On the Good of Modesty

Contents

1. 1The writer, absent from his people, explains that he writes to them as part of his duty as bishop to teach and strengthen them.
2. 2The writer urges the faithful, who are the temple of God and members of Christ, to keep chastity, as the church is Christ's virgin bride.
3. 3Chastity is praised as the honor of body and marriage, while unchastity ruins property, families, and inheritance, and even turns to sex between men against nature.
4. 4Chastity has three degrees: virginity first, continence second, and faithful marriage third, all of them praiseworthy.
5. 5The rules of chastity go back to creation: woman was made from man and the two become one flesh, and Paul makes the husband the head and calls for mutual love as between Christ and the church.
6. 6Christ's teaching that a wife may be put away only for adultery is the source of the Bible's severe rules against adultery and sexual immorality.
7. 7Virginity stands above the laws of marriage, rivals the angels, and is free from husbands, childbirth, grief, and fear.
8. 8Joseph is the first example of chastity: he fled Potiphar's wife, was falsely accused and imprisoned, and was raised by God to rule Egypt.
9. 9Susanna is the example of a chaste woman: she resisted the two lustful elders, was falsely accused, and was delivered by God.
10. 10Neither youth, beauty, opportunity, pressure, nor threats could shake Joseph and Susanna, and God rewarded both.
11. 11Victory over one's own desires is the greatest victory, and chastity lies within the power of the will.
12. 12Chastity includes modesty in appearance: women should not dye their hair, paint their faces, or load themselves with gold and jewels.
13. 13Because the flesh easily falls, men and women must guard chastity with discipline of the senses, sober speech, and the avoidance of touch.
14. 14Adultery is mutual insult, not pleasure; the mind must govern the body like a charioteer, with God's help and the Scriptures.