Clement of Alexandria : Those, therefore, who are consecrated to God must never live mortally. "Nor," as Paul says, "is it meet to make the members of Christ the members of an harlot; nor must the temple of God be made the temple of base affections." Remember the four and twenty thousand that were rejected for fornication. — The Instructor Book 2 Cyprian : That marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles. In Tobias: "Take a wife from the seed of thy parents, and take not a strange woman who is not of the tribe of thy parents."699 Also in Genesis, Abraham sends his servant to take from his seed Rebecca, for his son Isaac. Also in Esdras, it was not sufficient for God when the Jews were laid waste, unless they forsook their foreign wives, with the children also whom they had begotten of them. Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "The woman is bound so long as her husband liveth; but if he die, she is freed to marry whom she will, only in the Lord. But she will be happier if she abide thus."700 And again: "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? Far be it from me. Or know ye not that he who is joined together with an harlot is one body? for two shall be in one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit."701 Also in the second to the Corinthians: "Be not joined together with unbelievers. For what participation is there between righteousness and unrighteousness? or what communication hath light with darkness? "702 Also concerning Solomon in the third book of Kings: "And foreign wives turned away his heart after their gods."703 — Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews Cyprian : Christ gave this judgment when, being inquired of, He said that a wife must not be put away, save for the cause of adultery; such honour did He put upon chastity. Hence arose the decree: "Ye shall not suffer adulteresses to live."8 Hence the apostle says: "This is the will of God, that ye abstain from fornication."9 Hence also he says the same thing: "That the members of Christ must not be joined with the members of an harlot."10 Hence the man is delivered over unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, who, treading under foot the law of chastity, practises the vices of the flesh. Hence with reason adulterers do not attain the kingdom of heaven. Hence it is that every sin is without the body, but that the adulterer alone sins against his own body. Hence other authoritative utterances of the instructor, all of which it is not necessary at this time to collect, especially among you, who for the most part know and do them; and you cannot find cause for complaint concerning these things, even though they are not described. For the adulterer has not an excuse, nor could he have, because he might take a wife. — Pseudo-Cyprian Of the Discipline and Advantage of Chastity John Chrysostom : Having passed on from the fornicator to the covetous person, he comes back to the former from the latter, no longer henceforth discoursing with him but with the others who had not committed fornication. And in the act of securing them lest they fall into the same sins, he assails him again. For he that has committed sin, though you direct your words to another, is stung even in that way; his conscience being thoroughly awakened and scourging him. Now the fear of punishment indeed was enough to keep them in chastity. But seeing that he does not wish by fear alone to set these matters right, he uses both threatenings and reasons. Now upon that other occasion, having stated the sin, and prescribed the punishment, and pointed out the harm which intercourse with the fornicator brought upon all, he left off, and passed to the subject of covetousness: and having threatened the covetous and all the rest whom he mentioned with expulsion from the kingdom, he so concluded his discourse. But here he takes in hand the work of admonition in a yet more terrific manner. For as he that only punishes a sin and does nothing to point out its most extreme lawlessness, produces no such great effect by his chastisement: so again, he who only abashes and fails to terrify by his mode of punishing, does not very keenly hit men of hardened minds. Wherefore Paul does both: here he abashes, saying, "Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" there again he terrifies, saying, "Know ye not that the covetous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" And in regard to the fornicator, he again uses this order of discourse. For having terrified him by what he had said before; first cutting him off and delivering him to Satan, and then reminding him of that day which is coming; he abashes him again by saying, "Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?" thenceforth speaking as to children of noble birth. For whereas he had said, "Now the body is for the Lord," he indicates it more plainly now. And in another place as well he does this same thing, saying, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof." And the same figure he often employs, not with the same aim, but at one time to shew His love, and at another to increase their fear. But here he has employed it to startle and fill them with alarm. "Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid." Nothing can be apter to strike horror than this expression. He said not, "Shall I take the members of Christ, and join them on to a harlot?" but what? "make them members of a harlot;" which surely would strike more keenly. — Homily on 1 Corinthians 18 Oecumenius : Other sins like anger and greed come from the soul, but fornication has its roots in the flesh. Paul makes special mention of it here because it was the problem which he had to deal with at the time. Fornication is not self-evidently the worst sin of all. — PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH Tertullian : If, however, you deny that divorce is in any way permitted by Christ, how is it that you on your side destroy marriage, not uniting man and woman, nor admitting to the sacrament of baptism and of the eucharist those who have been united in marriage anywhere else, unless they should agree together to repudiate the fruit of their marriage, and so the very Creator Himself? Well, then, what is a husband to do in your sect, if his wife commit adultery? Shall he keep her? But your own apostle, you know, does not permit "the members of Christ to be joined to a harlot." Divorce, therefore, when justly deserved, has even in Christ a defender. — Against Marcion Book IV Tertullian : In the body will He raise us, because the body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And suitably does he add the question: "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? " What has the heretic to say? That these members of Christ will not rise again, for they are no longer our own? "For," he says, "ye are bought with a price. — Against Marcion Book V Tertullian : However, let me meanwhile add that in the same passage Paul "carries about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus; " he also forbids our body to be profaned, as being "the temple of God; " he makes our bodies "the members of Christ; " and he exhorts us to exalt and "glorify God in our body. — On the Resurrection of the Flesh Tertullian : The admission of a strange man (to your couch) less violates "the temple of God," less commingles "the members of Christ" with the members of an adulteress. So far as I know, "we are not our own, but bought with a price; " and what kind of price? The blood of God. — To His Wife Book II Tertullian : "Taking away the members of Christ, shall I make (them) members of an harlot? Know ye not, that whoever is agglutinated to an harlot is made one body? (for the two shall be (made) into one flesh): but whoever is agglutinated to the Lord is one spirit? Flee fornication." If revocable by pardon, in what sense am I to flee it, to turn adulterer anew? I shall gain nothing if I do flee it: I shall be "one body," to which by communion I shall be agglutinated. — On Modesty Theodore of Mopsuestia : You are all members of Christ because you have been united to him by being born again of the Spirit. You have the hope that you will rise again, just as he rose. — PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH