« on: February 10, 2026, 09:05:27 PM »
0
0
Excerpts below are from p. 207-209: https://archive.org/details/ADevoutCommentary/page/n211/mode/2up
Faithful reprint of the whole book available from 1901, with an imprimatur: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0FWJCQZSH/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0FWJCQZSH&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwchanco-20 />
THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE, WHICH ST. PAUL INTERPRETS OF CHRIST AND THE CHURCH
31-33. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. This is a great sacrament; but I speak in Christ and in the Church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular love his wife as himself: and let the wife fear her husband.
St. Paul now brings the authority of the Scripture to enforce the obligation a man is under to love his wife. The words quoted by the Apostle are those of Adam after God had created Eve for his companion. "And the Lord God built the rib which He took from Adam into a woman; and brought her to Adam. And Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh." (Gen. ii. 22-4).
These words are quoted by our blessed Saviour in His instruction about marriage addressed to the Pharisees (Matt. xix. 5), but He there attributes them to God, whereas in Genesis we find that Adam spoke them. The explanation is that Adam spoke under the inspiration of God. God therefore spoke by inspiring and teaching Adam.
In this passage three kinds of intimate union between a man and his wife are noticed. The first is that of singular love, which is so great that it makes each ready to leave their parents and their father’s house: "wherefore a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife."
The second union is that of companionship and constant intercourse: "he shall cleave to his wife" (Ecclus. xxv. 2).
The third union is in the flesh: "they shall be two in one flesh."
This is a great sacrament, that is, a great mystery, for a sacrament is an outward sign of some spiritual and invisible thing; and this union of husband and wife is the sign of the union of Christ and the Church, of which it is the type.
These words do not prove that Christian marriage is a sacrament, for St. Paul does not say this; but that there is a mysterious likeness between the union of marriage and the union of Christ and the Church.
We know, however, by the authority of the Church, that marriage is one of the seven Sacraments (Trid. Sess. xxiv. can. i.).
St Thomas notices that there are four Sacraments that may be called great — Baptism, by reason of its effects, because it blots out sin, and opens the Kingdom of Heaven; Confirmation, by reason of the Minister, because it can only be administered by a Bishop; the Eucharist, by reason of what it contains, for it contains the whole Christ, God and Man; lastly, Marriage, by reason of its signification, because it signifies the union of Christ and the Church.
According to the mystical interpretation, then, the words above quoted from Genesis should be understood of Christ leaving His Father, inasmuch as He was sent into this world and became Man, "I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world" (John xvi. 28), and His Mother, that is, the ѕуηαgσgυє, and cleaving for ever to His Bride, the Church, to whom He said, "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matt xxviii. 20).
The argument of the Apostle is seen by explaining the example he brings according to the literal sense. For there are some things in the Old Testament which are said about Christ only, as, for instance, that of the Psalm, "They have dug My Hands and My Feet: they have numbered all My Bones" (Ps. xxi. (xxii.) 17), and that of Isaias, "Behold a virgin shall conceive" (Isa. vii. 14). Certain other things can be explained of Christ and of others, though principally of Christ and of others in the figure of Christ, as in these words from Genesis. Primarily, therefore, should this text be explained of Christ, and afterwards of others: and therefore the Apostle says, Nevertheless let every one of you in particular (or severally) love his wife as himself, as if he should say, The words of Genesis are said principally of Christ; and if they do not apply to Him alone, it is because they are to be explained of others and fulfilled in others in the figure of Christ.
As himself. Each one should love himself, but in a way that does not interfere with his love to God, his last end; and in the same way should he love his wife, taking care not to allow that love to betray him into sin (Luke xiv. 26).
And what is the duty of the wife? Let the wife fear her husband, not indeed with servile fear, but with the fear of reverence and subjection, because she ought to be subject to him.
Logged
Do thou embrace the Cross and bear it with joy in imitation of my Son and thy Master (Matt. 16, 24). In this mortal life let thy glory be in tribulations, persecutions (Rom. 5, 3), contempt, infirmities, poverty, humiliation and in whatever is painful and averse to mortal flesh. And in order that in all thy exercises thou mayest imitate me and give me pleasure, I wish that thou seek no rest or consolation in any earthly thing.
— Our Lady’s words, Mystical City of God, The Transfixion
Topic: St. Thomas Aquinas' Commentary on Ephesians: Matrimony (Read 170 times)