Chapter 24.—No Man Hates His Own Flesh, Not Even Those Who Abuse It.

24.  No man, then, hates himself.  On this point, indeed, no question was ever raised by any sect.  But neither does any man hate his own body.  For the apostle says truly, “No man ever yet hated his own flesh.”28    Eph. v. 29.  And when some people say that they would rather be without a body altogether, they entirely deceive themselves.  For it is not their body, but its corruptions and its heaviness, that they hate.  And so it is not no body, but an uncorrupted and very light body, that they want.  But they think a body of that kind would be no body at all, because they think such a thing as that must be a spirit.  And as to the fact that they seem in some sort to scourge their bodies by abstinence and toil, those who do this in the right spirit do it not that they may get rid of their body, but that they may have it in subjection and ready for every needful work.  For they strive by a kind of toilsome exercise of the body itself to root out those lusts that are hurtful to the body, that is, those habits and affections of the soul that lead to the enjoyment of unworthy objects.  They are not destroying themselves; they are taking care of their health.

25.  Those, on the other hand, who do this in a perverse spirit, make war upon their own body as if it were a natural enemy.  And in this matter they are led astray by a mistaken interpretation of what they read:  “The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other.”29    Gal. v. 17.  For this is said of the carnal habit yet unsubdued, against which the spirit lusteth, not to destroy the body, but to eradicate the lust of the body—i.e., its evil habit—and thus to make it subject to the spirit, which is what the order of nature demands.  For as, after the resurrection, the body, having become wholly subject to the spirit, will live in perfect peace to all eternity; even in this life we must make it an object to have the carnal habit changed for the better, so that its inordinate affections may not war against the soul.  And until this shall take place, “the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh;” the spirit struggling, not in hatred, but for the mastery, because it desires that what it loves should be subject to the higher principle; and the flesh struggling, not in hatred, but because of the bondage of habit which it has derived from its parent stock, and which has grown in upon it by a law of nature till it has become inveterate.  The spirit, then, in subduing the flesh, is working as it were to destroy the ill-founded peace of an evil habit, and to bring about the real peace which springs out of a good habit.  Nevertheless, not even those who, led astray by false notions, hate their bodies would be prepared to sacrifice one eye, even supposing they could do so without suffering any pain, and that they had as much sight left in one as they formerly had in two, unless some object was to be attained which would overbalance the loss.  This and other indications of the same kind are sufficient to show those who candidly seek the truth how well-founded is the statement of the apostle when he says, “No man ever yet hated his own flesh.”  He adds too, “but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church.”30    Eph. v. 29.

CAPUT XXIV. Nemo carnem suam odit, nequidem illi qui in eam insurgunt.

24. Nemo ergo se odit. Et hinc quidem nulla cum 0028 aliqua secta quaestio fuit . Sed neque corpus suum quisquam odit: verum est enim quod ait Apostolus, Nemo unquam carnem suam odio habuit (Ephes. V, 29). Et quod nonnulli dicunt, malle se omnino esse sine corpore, omnino falluntur: non enim corpus suum, sed corruptiones ejus et pondus oderunt. Non itaque nullum corpus, sed incorruptum et celerrimum corpus volunt habere: sed putant nullum corpus esse si tale fuerit, quia tale aliquid esse animam putant. Quod autem continentia quadam et laboribus quasi persequi videntur corpora sua; qui hoc recte faciunt, non id agunt ut non habeant corpus, sed ut habeant subjugatum et paratum ad opera necessaria. Libidines enim male utentes corpore, id est consuetudines et inclinationes animae ad fruendum inferioribus, per ipsius corporis laboriosam quamdam militiam exstinguere affectant. Nam non se interimunt, sed curam suae valetudinis gerunt.

25. Qui autem perverse id agunt, quasi naturaliter inimico suo corpori bellum ingerunt. In quo fallit eos quod legunt: Caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, et spiritus adversus carnem; haec enim sibi invicem adversantur (Galat. V, 17). Dictum est enim hoc propter indomitam carnalem consuetudinem, adversus quam spiritus concupiscit; non ut interimat corpus, sed ut concupiscentia ejus, id est consuetudine mala edomita, faciat spiritui subjugatum , quod naturalis ordo desiderat. Quia enim hoc erit post resurrectionem, ut corpus omnimodo cum quiete summa spiritui subditum immortaliter vigeat, hoc etiam in hac vita meditandum est, ut consuetudo carnalis mutetur in melius, nec inordinatis motibus resistat spiritui. Quod donec fiat, caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, et spiritus adversus carnem: non per odium resistente spiritu, sed per principatum; quia magis quod diligit vult subditum esse meliori: nec per odium resistente carne, sed per consuetudinis vinculum, quod a parentum etiam propagine inveteratum naturae lege inolevit. Id ergo agit spiritus in domanda carne, ut solvat malae consuetudinis quasi pacta perversa, et fiat pax consuetudinis bonae. Tamen nec isti qui falsa opinione depravati corpora sua detestantur, parati essent unum oculum vel sine sensu doloris amittere, etiamsi in altero tantus cernendi sensus remaneret, quantus erat in duobus, nisi aliqua res quae praeponenda esset, urgeret. Isto atque hujusmodi documento satis ostenditur eis qui sine pertinacia verum requirunt, quam certa sententia sit Apostoli, ubi ait: Nemo enim unquam carnem suam odio habuit. Addidit etiam: Sed nutrit et fovet eam, sicut Christus Ecclesiam.