For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 11:2 Go To 2 Corinthians 11
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I cannot endure any rivals, such as these false apostles, who seek to seduce you. Paul calls his great and unbounded love "jealousy," implying that he seeks to be first in the affections of the Corinthians. S. Chrysostom remarks on this jealousy being a jealousy of God, which implies that Paul does not seek the bride for himself but for Christ and God—not for his own glory, pleasure, or gain. Christ is the Bridegroom, he is but the paranymph.
For I have espoused you to one husband. "I have fitted you" (Augustine, contra Manich. lib. ii.); "I have prepared you" (Ambrose); "I have united you " (Theophylact). The Greek verb may well bear the three meanings of, "I have invited you," "I have betrothed you," I have united you in wedlock." The three duties of the paranymph are: (1.) to gain the maiden"s affections for the bridegroom, and to do all he can to get her to be the wife of his friend; (2.) to see that she is espoused to him; and, (3.) when betrothed, to unite them in marriage. S. Paul says in effect: I, as the paranymph of a spiritual marriage, have by my preaching betrothed you to one husband, Christ, and by betrothing you I have persuaded you to present yourselves to Christ as His espoused bride. Or better still, with Anselm and Theophylact: I have now espoused you to Christ through baptizing you into the Christian faith, that I may show you, or present you in the day of judgment, as virgins, i.e, pure in faith, hope, and charity, fitted for the nuptial couch of the glory of Christ.
Chrysostom remarks that the betrothal takes place in this life, the union in the next, when the espoused Church, i.e, all the elect, shall be brought to the marriage of the Lamb and the eternal kingdom (Rev. xxi2).
The Church of Corinth is described by S. Paul as the virgin spouse of Christ, whose paranymph he is. Then he transfers to himself the jealous love of the Bridegroom, and protests against Christ"s bride being stolen by false apostles, and handed over to the tender mercies of heretics. Just as true Apostles and preachers are paranymphs of Christ and His Church (S. John 3:29), Song of Solomon , on the other hand, false preachers are Satan"s panders.
This passage of the espousal of the Church and each faithful soul is famous and full of consolation. It has been commented on beautifully by most of the Fathers, and still is frequently treated in pulpits and elsewhere. That it may be clearly and fully understood, let us then dwell on it a little more at length.
Observe, then, firstly, that this espousal takes place by faith and hope and other virtues. For, as S. Augustine says (Tract. xiii. in Johan.), "the mind"s virginity consists in perfect faith, well-grounded hope, and unfeigned love." On the other hand, the soul becomes an adulteress or prostitute when she consents to unbelief, to sin, to the suggestions and wiles of the devil. "If, therefore," says Origen (Hom12in Lev. ii.), "you have admitted an adulterous devil into the chamber of your soul, then your soul has committed fornication with the devil. If there has entered there the spirit of anger, envy, pride, uncleanness, and you have welcomed in and listened to its words, and taken pleasure in its suggestions, then you have committed fornication with him."
Secondly, this betrothal makes the goods of each common to both, and therefore endows the Church and each faithful soul with the abundant riches of Christ. Hence, since the Bridegroom is a King, He makes His bride, even if she be a slave, however lowly and poor she be, a queen. S. Basil (de Vita Virgin.) says, quoting Ps. xlv. "Upon thy right hand did stand the queen, in a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours. Wherefore, she who now is counted vile for her sordid dress and servile habit, is ennobled by her station at the King"s hand, and found in the kingdom of heaven to be a queen. Let her, then, despise all visible things, and with open face beholding her Spouse, let her be filled with His love, and make all her faculties His handmaidens. In no respect should a virgin be an adulteress, not in tongue, in ears, eyes, or any other sense, no, nor yet in thought; but let her keep her body as a temple, or bride-chamber ready for her Spouse. No unfaithfulness can escape the eye of Him of whom it is said, "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear; or He that made the eye, shall He not see."
S. Bernard (Serm2 , Domin1 , post Epiph.) thus describes the election, dignity, and glory of this bride: "For the sake of that Ethiopian woman, the Son of God came from afar to espouse her to Himself. Moses, indeed, married an Ethiopian wife, but her colour he could not change; but Christ, loving the Church, who till then was contemptible and foul, presented her to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Whence, 0 human soul, whence comes this to thee? Whence is the inestimable glory of meriting to be His spouse on whom the angels desire to gaze? Whence is it to thee that thou art the spouse of Him, whose beauty sun and moon wonder at, at whose will all things are changed? . . . What reward, then, will you give unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done unto you, in making you a sharer of His table, of His Kingdom, of His chamber? See with what arms of love should He be in turn lovingly embraced, who has thought so much of you, and made you so great. Leave all carnal affections, forget all worldly ways, undo all evil habits. For what thinkest thou? Does not the angel of the Lord stand ready to cut thee asunder, if perchance, which may He prevent, thou admittest any other lover?" Then he goes on to describe the nuptial feast: "Now thou art espoused to Him, now the wedding feast is being celebrated, for the banquet is prepared in heaven. There the wine will not fail for we shall be inebriated with the fulness of the house of Gad, and shall drink of the torrent of His pleasure. For that marriage, truly, there is got ready a river of wine, which maketh glad the heart, an impetuous stream, which maketh glad the city of God."
Thirdly, be it observed that from this betrothal and union of the soul to God, the fairest offspring are born. Origen (Hom20 in Num. xxv.) thus Describes them. "When the soul, therefore, clings to her Spouse, and listens to His voice, and embraces Him, she doubtless receives from Him seed, even as He said: "Of Thy fear, 0 Lord, have I conceived in the womb, and brought forth, and caused on the earth the spirits of Thy salvation." Thence will proceed a noble offspring—thence will be born chastity, righteousness, patience, meekness, and charity, and a fair family of all the virtues. . . . But if the unhappy soul forsakes the chaste embraces of the Divine Word, and surrenders herself to the devil"s adulterous endearments, without a doubt she will bring forth children, but they will be such as those of whom it is written: "The adulterous children shall be imperfect, and the seed of the wicked bed shall be destroyed." All sins, therefore, are children of adultery and fornication."
Fourthly, although this espousal is brought about by any virtues, yet the chief agent among them is charity. Charity carries with it towards God all the powers and affections of the soul, so much so that the more charity increases in a soul, the more closely is that soul united to God. Hence those whose souls are on fire with charity, and who are ever exercising themselves in it, enjoy the bliss of betrothal to God and the possession of His nuptial gifts of Divine joys. For charity is a marriage-union, the welding of two wills, the Divine and human, into one, whereby God and man mutually agree in all things. Hence springs familiar intercourse between the soul and God, hence spring peace and a wondrous delight of the soul. So great becomes the thirst for the Divine love that all other affections of the soul are absorbed in it and lost in God. S. Bernard (Serm38 Cantic.) says: "Such conformity weds the soul to the Word, that, though naturally like Him, she none the less exhibits that likeness in the will, by loving as she has been loved. If, then, she loves perfectly, she is wedded to Him. What is more pleasant than this conformity? what more to be longed for than this charity? By it it comes to pass that you are not content, 0 my soul, to rest on human teaching, but you boldly approach the Word, and cling closely to Him, hang lovingly on His lips, and consult Him on everything. You are as bold in your longings will allow. Surely this is a holy and spiritual wedding contract. Contract, do I say?—nay, it is an embrace; for where the same will to have or not have Isaiah , where one spirit is made out of two, there there must have been an embrace. Nor need we fear that the disparity of the persons can make this union of wills imperfect, for love knows no fear. Love is self-sufficient: wherever he comes he draws to himself and makes prisoners all the other affections. Therefore she loves what he loves, and knows nought else. There is a bride and there is a bridegroom. What other relation or connection do you seek between them that are wedded than that of loving and being loved?"
If you say that the soul is so far inferior to God in its nature and love as to make it impossible for friendship to exist between them, and much less betrothal and marriage union, all of which can only be between equals, then S. Bernard replies: "It is true that there is not the same copious flow in the soul that Loves as in Love Himself, in the soul as in the Word, and in the bride as in the Bridegroom, in the creature as in the Creator, ably more than there is the same in him that is athirst and the spring that quenches his thirst. But what of that? Are we therefore to lose and see destroyed utterly the devotion of her that is about to wed, the desire of the longing soul—the eagerness of the lover, the confidence of one that boldly draws near—just because a dwarf cannot run on equal terms with a giant, because sweetness cannot rival honey, gentleness cannot compare with a lamb, whiteness with the lily, brightness with the sun, charity with Him who is charity? No, for though the creature"s love is less because it is itself less, yet if it loves with all its might, it withholds nothing, and its love is entire. Therefore have I said, "So to love is to be wedded already," unless any one doubt that the soul is first loved and more loved by the Word. But truly He prevents and surpasses the soul in love. Happy the soul that has merited to be prevented with the blessings of goodness."
Fifthly, it follows that this espousal is most perfectly brought about by virginity and vows of chastity and religion. S. Augustine (Tract9 in Johan.) says: "They who vow to God virginity, although they may hold a higher position of honour and dignity in the Church, yet are they not without nuptials; for they belong to those nuptials in which the whole Church is united to Christ as her Bridegroom." And the reason Isaiah , that as a bride gives her heart and all her goods to her husband, so does a virgin, or a religious, consecrate herself and all that she has to Christ. Hence religion is called and is a state of perfection, or of perfect charity. Moreover, as a bride in contracting matrimony says. "I take thee for mine," so does a religious say: "I vow to God poverty, chastity, obedience," and by these she is bound to Christ as a wife to her husband. Hence Tertullian (de Veland. Virgin. c16) says: "Thou hast been wedded to Christ, thou hast committed to Him thy body; thou hast betrothed to Him the bloom of thy life; walk, therefore, according to the will,of thy Spouse." For this reason S. Jerome ( Ephesians 27) dared to call the mother of a virgin consecrated to God, "God"s mother-in-law," and for this he was found fault with hypercritically by Ruffinus. A ring used to be given to virgins, in token that by it they were betrothed to Christ. "He gave me a ring," says S. Agnes (Ambrose, Serm90), "as an earnest of my betrothal to His faith." For this virgins were given veils, even as those who are married to husbands, and that solemnly, by priests, on appointed days alone, as Gelasius says (ad Episc. Lucani, c14), and Optatus Milevit. (lib6). He says: "Spiritual wedlock is of this kind. In will and profession they had already come to be betrothed to their spouse; and to show that they had abjured all secular nuptials, they had cut off their hair for their spiritual Bridegroom, and had already celebrated their heavenly nuptials." Ambrose (ad Virg. Lapsam) says: "She who has betrothed herself to Christ, and received the sacred veil, is already wedded, is already united to an immortal husband; and if she now wishes to marry under the common law, she commits adultery, and is made the handmaiden of death." S. Cyprian too ( Ephesians 62) calls such lapsed virgins adulteresses. From all this it is evident, whatever Marloratus may say, that the Church applies this passage of the Apostle to virgins, and reads it as the Epistle in the Mass of Holy Virgins.
Let these virgins ponder this, and recognise their dignity, so as to religiously keep these nuptials pure, and give themselves wholly to their one Bridegroom, Christ. S. Jerome says to Eustochius: "Hear, 0 daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father"s house, and then shall the King take pleasure in thy beauty. It is not enough for thee to leave thy land, unless thou also forget thy own peop1e and thy father"s house, and, despising the flesh, yield thyself to the embraces of thy spouse. You will say perhaps: "I have come from the house of my shame; I have forgotten the house of my father; I am born again in Christ. What reward for this am I to receive?" It tells you: "So shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty." This then is a great sacrament: there-fore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cling to his wife, and they twain shall be not one flesh but one spirit. Thy Spouse is not haughty; He has married an Ethiopian woman. As soon as you desire to hear the wisdom of the true Solomon and come to Him, He will tell you all that He knows; He will as a King lead you into His chamber, and thy colour being wondrously changed, the words will apply to you, "Who is this that cometh up all white?" . . . The bride of Christ Isaiah , like the Ark of the Covenant, covered within and without with gold, the guardian of the law of the Lord. As in it there was nothing save the tables of the law, so in thee let there be no other thought. Over this mercy-seat, as upon the cherubim, the Lord wills to sit. The Lord wishes to set you free from earthly cares, that leaving the bricks and straw of Egypt, you may follow Moses in the wilderness and enter the Promised Land. Whenever in your virgin breast there rages anxiety about earthly business, immediately the veil of the temple is rent in twain, your Bridegroom rises in wrath and says: "Your house is left unto you desolate" . . . Do thou once for all cast aside every burden of the world, sit at the feet of thy Lord, and say: "I have found Him in whom my soul delighteth; I have held Him fast; I will not let Him go." He will answer: "My dove, any undefiled, is but one." Let the secret places of thy chamber ever keep thee, let thy Spouse ever play with thee within. When thou prayest thou speakest to thy Spouse. When thou readest He speaks to thee; and when sleep oppresses thee, He will come behind the wall; and when thou art awakened thou wilt say: "I am sick with love," and in return thou wilt hear Him say: "A garden enclosed is My sister, My spouse.""
That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. There is something strange in such a marriage. "In the world," says Theophylact after Chrysostom, "brides do not remain virgins after marriage. But Christ"s brides, as before marriage they were not virgins, so after marriage they become virgins most pure in faith, whole, and uncorrupt in life. So is the whole Church a virgin." "The virginity of the flesh," says S. Augustine (in Senten79), "is an undefiled body; the virginity of the soul is uncorrupted faith."
S. Paul converted to Christ at Iconium that most illustrious virgin Thecla: he drew her from marriage and espoused her to Christ. S. Gregory of Nyssa is our authority for this. He says (Hom4in Cantic.): "Such myrrh did Paul once pour from his mouth, mingled with the pure lily of chastity, into the ears of a holy virgin. That virgin was Thecla, who, as the drops fell from the lily into her soul, to her salvation put to death the outward man and quenched the heat of lust within." S. Epiphanius too (Hres78) says: "Thecla fell in with S. Paul, and was by him set free from wedlock, though she had a husband at once surpassingly handsome, rich, nobly-born, and famous." S. Augustine (contra Faustum, lib. xxx. c4) says: "This Saint in her lifetime despised all earthly things, that she might gain possession of things heavenly, and, though bound in wedlock, she was kindled by the eloquence of S. Paul with love of life-long virginity." Through this Thecla overcame fire, lions, bulls, and serpents, and when thrown for her virginity into the midst of flames, she, like asbestos, remained unharmed. So did S. Paul arm the harlot Poppa and virgins against the blandishments of Nero, to despise his embraces and dedicate themselves to Christ. For this he was condemned by Nero to the sword, and obtained the martyr"s and virgin"s crown, and therefore from his neck there flowed, when his head was cut off, a stream of white milk instead of red blood.
