Chapter 22.—Rule Regarding
Passages of Scripture in Which Approval is Expressed of Actions
Which are Now Condemned by Good Men.
32. Therefore, although all, or
nearly all, the transactions recorded in the Old Testament are to
be taken not literally only, but figuratively as well, nevertheless
even in the case of those which the reader has taken literally, and
which, though the authors of them are praised, are repugnant to the
habits of the good men who since our Lord’s advent are the
custodians of the divine commands, let him refer the figure to its
interpretation, but let him not transfer the act to his habits of
life. For many things which were done as duties at that time,
cannot now be done except through lust.