{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/103/1030569.htm","path":"chr/ecf/103/1030569.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/103/1030569.htm","text":"15. After that the same Apostle adds, and says, \u201cThou art bound to a wife, seek not loosening: thou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife.\u201d 2050 Of these two, that, which be set first, pertains unto command, against which it is not lawful to do. For it is not lawful to put away a wife, save because of fornication, 2051 as the Lord Himself saith in the Gospel. But that, which he added, \u201cThou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife,\u201d is a sentence of counsel, not of command; therefore it is lawful to do, but it is better not to do. Lastly, he added straightway, \u201cBoth if thou shalt have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not.\u201d 2052 But, after that former saying of his, \u201cThou art bound to a wife, seek not loosening,\u201d he added not, did he, \u201cAnd if thou shalt have loosed, thou hast not sinned?\u201d For he had already said above, \u201cBut to these, who are in marriage, I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from her husband: but, if she shall have departed, that she remain unmarried, or be reconciled unto her own husband;\u201d for it may come to pass that she depart, not through any fault of her own, but of her husband. Then he saith, \u201cAnd let not the man put away his wife,\u201d which, nevertheless, he set down of command of the Lord: nor did he then add, And, if he shall have put her away, he sinneth not. For this is a command, not to obey which is sin: not a counsel, which if you shall be unwilling to use, you will obtain less good, not do any ill. On this account, after he had said, \u201cThou art loosed from a wife, seek not a wife;\u201d because he was not giving command, in order that there be not evil done, but was giving counsel, in order that there be done what is better: straightway he added, \u201cBoth, if thou shall have taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and, if a virgin shall have been married, she sinneth not.\u201d\n1 Cor. 7:10, 111 Cor. 7:10, 11","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III: Moral Treatises...","type":"page"}