1 Corinthians 7:29

There are 38 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 247, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Instructor (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Chapter III.—On Costly Vessels. (HTML)

... tasteless luxury, cunning devices of envy and effeminacy,—are all to be relinquished, as having nothing whatever worth our pains. “For the time is short,” as says the apostle. This then remains that we do not make a ridiculous figure, as some are seen in the public spectacles outwardly anointed strikingly for imposing effect, but wretched within. Explaining this more clearly, he adds, “It remains that they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that buy as though they possessed not.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-30] And if he speaks thus of marriage, in reference to which God says, “Multiply,” how do you not think that senseless display is by the Lord’s authority to be banished? Wherefore also the Lord says, “Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 541, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VII (HTML)

Chapter XI.—Description of the Gnostic’s Life. (HTML)

Thus also the apostle says, “that he who marries should be as though he married not,”[1 Corinthians 7:29] and deem his marriage free of inordinate affection, and inseparable from love to the Lord; to which the true husband exhorted his wife to cling on her departure out of this life to the Lord.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 294, footnote 12 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book I. Wherein is described the god of Marcion.  He is shown to be utterly wanting in all the attributes of the true God. (HTML)

Marcion Forbids Marriage.  Tertullian Eloquently Defends It as Holy, and Carefully Discriminates Between Marcion's Doctrine and His Own Montanism. (HTML)

... sin with man and beast. Now, if any limitation is set to marrying—such as the spiritual rule, which prescribes but one marriage under the Christian obedience, maintained by the authority of the Paraclete, —it will be His prerogative to fix the limit Who had once been diffuse in His permission; His to gather, Who once scattered; His to cut down the tree, Who planted it; His to reap the harvest, Who sowed the seed; His to declare, “It remaineth that they who have wives be as though they had none,”[1 Corinthians 7:29] Who once said, “Be fruitful, and multiply;” His the end to Whom belonged the beginning. Nevertheless, the tree is not cut down as if it deserved blame; nor is the corn reaped, as if it were to be condemned,—but simply because their time is come. So ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 443, footnote 26 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)

St. Paul's Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover--A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of the Ancient Dispensation. Christ's True Corporeity. Married and Unmarried States. Meaning of the Time is Short. In His Exhortations and Doctrine, the Apostle Wholly Teaches According to the Mind and Purposes of the God of the Old Testament. Prohibition of Meats and Drinks Withdrawn by the Creator. (HTML)

... of Christ? Even Christ, however, when He here commands “the wife not to depart from her husband, or if she depart, to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband,” both permitted divorce, which indeed He never absolutely prohibited, and confirmed (the sanctity) of marriage, by first forbidding its dissolution; and, if separation had taken place, by wishing the nuptial bond to be resumed by reconciliation. But what reasons does (the apostle) allege for continence? Because “the time is short.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] I had almost thought it was because in Christ there was another god! And yet He from whom emanates this shortness of the time, will also send what suits the said brevity. No one makes provision for the time which is another’s. You degrade your god, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 446, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)

Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man. Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle and the Prophet Compared. Marcion Challenged to Produce Anything Like These Gifts of the Spirit Foretold in Prophecy in His God. (HTML)

... Joel: “In the last days will I pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy; and upon my servants and upon my handmaids will I pour out of my Spirit.” Since, then, the Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and since Christ has in these last days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts (as the apostle says, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son;” and again, “This I say, brethren, that the time is short”[1 Corinthians 7:29]), it evidently follows in connection with this prediction of the last days, that this gift of the Spirit belongs to Him who is the Christ of the predicters. Now compare the Spirit’s specific graces, as they are described by the apostle, and promised ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 23, footnote 7 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)

II (HTML)

Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned.  Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VII. (HTML)

... enjoyment of your riches and elegancies, which tend so much to “glory?” Now it has ever been the wont of glory to exalt, not to humble. “Why, shall we not use what is our own?” Who prohibits your using it? Yet (it must be) in accordance with the apostle, who warns us “to use this world as if we abuse it not; for the fashion of this world is passing away.” And “they who buy are so to act as if they possessed not.” Why so? Because he had laid down the premiss, saying, “The time is wound up.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] If, then he shows plainly that even wives themselves are so to be had as if they be not had, on account of the straits of the times, what would be his sentiments about these vain appliances of theirs? Why, are there not many, withal, who so ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 23, footnote 8 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)

II (HTML)

Excess in Dress, as Well as in Personal Culture, to Be Shunned.  Arguments Drawn from I Cor. VII. (HTML)

... glory to exalt, not to humble. “Why, shall we not use what is our own?” Who prohibits your using it? Yet (it must be) in accordance with the apostle, who warns us “to use this world as if we abuse it not; for the fashion of this world is passing away.” And “they who buy are so to act as if they possessed not.” Why so? Because he had laid down the premiss, saying, “The time is wound up.” If, then he shows plainly that even wives themselves are so to be had as if they be not had,[1 Corinthians 7:29] on account of the straits of the times, what would be his sentiments about these vain appliances of theirs? Why, are there not many, withal, who so do, and seal themselves up to eunuchhood for the sake of the kingdom of God, spontaneously ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 42, footnote 9 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

To His Wife. (HTML)

I (HTML)

Of the Love of Offspring as a Plea for Marriage. (HTML)

... He says, “They were marrying and buying,” He sets a brand upon the very leading vices of the flesh and of the world, which call men off the most from divine disciplines—the one through the pleasure of rioting, the other though the greed of acquiring. And yet that “blindness” then was felt long before “the ends of the world.” What, then, will the case be if God now keep us from the vices which of old were detestable before Him? “The time,” says (the apostle), “is compressed.[1 Corinthians 7:29] It remaineth that they who have wives act as if they had them not.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 42, footnote 10 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

To His Wife. (HTML)

I (HTML)

Of the Love of Offspring as a Plea for Marriage. (HTML)

... buying,” He sets a brand upon the very leading vices of the flesh and of the world, which call men off the most from divine disciplines—the one through the pleasure of rioting, the other though the greed of acquiring. And yet that “blindness” then was felt long before “the ends of the world.” What, then, will the case be if God now keep us from the vices which of old were detestable before Him? “The time,” says (the apostle), “is compressed. It remaineth that they who have wives[1 Corinthians 7:29] act as if they had them not.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 60, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Monogamy. (HTML)

The Question of Novelty Further Considered in Connection with the Words of the Lord and His Apostles. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 587 (In-Text, Margin)

... abstinent—gives the preference to continence. (“Yes”), you say, “but saving the law of marriage.” Saving it, plainly, and we will see under what limitations; nevertheless already destroying it, in so far as he gives the preference to continence. “Good,” he says, “(it is) for a man not to have contact with a woman.” It follows that it is evil to have contact with her; for nothing is contrary to good except evil. And accordingly (he says), “It remains, that both they who have wives so be as if they have not,”[1 Corinthians 7:29] that it may be the more binding on them who have not to abstain from having them. He renders reasons, likewise, for so advising: that the unmarried think about God, but the married about how, in (their) marriage, each may please his (partner). And I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 61, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Monogamy. (HTML)

The Question of Novelty Further Considered in Connection with the Words of the Lord and His Apostles. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 596 (In-Text, Margin)

... look into the condition on which the licence is granted, or the preference of continence which is imposed, why, after the apostles, could not the same Spirit, supervening for the purpose of conducting disciplehood into “all truth” through the gradations of the times (according to what the preacher says, “A time to everything”), impose by this time a final bridle upon the flesh, no longer obliquely calling us away from marriage, but openly; since now more (than ever) “the time is become wound up,”[1 Corinthians 7:29] —about 160 years having elapsed since then? Would you not spontaneously ponder (thus) in your own mind: “This discipline is old, shown beforehand, even at that early date, in the Lord’s flesh and will, (and) successively thereafter in both the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 536, footnote 6 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

... are not your own, for ye are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.” Also in the same place: “The time is limited. It remaineth, therefore, that both they who have wives be as though they have them not, and they who lament as they that lament not, and they that rejoice as they that rejoice not, and they who buy as they that buy not, and they who possess as they who possess not, and they who use this world as they that use it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-31] Also in the same place: “The first man is of the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As he is of the clay, such also are they who are of the clay; and as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. Even as we have borne the image of him ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 322, footnote 5 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Thaleia. (HTML)

The Doctrine of Paul Concerning Virginity Explained. (HTML)

... spare you.” By which he means: “I sparing you, such as you are, consented to these things, because you have chosen to think thus of them, that I may not seem to hurry you on by violence, and compel any one to this. But yet if it shall please you who find chastity hard to bear, rather to turn to marriage; I consider it to be profitable for you to restrain yourselves in the gratification of the flesh, not making your marriage an occasion for abusing your own vessels to uncleanness.” Then he adds,[1 Corinthians 7:29] “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none.” And again, going on and challenging them to the same things, he confirmed his statement, powerfully supporting the state of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 347, footnote 2 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Tusiane. (HTML)

The Mind Clearer When Cleansed from Sin; The Ornaments of the Mind and the Order of Virtue; Charity Deep and Full; Chastity the Last Ornament of All; The Very Use of Matrimony to Be Restrained. (HTML)

... branches of chas tity. But those who are goaded on by their lusts, although they do not commit fornication, yet who, even in the things which are permitted with a lawful wife, through the heat of unsubdued concupiscence are excessive in embraces, how shall they celebrate the feast? how shall they rejoice, who have not adorned their tabernacle, that is their flesh, with the boughs of the Agnos, nor have listened to that which has been said, that “they that have wives be as though they had none?”[1 Corinthians 7:29]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 487, footnote 7 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

Acts of Paul and Thecla. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2112 (In-Text, Margin)

... and breaking of bread, and the word of God about self-control and the resurrection; Paul saying: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: blessed are they that have kept the flesh chaste, for they shall become a temple of God: blessed are they that control themselves, for God shall speak with them: blessed are they that have kept aloof from this world, for they shall be called upright: blessed are they that have wives as not having them, for they shall receive God for their portion:[1 Corinthians 7:29] blessed are they that have the fear of God, for they shall become angels of God: blessed are they that have kept the baptism, for they shall rest beside the Father and the Son: blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, and shall not see ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 254, footnote 7 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The Second Epistle of Clement. (HTML)

We are Constantly to Look for the Kingdom of God. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4391 (In-Text, Margin)

... which is without as” that which is within meaneth this: He calls the soul “that which is within,” and the body “that which is without.” As, then, thy body is visible to sight, so also let thy soul be manifest by good works. And “the male, with the female, neither male nor female,” this He saith, that brother seeing sister may have no thought concerning her as female, and that she may have no thought concerning him as male. “If ye do these things,” saith He, “the kingdom of my Father shall come.”[1 Corinthians 7:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 445, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)

Section 11 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2245 (In-Text, Margin)

11. But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering; not of embracing, but of abstaining from embracing; when the Apostle cries out, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains, that both they who have wives be as not having;”[1 Corinthians 7:29] assuredly if thou hadst sought a second marriage, it would have been no obedience of prophecy or law, no carnal desire even of family, but a mark of incontinence alone. For you would have done what the Apostle says, after he had said, “It is good for them, if they shall have so continued, even as I;” forsooth he straightway added, “But ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 270, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

On Marriage and Concupiscence. (HTML)

On Marriage and Concupiscence (HTML)

The Teaching of the Apostle on This Subject. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2111 (In-Text, Margin)

Accordingly the apostle also, speaking apparently with this passage in view, declares: “But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it re maineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had them not; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as though they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without solicitude.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-31] This entire passage (that I may express my view on this subject in the shape of a brief exposition of the apostle’s words) I think must be understood as follows: “This I say, brethren, the time is short.” No longer is God’s people to be propagated ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 17, footnote 8 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. (HTML)

Explanation of the First Part of the Sermon Delivered by Our Lord on the Mount, as Contained in the Fifth Chapter of Matthew. (HTML)

Chapter XIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 132 (In-Text, Margin)

... after the procreation of children, or even through contempt of such an earthly progeny, have been able with common consent to practise self-restraint toward each other: both because nothing is done contrary to that precept whereby the Lord forbids a spouse to be put away (for he does not put her away who lives with her not carnally, but spiritually), and because that principle is observed to which the apostle gives expression, “It remaineth, that they that have wives be as though they had none.”[1 Corinthians 7:29]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 252, footnote 16 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1757 (In-Text, Margin)

21. Joseph then was not the less His father, because he knew not the mother of our Lord, as though concupiscence and not conjugal affection constitutes the marriage bond. Attend, holy brethren; Christ’s Apostle was some time after this to say in the Church, “It remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] And we know many of our brethren bringing forth fruit through grace, who for the Name of Christ practise an entire restraint by mutual consent, who yet suffer no restraint of true conjugal affection. Yea, the more the former is repressed, the more is the other strengthened and confirmed. Are they then not married people who thus live, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 479, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Again in John v. 2, etc., on the five porches, where lay a great multitude of impotent folk, and of the pool of Siloa. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3717 (In-Text, Margin)

... let him hold, not be held; let him be the lord of his possessions, not the slave; as saith the Apostle “However, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives, be as though they had not; and they who buy, as though they possessed not; and they who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they who weep, as though they wept not; and they who use this world, as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away. I would have you be without carefulness.”[1 Corinthians 7:29-32] What is, “Do not love what thou dost possess in this world”? Let it not hold thine hand fast, by which God must be held. Let not thy love be engaged, whereby thou canst make thy way to God, and cleave to Him who created thee.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 474, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XCVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4448 (In-Text, Margin)

... give suck.” For example: one wisheth to buy a country seat; he is with child, for his object is not gained as yet, the womb swelleth in hope: he buyeth it; he hath brought forth, he now giveth suck to what he hath bought. “Woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days!” Woe to those who put their hope in the world; woe to them that cling to those things which they brought forth through hope in the world. What then should the Christian do? He should use, not serve, the world.[1 Corinthians 7:29-32] What is this? Those that have as those that have not.…He who is without carefulness, waiteth without fear for his Lord’s coming. For what sort of love is it of Christ, to fear lest He come? Brethren, are we not ashamed? We love Him, and yet we fear ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 517, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans

The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (HTML)

Homily XXIV on Rom. xiii. 11. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1576 (In-Text, Margin)

he had given them what commands were fitting, he again thrusts them on to the performance of good works, in consideration of what was pressing upon them. For the time of judgment, he means, is at the doors. So too he wrote to the Corinthians also, “The remaining time is short.[1 Corinthians 7:29] ” (1 Cor. vii. 29.) And to the Hebrews again, “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” (Heb. x. 37.) But in those cases it was to cheer those in trouble, and to solace the toils of their closely successive temptations, that he said those things: but in the passage before us he does it to rouse those that are asleep, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 30, footnote 17 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 493 (In-Text, Margin)

... thee a wife.” He had been sanctified in his mother’s womb, and now he was forbidden to take a wife because the captivity was near. The apostle gives the same counsel in different words. “I think, therefore, that this is good by reason of the present distress, namely that it is good for a man to be as he is.” What is this distress which does away with the joys of wedlock? The apostle tells us, in a later verse: “The time is short: it remaineth that those who have wives be as though they had none.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] Nebuchadnezzar is hard at hand. The lion is bestirring himself from his lair. What good will marriage be to me if it is to end in slavery to the haughtiest of kings? What good will little ones be to me if their lot is to be that which the prophet ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 96, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Nepotian. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1393 (In-Text, Margin)

... Let us never seek for presents and rarely accept them when we are asked to do so. For “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” Somehow or other the very man who begs leave to offer you a gift holds you the cheaper for your acceptance of it; while, if you refuse it, it is wonderful how much more he will come to respect you. The preacher of continence must not be a maker of marriages. Why does he who reads the apostle’s words “it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none”[1 Corinthians 7:29] —why does he press a virgin to marry? Why does a priest, who must be a monogamist, urge a widow to marry again? How can the clergy be managers and stewards of other men’s households, when they are bidden to disregard even their own interests? To ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 231, footnote 9 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ageruchia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3238 (In-Text, Margin)

6. Again, no widow of youthful age must quiet her qualms of conscience by the plea that he gives commandment that no widow is to be taken into the number under three-score years old. He does not by this arrangement urge unmarried girls or youthful widows to marry, seeing that even of the married he says: “the time is short: it remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had none.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] No, he is speaking of widows who have relations able to support them, who have sons and grandsons to be responsible for their maintenance. The apostle commands these latter to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents and to relieve them adequately; that the church may not be charged, but may ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 234, footnote 22 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ageruchia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3287 (In-Text, Margin)

... adulteress. If these instances are to justify us let us neigh after every woman that we meet; like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah let us be found by the last day buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage; and let us only end our marrying with the close of our lives. And if both before and after the deluge the maxim held good: “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth:” what has that to do with us upon whom the ends of the ages are come, unto whom it is said, “the time is short,”[1 Corinthians 7:29] and “now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees;” that is to say, the forests of marriage and of the law must be cut down by the chastity of the gospel. There is “a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.” Owing to the near ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 344, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4246 (In-Text, Margin)

... altogether refrained from the embraces of women: I rather think that in accordance with the difference in time and circumstance one rule applied to the former, another to us upon whom the ends of the world have come. So long as that law remained, “Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth”; and “Cursed is the barren woman that beareth not seed in Israel,” they all married and were given in marriage, left father and mother, and became one flesh. But once in tones of thunder the words were heard,[1 Corinthians 7:29] “The time is shortened, that henceforth those that have wives may be as though they had none”: cleaving to the Lord, we are made one spirit with Him. And why? Because “He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 349, footnote 14 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4289 (In-Text, Margin)

... marry, bear children.’ And ‘Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled.’ And ‘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.’ And ‘Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression: but she shall be saved through the child-bearing, if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety.’ Surely we shall hear no more of the famous Apostolic utterance,[1 Corinthians 7:29] ‘And they who have wives as though they had them not.’ It can hardly be that you will say the reason why he wished them to be married was that some widows had already turned back after Satan: as though virgins never fell and their fall was not more ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 364, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4405 (In-Text, Margin)

... wives and three hundred concubines, he cannot be the king’s antitype or attain to his merit. I earnestly again and again remind you, my reader, that I am compelled to speak as I do, and that I do not disparage our predecessors under the law, but am well aware that they served their generation according to their circumstances, and fulfilled the Lord’s command to increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And what is more they were figures of those that were to come. But we to whom it is said,[1 Corinthians 7:29] “The time is shortened, that henceforth those that have wives may be as though they had none,” have a different command, and for us virginity is consecrated by the Virgin Saviour.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 368, footnote 8 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Jovinianus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4451 (In-Text, Margin)

... married. Then the bridegroom makes answer to the bride, and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away, and the truth of the Gospel has come. “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” This relates to the Old Testament. Once more he speaks of the Gospel and of virginity: “The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the pruning of vines has come.” Does he not seem to you to say the very same thing that the Apostle says:[1 Corinthians 7:29] “The time is shortened that henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none”? And more plainly does he herald chastity: “The voice,” he says, “of the turtle is heard in our land.” The turtle, the chastest of birds, always ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 214, footnote 3 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To Diodorus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2535 (In-Text, Margin)

... he may not take his own mother nor his own daughter, so he may not take his wife’s sister, because he may not take his own sister. And, on the other hand, it will not be lawful for the wife to be joined with the husband’s kin, for the rights of relationship hold good on both sides. But, for my part, to every one who is thinking about marriage I testify that, “the fashion of this world passeth away,” and the time is short: “it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] If he improperly quotes the charge “Increase and multiply,” I laugh at him, for not discerning the signs of the times. Second marriage is a remedy against fornication, not a means of lasciviousness. “If they cannot contain,” it is said “let them ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 250, footnote 8 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

Chapter VII. Solomon's words, “The Lord created Me,” etc., mean that Christ's Incarnation was done for the redemption of the Father's creation, as is shown by the Son's own words. That He is the “beginning” may be understood from the visible proofs of His virtuousness, and it is shown how the Lord opened the ways of all virtues, and was their true beginning. (HTML)

52. Christ, then, is the beginning of our virtue. He is the beginning of purity, Who taught maidens not to look for the embraces of men,[1 Corinthians 7:29] but to yield the purity of their bodies and minds to the service of the Holy Spirit rather than to a husband. Christ is the beginning of frugality, for He became poor, though He was rich. Christ is the beginning of patience, for when He was reviled, He reviled not again, when He was struck, He did not strike back. Christ is the beginning of humility, for He took the form of a servant, though in the majesty of His power He was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 516, footnote 5 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)

Conference XXI. The First Conference of Abbot Theonas. On the Relaxation During the Fifty Days. (HTML)

Chapter XXXII. The answer on the difference between grace and the commands of the law. (HTML)

... wedlock, saying: “Blessed is he that hath seed in Sion and an household in Jerusalem;” and: “Cursed is the barren that hath not borne.” On the other hand grace invites us to the purity of perpetual chastity, and the undefiled state of blessed virginity, saying: “Blessed are the barren, and the breasts which have not given suck;” and: “he that hateth not father and mother and wife cannot be my disciple;” and this of the Apostle: “It remaineth that they that have wives be as though they had them not.”[1 Corinthians 7:29] The law says: “Thou shalt not delay to offer thy tithes and firstfruits;” grace says: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor:” The law forbids not retaliation for wrongs and vengeance for injuries, saying “An ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 18, footnote 2 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 127 (In-Text, Margin)

For although they who are not within the ranks of the clergy are free to take pleasure in the companionship of wedlock and the procreation of children, yet for the exhibiting of the purity of complete continence, even sub-deacons are not allowed carnal marriage: that “both those that have, may be as though they had not[1 Corinthians 7:29],” and those who have not, may remain single. But if in this order, which is the fourth from the Head, this is worthy to be observed, how much more is it to be kept in the first, or second, or third, lest any one be reckoned fit for either the deacon’s duties or the presbyter’s honourable position, or the bishop’s pre-eminence, who is ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 110, footnote 4 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Letters. (HTML)

To Rusticus, Bishop of Gallia Narbonensis, with the replies to his Questions on various points. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 627 (In-Text, Margin)

Reply. The law of continence is the same for the ministers of the altar as for bishops and priests, who when they were laymen or readers, could lawfully marry and have offspring. But when they reached to the said ranks, what was before lawful ceased to be so. And hence, in order that their wedlock may become spiritual instead of carnal, it behoves them not to put away their wives but to “have them as though they had them not[1 Corinthians 7:29],” whereby both the affection of their wives may be retained and the marriage functions cease.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 160, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Sermons. (HTML)

On Lent, XI. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 945 (In-Text, Margin)

... flesh? who is not begrimed by the dust? who, lastly, is of such purity as not to be polluted by those things without which one cannot live? For the Divine teaching commands by the Apostle’s mouth that “they who have wives” should “be as though they had none: and those that weep as though they wept not; and those that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy as though they possessed not; and those that use this world as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away[1 Corinthians 7:29-31].” Blessed, therefore, is the mind that passes the time of its pilgrimage in chaste sobriety, and loiters not in the things through which it has to walk, so that, as a stranger rather than the possessor of its earthly abode, it may not be wanting in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 200, footnote 8 (Image)

Leo the Great, Gregory the Great

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)

Sermons. (HTML)

On the Fast of Seventh Month, V. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1205 (In-Text, Margin)

... our own land, all the good things of this world which meet us may be as aids on the way, not snares to detain us. Therefore the blessed Apostle makes this proclamation, “the time is short: it remains that those who have wives be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they wept not; and those who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those who buy, as though they possessed not; and those that use this world, as though they used it not. For the fashion of this world passes away[1 Corinthians 7:29-31].” But as the world attracts us with its appearance, and abundance and variety, it is not easy to turn away from it unless in the beauty of things visible the Creator rather than the creature is loved; for, when He says, “thou shalt love the