On Continence 29–32

So the spirit of man, cleaving to the Spirit of God, lusts against the flesh, that is, against itself, but for its own sake, so that those movements, whether in the flesh or in the soul, which are according to man and not according to God, and which still exist through the sickness that has been acquired, may be held in check by continence for the sake of acquiring health; so that man, not living according to man, may now be able to say: "Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me." For where it is not I, there it is I more happily; so that when any reprobate movement according to man rises up, to which he who serves the law of God with his mind does not consent, he may also say that: "It is no longer I who do it." For to such men are said also those words which we ought to hear as their companions and partners: "If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your mind on the things that are above, not on those on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God; when Christ, your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory." Let us understand to whom he speaks, or rather let us listen more attentively. For what could be plainer than this, what clearer? He speaks certainly to those who have risen with Christ, not yet in the flesh of course, but in the mind; whom he calls both dead and, for that very reason, more alive; for "your life," he says, "is hidden with Christ in God." The voice of such dead is: "Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me." Those, then, whose life was hidden in God are admonished and exhorted to put to death their members that are on earth. For this follows: "Put to death, therefore, your members that are on earth." And lest anyone too slow should think that these visible members of the body were to be put to death by such men, he at once makes plain what he means: "sexual immorality," he says, "uncleanness, disturbance, evil concupiscence, and greed, which is idolatry." Are we really to believe that these men, who were already dead and whose life was hidden with Christ in God, were still committing sexual immorality, still living in unclean habits and works, still serving the disturbances of evil concupiscence and greed? What madman would think this of such men? What, then, does he want them to put to death, namely by the work of continence, if not those very movements that still live in a certain solicitation of their own, without the consent of our mind, without the working of the bodily members? And how are these put to death by the work of continence, except when the mind does not consent to them, and the members of the body are not presented to them as weapons, and (what is greater and must be attended to with greater vigilance of continence) even our thought itself, though in some way touched by their suggestion and, as it were, whispering, is nevertheless turned away from them so as not to take delight in them, and is turned to think with greater delight on things above, naming them in speech only for this purpose: not to dwell in them, but to flee from them? This happens if we listen effectively, with the help of him who commands these things through the apostle: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; set your mind on the things that are above, not on those on earth."

And when he had mentioned those evils, he added and said: "On account of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of unbelief." He certainly frightened them for their health, lest the faithful should think that because of their faith alone they could be saved even if they lived in these evils, since the apostle James cries out against this view in the plainest voice, saying: "If anyone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him?" Hence here too the teacher of the Gentiles said that on account of those evils the wrath of God comes upon the sons of unbelief. But when he says, "in which you too once walked, when you lived in them," he shows clearly enough that they no longer live in them. For they had died to these, so that their life was hidden with Christ in God. Since, then, they no longer lived in them, they were now commanded to put such things to death. For while they did not live in them, those things lived, as I have just shown, and those vices that dwelt in their members were called their members, by that figure of speech in which what contains is used for what is contained, as it is said, "The whole forum is talking of it," when the people in the forum are talking. By the same figure of speech it is sung in the psalm: "Let all the earth worship you," that is, all the people on the earth.

"But now," he says, "you too put away all these," and he mentions more evils of this kind. But why is it not enough for him to say, "Put away all these," but, adding a conjunction, he said, "you too"? Surely lest they should think that they could do these evils and live in them with impunity because their faith would free them from the wrath that comes upon the sons of unbelief who do such things and live in them without faith. "You too," he says, "put away those evils on account of which the wrath of God comes upon the sons of unbelief, and do not promise yourselves impunity for them on account of the merit of faith." But he would not say "put away" to those who had already put them away in the sense that they did not consent to such vices nor give them their members as weapons of sin, were it not that the life of the saints consists in this action and is still engaged in this working as long as we are mortal. For while the spirit lusts against the flesh, this business is carried on with great effort: depraved delights, unclean lusts, carnal and shameful movements are resisted by the sweetness of holiness, the love of chastity, spiritual vigor, and the beauty of continence. So these things are put away by those who have died to them and do not live in them by consenting; so, I say, are they put away, while they are pressed down by continuing continence so that they do not rise again. Whoever, as though secure, stops this putting away of them, at once they will leap into the citadel of the mind, will put it away from there, and will reduce it into their slavery, a captive in shame and disfigurement. Then sin will reign in the man's mortal body, so that he obeys its desires; then he will present his members to sin as weapons of iniquity, and his last state will be worse than the first. For it is much more tolerable not to have begun a contest of this kind than to have abandoned the conflict once begun and to have been made a captive from a good fighter, or even from a victor. Hence the Lord does not say, "He who has begun," but, "He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved."

Whether, then, we avoid being conquered by fighting fiercely, or sometimes conquer with even an unhoped-for or unexpected ease, let us give glory to him who gives us continence. Let us remember that a certain righteous man said in his abundance, "I shall never be moved," and that it was shown him how rashly he said this, as though ascribing to his own strength what was granted him from above. And this we have learned from his own confession; for he at once added: "Lord, in your good will you gave strength to my beauty; but you turned away your face, and I was troubled." Through healing providence he was forsaken a little by his guide, lest through deadly pride he himself should forsake his guide. Whether, then, here, where we fight against our vices to tame and lessen them, or there, as will be at the end, where we shall be free of every enemy because free of every plague, this is done with us for our health: that "he who glories, let him glory in the Lord."