To His Wife

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–1.8 · 2.1–2.8

1. 1.1Tertullian writes to his wife, urging her not to remarry if he dies first, since there is no marriage in the resurrection.
2. 1.2God blessed marriage as one man and one woman, as with Adam and Eve; the patriarchs' plural marriages were a provisional license later corrected by Christ and the apostle.
3. 1.3Marriage is not forbidden, against those who reject it, but Paul permits it only as a concession and prefers continence as the better good.
4. 1.4The desires of the flesh and of the world that urge remarriage should be overcome, following widows who have chosen to be “married to God” and trusting God's provision.
5. 1.5Children and posterity are no reason for Christians to remarry, since the end is near and encumbrances hinder; the time is short.
6. 1.6Many Christians live continently even within marriage, and even pagan priestesses keep virginity and widowhood for their demons; a Christian widow can surely do so for God.
7. 1.7A husband's death by God's will ends the marriage; the church's rules barring the twice-married from office and enrolled widows show how second marriage detracts from holiness.
8. 1.8God champions widows; widowhood, being chosen by effort, has a merit of its own even beside virginity, and a widow should avoid idle and loose company.
9. 2.1In a second book, Tertullian turns to the case of a widow who does remarry: Paul advises continence but commands that remarriage be “only in the Lord.”
10. 2.2Paul's instruction that a believer stay with an unbelieving spouse concerns those converted after marriage; it gives no license for a Christian to marry an unbeliever, since remarriage is “only in the Lord.”
11. 2.3Marrying a pagan is sexual sin, a violation of the body bought by Christ's blood, and daily exposure to pagan ways wears faith away.
12. 2.4A pagan husband will obstruct his Christian wife's fasts, night services, Easter vigil, Eucharist, prison visits, and hospitality.
13. 2.5Even a tolerant pagan husband knows and can exploit his wife's Christian practices, such as signing herself with the cross, night prayer, and taking the reserved Eucharist.
14. 2.6Married to a pagan, a Christian woman is drawn into idolatrous festivals and taverns and loses the fellowship, prayer, and Scripture of Christian life.
15. 2.7Mixed marriages begun before conversion are valid and blessed with hope of winning the spouse, but a Christian who chooses to marry a pagan enters a union the Lord condemns.
16. 2.8Rich Christian women marry pagans out of worldliness, but marriage between two believers, sealed by the church's blessing and shared in prayer, fasting, and worship, is supremely happy.