ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 11 v2

OUT OF LOVE. AMBROSIASTER: Paul is making it clear that what he is about to say he will say out of love for them, so that it may be conducive to their progress as much as to his praise and that they may learn from it how to do a favor to their father in the gospel. For to speak ill of a father harms the sons, and the praise of sons is a father’s glory. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

JEALOUSY. CHRYSOSTOM: Paul uses a word here which is far stronger than mere love. Jealous souls burn ardently for those whom they love, and jealousy presupposes a strong affection. Then, in order that they should not think that Paul is after power, wealth or honor, he adds that his jealousy is “divine.” For God is said to be jealous, not in a human way but so that everyone may know that he claims sovereign rights over those whom he loves and does what he does for their exclusive benefit. Human jealousy is basically selfish, but divine jealousy is both intense and pure.

Note the difference between human brides and the church. In the world, a woman is a virgin before her marriage, when she loses her virginity. But in the church, those who were anything but virgins before they turned to Christ acquire virginity in him. As a result, the whole church is a virgin. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 23.1.

A PURE BRIDE. AUGUSTINE: Why does Paul address all these different people as a “chaste virgin,” unless he is referring to their faith, hope and love? FEAST OF THE NATIVITY 188.

THE SPOUSE OF SOULS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: The souls of all men and women know that they are spouses of Christ if they are willing to preserve both bodily chastity and virginity of heart. For Christ is to be understood as the spouse of their souls, not of their bodies. SERMON 155.4.

A CHASTE VIRGIN. AUGUSTINE: To the same church the apostle says: “For I have promised you to one spouse, that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” … The church, then, like Mary, has inviolate integrity and incorrupt fecundity. What Mary merited physically, the church has guarded spiritually, with the exception that Mary brought forth one Child, while the church has many children destined to be gathered into one body by One. FEAST OF THE NATIVITY 195.2.

THE CHURCH IS A VIRGIN. AUGUSTINE: Do you wish to know how the church is a virgin? Hear the apostle Paul; hear the friend of the Bridegroom who is zealous not for himself but for the Bridegroom: “I betrothed you to one spouse.” He spoke to the church. To which church? To all that his letter could reach. “I betrothed you to one spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest,” he said, “as the serpent seduced Eve by his guile …” That serpent never physically defiled Eve, did he? Yet he did destroy her virginity of heart. On that account Paul said: “I fear lest … your minds may be corrupted from that chastity which is in Christ.” Therefore, the church is a virgin; she is a virgin, may she be a virgin. Let her beware of the deceiver, lest he turn out to be a corrupter. The church is a virgin. Are you, perhaps, going to say to me: “If the church is a virgin, how does she bring forth children? Or, if she does not bring forth children, how did we give our names so that we might be born of her?” I answer: “She is a virgin and she also brings forth children.” She imitates Mary, who gave birth to the Lord. Did not the holy Mary bring forth her Child and remain a virgin? So, too, the church both brings forth children and is a virgin. And if you would give some consideration to the matter, she brings forth Christ, because they who are baptized are his members. CONVERTS AND THE CREED 213.7.

THE PURE VIRGIN BRIDE. NOVATIAN: May purity, then—that purity which goes above and beyond the will and which we should will always to possess—be also given to us for the sake of redemption, so that what has been consecrated by Christ cannot be corrupted. If the apostle states that the church is the bride of Christ, I ask you now to reflect just what purity is required of you, when the church herself is given in marriage as a virgin bride. IN PRAISE OF PURITY 1.

THE CHASTITY OF THE SOUL. ORIGEN: The apostle Paul says, “But I want you all to present yourselves as a pure virgin to one man, Christ. For I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ.” Therefore, Paul wants “all the Corinthians” to present themselves as a pure “virgin to Christ”; certainly he would never want that unless it would seem possible. Whence also it would appear wonderful how these, who although corrupted by diverse sins, came to the faith of Christ, all at once are called “a pure virgin”; a virgin which is so holy and so pure that she is worthy also to be joined in marriage to Christ. However, since we cannot refer these things to the chastity of the flesh, it is sure that they refer to the chastity of the soul, whose “simplicity of the faith which is in Christ,” according to the understanding of Paul himself, was called his virginity. HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 12.5.

2 Cor