Caput XXIV
The Guilt of Conception and the Judgment of God
Odo argues that the eternal condemnation of an innocent infant points to the gravity of the sin present at conception, and that God rightly judges fornicators and adulterers.
To turn to the matter at hand: why does God, the just Judge, condemn eternally an infant conceived in lawful marriage at a proper time, even if the child dies before it is able to sin? But since the child is in no way punished for any personal guilt, it is clear that this happens on account of the sin that occurs at the hour of conception. If, then, the guilt in conjugal intercourse is so great that an infant ought to be punished for that alone, how much greater is the guilt in rape or in the defilement committed solely to satisfy lust? Rightly, then, the Apostle declares that God will judge fornicators and adulterers.✦
Referring the Case to God Alone
Just as lesser judges refer insoluble cases to a higher ruler, so the magnitude of original guilt shows that only God can be its judge, as even the Apostle declines to justify himself before any but the Lord.
It is certainly clear that lesser cases are judged by lesser judges, but when some matter arises that they are in no way able to resolve on their own, they refer it to the attention of the ruler. So that the magnitude of this guilt might be shown, the matter is held to be referred to the judgment of God alone. In this sense, what the same Apostle says is also to be understood: 'I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not justified in this' (1 Cor.✦ 4:4).
The Unresistible Judge and the Sin Against the Body
Paul dares not justify himself because the Lord who judges him is one whose wrath no one can resist, and he underscores the unique enormity of fornication as a sin against one's own body.
Why wouldn't he dare to justify himself, even if he's conscious of no evil after baptism? He makes this clear by adding: 'But he who judges me is the Lord' (ibid.).✦ As if he were saying: 'Not an equal opponent, but one whose wrath no one can resist.'✦ Furthermore, to show the enormity of so great a vice, the same Apostle adds: 'Every sin that a man may commit is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body' (1 Cor.✦ 6, 18).
The Inner Disease of Fornication and the Call to Flee
Because the heart is the source of sin within the body, fornication is an inner disease far graver than outward sores; thus Scripture commands us not to fight this vice at close quarters but to flee it entirely, lest even the smallest entanglement deliver us wholly to its power.
Our heart, from which the Lord declares sins go forth, is within the body. The Apostle doesn't say this to claim that fornication alone is within the body, but to show that the graver this sin is compared to other sins, the more the inner disease differs from the sores on the skin. Doesn't God himself confirm this, who has declared that the devil's strength consists in this vice, saying — as stated above — to blessed Job: 'His strength is in his loins' (Job 40:11)? Hence it is also that the aforementioned Apostle commands us to fight at close quarters against other vices, but urges us to flee fornication — plainly advising that if any warrior, victorious through frequent engagements with enemies, should at some point encounter such an armed foe, he wouldn't dare to engage him but would turn away by flight. So let every Christian, even if he has overcome other vices, keep himself far from the occasions of lust, lest if he is bound by even the smallest finger, he be handed over entirely.✦
Read the original Latin
Versum ut aliquid sub argumento dicamus, quare justus judex Deus infantem legitimo matrimonio et absoluto tempore conceptum, etiam si priusquam peccare possit, moritur, cur aeternaliter condemnet? Sed dum proprio reatu minime punitur, manifestum est illud fieri propter illud peccatum quod fit hora conceptionis. Si ergo tanta est culpa in conjugali concubitu, ut infans pro illa sola puniri debeat, quanta in stupro est vel in pollutione, quae ad solam libidinem explendam patratur? Merito igitur protestatur Apostolus, quia fornicatores et adulteros judicabit Deus. Liquet certe quod minores causae per minores judices soleant judicari, sed cum aliquod tale negotium obrepserit, quod per se nullatenus expedire valeant, id ad principis notitiam referunt. Ut igitur quantus sit iste reatus monstraretur, ad solius Dei judicium referri perhibetur. Sub hoc sensu est intelligendum etiam illud, quod idem Apostolus ait: Nihil mihi conscius sum, sed non in hoc justificatus sum (I Cor. IV, 4).
Nam cur se justificare non audeat, quamvis nihil mali post baptisma sibi conscius sit, manifestat subdens: Qui autem judicat me Dominus est (Ibid.) ; ac si diceret: Non aequalis, sed cujus irae resistere nemo potest. Porro ad enormitatem tanti vitii demonstrandam, idem ipse Apostolus subdit: Omne peccatum quodcunque fecerit homo, extra corpus est; qui autem fornicatur, in corpus suum peccat (I Cor. VI, 18). Cor namque nostrum, de quo Dominus peccata exire perhibet, intra corpus est. Hoc ergo non ob hoc dicit Apostolus, ut sola fornicatio intra corpus sit; sed ut ostenderet quia quantum gravior est aliis peccatis, tantum distat morbus interior ab ulceribus quae in cute sunt. Nonne et hoc Deus approbat, qui fortitudinem diaboli in hoc vitio constare perhibuit dicens, ut supradictum est ad beatum Job: Fortitudo ejus in lumbis ejus (Job XL, 11); hinc etiam est quod praedictus Apostolus contra caetera quidem vitia pugnare nos in cominus jubet, fornicationem vero fugere hortatur; nimirum suadens, ut si quis praeliator frequenti hostium congressione victoriosus, si armatum talem incurrat aliquando, cui congredi nullatenus audens ab eo per fugam declinet: ita quilibet Christianus etiam si alia vitia superaverit, ab occasionibus tamen libidinis longe se faciat, ne si minimo digito ligetur totus tradatur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Heb.13.4 — Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
- ↩1Cor.4.4 — I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not thereby justified; the one who examines me is the Lord.
- ↩1Cor.4.4 — I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not thereby justified; the one who examines me is the Lord.
- ↩Rom.9.19;Nah.1.6 — You will then say to me, 'Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?' Nah.1.6 — Before his indignation, who can stand? And who can rise up in the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
- ↩1Cor.6.18 — Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
- ↩1Cor.6.18 — Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
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