1 Corinthians 7:5

2. And not only so, but the Lord also showed that certain precepts were enacted for them by Moses, on account of their hardness [of heart], and because of their unwillingness to be obedient, when, on their saying to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorcement, and to send away a wife?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he permitted these things to you; but from the beginning it was not so;” thus exculpating Moses as a faithful servant, but acknowledging one God, who from the beginning made male and female, and reproving them as hard-hearted and disobedient. And therefore it was that they received from Moses this law of divorcement, adapted to their hard nature. …

In his treatise, Concerning Perfection according to the Saviour , he writes, “Consent indeed fits for prayer, but fellowship in corruption weakens supplication. At any rate, by the permission he certainly, though delicately, forbids; for while he permits them to return to the same on account of Satan and incontinence, he exhibits a man who will attempt to serve two masters, God by the ‘consent’ ( 1 Cor. 7:5 ), but by want of consent, incontinence, fornication, and the devil.”, Clem. Alex. : Strom. , iii. c. 12.

Si resurrectionem itaque receperint, ut ipsi dienut, et ideo matrimonium infirmant et abrogant; nec comedant, nec bibant: “destrui” enim “ventrem et cibos,” dicit Apostolus in resurrectione. Quomodo ergo esuriunt, et sitiunt, et camis patiuntur affectiones, et alia, quæ non patietur, qui per Christum accepit perfectam, quæ speratur, resurrectionem? Quin etiam ii, qui colunt idola, a cibis et venere abstinent. “Non est” autem, inquit, “regnum Dei cibus est potus.” Certe magis quoque curæ est, qui angelos colunt et dæmones, simul a vino et animatis et rebus abstinere venereis. Quemadmodum autem humilitas est mansuetudo, non autem afflictio corporis: ita etiam continentia est animæ virtus, quæ non est in manifesto, sed in occulto. Sunt autem etiam, qui matrimonium aperte dicunt fornicationem, et decernunt id traditum esse a diabolo. …

Quod autem “ex consensu ad tempus orationi vacat” conjugium, doctrina est continentiæ. Adjecit enim illud quidem, “ex consensu,” ne quis dissolveret matrimonium; “ad tempus autem,” ne, dum ex necessitate exercet continentiam is, qui uxorem duxerit, labatur in peccatum, et dum suo conjugio parcit, alienum concupiscat. Qua ratione eum, qui se indecore getere existimat, quod virginem alat, recte cam dicit esse nuptum damrum. Verum unusquisque, tam is qui castitatem, delegit, quam is qui propter liberorum procreationem seipsum conjunxit matrimonio, in suo proposito firmiter debet perseverare, nec in deterius deflectere. Si enim vitæ suæ instimtum augere ac intendere porefit, majorem sibi apud Deum acquirit dignitatem, propter puram et ex ratione profectam continentiam. Si autem eam, quam elegit, regulam superaverit, in majorem deinde ad spem gloriam recidet. …

Et rursus cure dicit: “Bonum est homini uxorem non tangere, sed propter fornicationes unusquisque suam uxorem habeat;” id veluti exponens, rursus dicit: “Ne vos tentet Satanas.” Non enim iis, qui continenter utuntur matrimonio propter solam liberorum procreationem, dicit, “propter intemperantiam;” sed iis, qui finem liberorum procreationis cupiunt transilire: ne, cure nimium annuerit noster adversarius, excitet appetitionem ad alienas voluptates. Fortasse autem quoniam iis, qui juste vivunt, resistit propter æmulationem, et adversus eos contendit, volens eos ad suos ordines traducere, per laboriosam continentiam eis vult præbere occasionera. Merito ergo dicit: “Melius est matrimonio jungi quam uri,” ut “vir reddat debiturn uxori, et uxor viro, et ne frustrentur invicem” hoc divino ad generationera dato auxilio. …

Justitiam ergo et salutis harmoniam, quæ est veneranda firmaque, alii quidem, ut ostendimus, nimium intenderunt, blaspheme ac maledice cure quavis impietate suscipientes continentiam; cure pie liceret castitatem, qu secundum sanam regulam instituitur, eligere; gratias quidem agendo propter datam ipsis gratiam, non habendo antem odio creatumm, neque eos aspernando, qui juncti sunt matrimonio; est enim creatus mundus, cream est etiam castitas; ambo autem agant gratias in iis, in quibus sunt collocati, si modo ea quoque norunt, in quibus sunt collocati. …

Renounce we things carnal, that we may at length bear fruits spiritual. Seize the opportu nity, albeit not earnestly desired, yet favourable, of not having any one to whom to pay a debt, and by whom to be (yourself) repaid! You have ceased to be a debtor. Happy man! You have released your debtor; sustain the loss. What if you come to feel that what we have called a loss is a gain? For continence will be a mean whereby you will traffic in a mighty substance of sanctity; by parsimony of the flesh you will gain the Spirit. For let us ponder over our conscience itself, (to see) how different a man feels himself when he chances to be deprived of his wife. He savours spiritually. If he is making prayer to the Lord, he is near heaven. If he is bending over the Scriptures, he is “wholly in them.” If he is singing a psalm, he satisfies himself. …

In Genesis: “Multiplying I will multiply thy sorrows and thy groanings, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Of this same thing in the Gospel according to Matthew: “All men do not receive the word, but they to whom it is given: for there are some eunuchs who were born so from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who have been constrained by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who can receive it, let him receive it.” Also according to Luke: “The children of this world beget, and are begotten. But they who have been considered worthy of that world, and the resurrection from the dead, do not marry, nor are married: for neither shall they begin to die: for they are equal to the angels of God, since they are the children of the resurrection. …

For consider, O virgins, how he, desiring with all his might that believers in Christ should be chaste, endeavours by many arguments to show them the dignity of chastity, as when he says, Now, concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman,” thence showing already very clearly that it is good not to touch a woman, laying it down. and setting it forth unconditionally. But afterwards, being aware of the weakness of the less continent, and their passion for intercourse, he permitted those who are unable to govern the flesh to use their own wives, rather than, shamefully transgressing, to give themselves up to fornication. …

Come, now, and let us examine more carefully the very words which are before us, and observe that the apostle did not grant these things unconditionally to all, but first laid down the reason on account of which he was led to this. For, having set forth that “it is good for a man not to touch a woman,” he added immediately, “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife”, that is, “on account of the fornication which would arise from your being unable to restrain your voluptuousness”, “and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. …

“ Again I say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. ” The word symphony is strictly applied to the harmonies of sounds in music. And there are indeed among musical sounds some accordant and others discordant. But the Evangelic Scripture is familiar with the name as applied to musical matters in the passage, “He heard a symphony and dancing.” For it was fitting that when the son who had been lost and found came by penitence into concord with his father a symphony should be heard on the occasion of the joyous mirth of the house. …

So much then for the more common understanding of the two or three whom the Word exhorts to be in agreement. But now let us also touch upon another interpretation which was uttered by some one of our predecessors, exhorting those who were married to sanctity and purity; for by the two, he says, whom the Word desires to agree on earth, we must understand the husband and wife, who by agreement defraud each other of bodily intercourse that they may give themselves unto prayer; when if they pray for anything whatever that they shall ask, they shall receive it, the request being granted to them by the Father in heaven of Jesus Christ on the ground of such agreement. …