3. Therefore (thus) saith the Apostle, the teacher of the Gentiles, the vessel of election, “But I say unto the unmarried and the widows, that it is good for them, if they shall have so continued, even as I also.”3    τοῖς, ταῖς: 1 Cor. vii. 8 These words are to be so understood, as that we think not that widows ought not to be called unmarried, in that they seem to have made trial of marriage: for by the name of unmarried women he means those, who are not now bound by marriage, whether they have been, or whether they have not been so. And this in another place he opens, where he says, “Divided is a woman unmarried and a virgin.”4    ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος Assuredly when he adds a virgin also, what would he have understood by an unmarried woman, but a widow? Whence also, in what follows, under the one term “unmarried” he embraces both professions, saying, “She who is unmarried is careful of the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord: but she who is married is careful of the things of the world, how to please her husband.”5    1 Cor. vii. 34 Certainly by the unmarried he would have understood, not only her who hath never married, but her also, who, being by widowhood set free from the bond of marriage, hath ceased to be married; for on this account also he calleth not married, save her, who hath an husband; not her also, who hath had, and hath not. Wherefore every widow is unmarried; but, because not every unmarried woman is a widow, for there are virgins also; therefore he hath here set both, where he says, “But I say unto the unmarried and the widows;” as if he should say, What I say unto the unmarried, I say not unto them alone, who are virgins, but unto them also who are widows; “that it is good for them, if they shall have so continued, even as also I.”6    1 Cor. vii. 8

CAPUT II.

3. Innuptae apud Apostolum non solae virgines, sed etiam viduae. Ait itaque Apostolus, doctor Gentium, vas electiones: Dico autem innuptis et viduis, bonum esse illis si sic permanserint, sicut et ego. Haec verba ita intelligenda sunt, ut non existimemus viduas non oportere innuptas dici, quia nuptias videntur expertae: innuptarum enim nomine 0432 illas significat, quae non sunt nuptiis alligatae, sive fuerint, sive non fuerint. Quod alio loco aperit, ubi ait: Divisa est mulier innupta et virgo. Quando utique et virginem adjungit, quid mulierem innuptam, nisi viduam vult intelligi? Unde etiam deinceps uno innuptae nomine professionem utramque complectitur dicens: Quae innupta est, sollicita est ea quae sunt Domini, quomodo placeat Domino; quae autem nupta est, sollicita est ea quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat viro (I Cor. VII, 8, 34). Innuptam certe non eam tantum intelligi voluit, quae nunquam nupsit; sed etiam eam quae nuptiarum vinculo per viduitatem liberata, nupta esse destitit: nam ideo et nuptam non dicit, nisi eam quae virum habet; non etiam eam quae habuit, et non habet. Quapropter vidua omnis innupta est: sed quia non omnis innupta vidua est; sunt enim et virgines; ideo hic utrumque posuit, ubi ait, Dico autem innuptis et viduis: tanquam diceret, Quod dico innuptis, non eis solis dico quae virgines sunt, sed etiam eis quae viduae sunt; bonum esse illis si sic permanserint, sicut et ego.