shall not pollute the land which the Lord your God giveth you for an inheritance." [6187] Now I inquire whether in these things according to this law, we are to seek nothing in it beyond the letter seeing that God has not given it, or whether to the Pharisees who quoted the saying, "Moses commanded to give a bill of divorcement and put her away," it was of necessity said, "Moses, for your hardness of heart, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it hath not been so." [6188] But if any one ascends to the Gospel of Christ Jesus which teaches that the law is spiritual, he will seek also the spiritual understanding of this law. And he who wishes to interpret these things figuratively will say that, just as it was said by Paul confident in the grace which he had, "A wife is bound for so long time as her husband liveth, but if the husband be dead she is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord; but she is happier if she abide as she is, after my judgment, and I think that I also have the Spirit of God" [6189] (for here to the words, "after my judgment," lest it should be despised as being without the Spirit of God, he well added, "and I think that I also have the Spirit of God)," so also it would be possible for Moses, by reason of the power given to him to make laws, to the effect that he suffered for the hardness of heart of the people certain things, among which was the putting away of wives, to be persuaded in regard to the laws which he promulgated according to his own judgment, that in these also the legislation took place with the Spirit of God. And he will say that, unless one law is spiritual and another is not such, this is a law, and this is spiritual, and its spiritual significance ought to be investigated.
[6186] Matt. xix. 7.
[6187] Deut. xxiv. 1-4.
[6188] Matt. xix. 8.
[6189] 1 Cor. vii. 39, 40.
19. The Divorce of Israel.
Now, keeping in mind what we said above in regard to the passage from Isaiah about the bill of divorcement, we will say that the mother of the people separated herself from Christ, her husband, without having received the bill of divorcement, but afterwards when there was found in her an unseemly thing, and she did not find favour in his sight, the bill of divorcement was written out for her; for when the new covenant called those of the Gentiles to the house of Him who had cast away his former wife, it virtually gave the bill of divorcement to her who formerly separated from her husband--the law, and the Word. Therefore he, also, having separated from her, married, so to speak, another, having given into the hands of the former the bill of divorcement; wherefore they can no longer do the things enjoined on them by the law, because of the bill of divorcement. And a sign that she has received the bill of divorcement is this, that Jerusalem was destroyed along with what they called the sanctuary of the things in it which were believed to be holy, and with the altar of burnt offerings, and all the worship associated with it. And a further sign of the bill of divorcement is this, that they cannot keep their feasts, even though according to the letter of the law designedly commanded them, in the place which the Lord God appointed to them for keeping feasts; but there is this also, that the whole synagogue has become unable to stone those who have committed this or that sin; and thousands of things commanded are a sign of the bill of divorcement; and the fact that "there is no more a prophet," and that they say, "We no longer see signs;" [6190] for the Lord says, "He hath taken away from Judæa and from Jerusalem," according to the word of Isaiah, "Him that is mighty, and her that is mighty, a powerful giant," etc., down to the words, "a prudent hearer." [6191] Now, He who is the Christ may have taken the synagogue to wife and cohabited with her, but it may be that afterwards she found not favour in His sight; and the reason of her not having found favour in His sight was, that there was found in her an unseemly thing; for what was more unseemly than the circumstance that, when it was proposed to them to release one at the feast, they asked for the release of Barabbas the robber, and the condemnation of Jesus? [6192] And what was more unseemly than the fact, that they all said in His case, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," and "Away with such a fellow from the earth"? [6193] And can this be freed from the charge of unseemliness, "His blood be upon us, and upon our children"? [6194] Wherefore, when He was avenged, Jerusalem was compassed with armies, and its desolation was near, [6195] and their house was taken away from it, and "the daughter of Zion was left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and as a besieged city." [6196] And, about the same time, I think, the husband wrote out a bill of divorcement to his former wife, and gave it into her hands, and sent her away from his own house, and the bond of her who came from the Gentiles has been cancelled about which the Apostle says, "Having blotted out the bond written in ordinances, which was contrary to us, and He hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;" [6197] for Paul also and others became proselytes of Israel for her who came from the Gentiles. [6198] The first wife, accordingly, not having found favour before her husband, because in her had been found an unseemly thing, went out from the dwelling of her husband, and, going away, has become joined to another man, to whom she has subjected herself, whether we should call the husband Barabbas the robber, who is figuratively the devil, or some evil power. And in the case of some of that synagogue there has happened the former thing which was written in the law, but in the case of others, that which was second. For the last husband [6199] hated his wife and will write out for her some day at the consummation of things a bill of divorcement, when God so orders it, and will give it into her hands and will send her away from his dwelling; for as the good God will put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, [6200] so will He order it that the last husband shall hate her.
[6190] Ps. lxxiv. 9.
[6191] Isa. iii. 1-3.
[6192] Matt. xxvii. 21.
[6193] John xix. 15.
[6194] Matt. xxvii. 25.
[6195] Luke xxi. 20.
[6196] Isa. i. 8.
[6197] Col. ii. 14.
[6198] The text is corrupt.
[6199] Deut. xxiv. 3.
[6200] Gen. iii. 15.
20. Christ and the Gentiles.
Now there are those in whose case it has happened that the man dwells with them without having hated them, because they abide in the house of the last husband, who took to himself their synagogue as wife. But also in their case the latter husband dies, [6201] perhaps whenever the last enemy of Christ, death, is destroyed. But whichever of these things may happen, whether the former or the latter to the wife, the former husband, it says, who sent her away, will not he able to turn back and take her to be a wife to himself after she has been defiled, since "it is abomination," it says, "before the Lord thy God." [6202] But these things will not seem to be consistent with this, "If the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, all Israel shall be saved." [6203] But consider if it can be said to this, that, if she shall be saved by her former husband returning and taking her to himself as wife, she will in any case be saved after she has been polluted. A priest, then, will not take to himself as a wife one who has been a harlot and an outcast, [6204] but no other, as being inferior to the priest, is hindered from doing so. But if you seek for the harlot in regard to the calling of the Gentiles, you may use the passage, "Take to yourself a wife of fornication, and children of fornication," [6205] etc.; for, as "the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless," [6206] so he who, casting out his former wife, takes in due season "a wife of fornication," having done it according to the command of Him who says, when it is necessary, and so long as it was necessary, "He shall not take a harlot to wife," and, when it was reasonable, He says, "Take to yourself a wife of fornication." For as the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath, [6207] and not the slave of the sabbath as the people are, so He who gives the law has power to give it "until a time of reformation," [6208] and to change the law, and, when the time of the reformation is at hand, also to give after the former way and after the former heart another way and another heart, "in an acceptable time, and in a day of salvation." [6209] And let these things be said according to our interpretation of the law in regard to the bill of divorcement.