82. Voluntary Continence Derives From a
Counsel, Not From a Command
By Pope John Paul II
1. Having
analyzed Christ's words reported in Matthew's Gospel (Mt 19:10-12), it is now
fitting to pass on to Paul's treatment of virginity and marriage.
Christ's statement about continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is
concise and fundamental. In Paul's teaching, as we will soon be convinced, we
can distinguish a correlating of the words of the Master. However, the
significance of his statement (1 Cor 7) taken as a whole is assessed in a
different way. The greatness of Paul's teaching consists in the fact that in
presenting the truth proclaimed by Christ in all its authenticity and identity,
he gives it a stamp of his own. In a certain sense it is his own personal
interpretation, but it is drawn primarily from the experiences of his apostolic
missionary activity, and perhaps directly from the necessity to answer the
concrete questions of those to whom this activity was directed. So in Paul we
encounter the question of the mutual relationship between marriage and celibacy
or virginity. This subject troubled the minds of the first generation of
Christ's confessors, the generation of disciples, of apostles, of the first
Christian communities. This happened through the converts from hellenism,
therefore from paganism, more than through the converts from Judaism. And this
can explain the fact that the subject appears precisely in a letter addressed to
the community in Corinth.
2. The tone of the whole statement is without doubt a magisterial one. However,
the tone as well as the language is also pastoral. Paul teaches the doctrine
handed down by the Master to the apostles. At the same time he engages in a
continuous conversation on the subject in question with the recipients of his
letter. He speaks as a classical teacher of morality, facing and resolving
problems of conscience. Therefore moralists love to turn preferably to the
explanations and resolutions of this first letter to the Corinthians (chapter
7). However it is necessary to remember that the ultimate basis for those
resolutions is sought in the life and teaching of Christ himself.
3. The Apostle emphasizes with great clarity that virginity, or voluntary
continence, derives exclusively from a counsel and not from a commandment: "With
regard to virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my opinion." Paul
gives this opinion "as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord and merits your
trust" (1 Cor 7:25). As is seen from the words quoted, the Apostle, just as the
Gospel (cf. Mt 19:11-12), distinguishes between counsel and commandment. On the
basis of the doctrinal rule of understanding proclaimed teaching, he wants to
counsel. He wishes to give his personal opinions to those who turned to him. So
in First Corinthians (chapter 7), the counsel clearly has two different
meanings. The author states that virginity is a counsel and not a commandment.
At the same time he gives his opinions to persons already married and also to
those who still must make a decision in this regard, and finally to those who
have been widowed. The problem is substantially the same as the one which we
meet in the whole statement of Christ reported by Matthew (19:2-12): first on
marriage and its indissolubility, and then on voluntary continence for the sake
of the kingdom of heaven. Nevertheless, the style of this problem is totally his
own. It is Paul's.
4. "If however someone thinks he is not behaving properly with regard to his
betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he
wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry! But whoever is firmly established in
his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has
determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. So
then, he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage
does better" (1 Cor 7:36-38).
5. The one who had sought advice could have been a young man who found himself
faced with the decision to take a wife, or perhaps a newlywed who in the face of
the current asceticism existing in Corinth was reflecting on the direction to
give to his marriage. It could have even been a father, or the guardian of a
girl, who had posed the question of her marriage. In any case, it would deal
directly with the decision that derives from their rights as guardians. Paul is
writing at a time when decisions in general belonged more to parents and
guardians than to the young people themselves. Therefore, in answering in this
way the question that was addressed to him, he tried to explain very precisely
that the decision about continence, that is, about the life of virginity, must
be voluntary, and that only such continence is better than marriage. The
expressions, "he does well," "he does better," are completely univocal in this
context.
6. So then the Apostle teaches that virginity, or voluntary continence, the
young woman's abstention from marriage, derives exclusively from a counsel, and
given the appropriate circumstances, it is better than marriage. The question of
sin does not enter in any way. "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free.
Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage. But if you marry, you do not
sin, and if a girl marries, she does not sin" (1 Cor 7:27-28). Solely on the
basis of these words, we certainly cannot make judgments on what the Apostle was
thinking or teaching about marriage. This subject will indeed be partially
explained in the context of First Corinthians (chapter 7) and more fully in
Ephesians (Eph 5:21-33). In our case, he is probably dealing with the answer to
the question of whether marriage is a sin. One could also think that in such a
question there might be some influence from dualistic pro-gnostic currents,
which later become encratism and Manichaeism. Paul answers that the question of
sin absolutely does not enter into play here. It is not a question of the
difference between good and evil, but only between good and better. He later
goes on to justify why one who chooses marriage will do well and one who chooses
virginity, or voluntary continence, will do better.
We will treat of Paul's argumentation in our next reflection.