*On Virginity* What the Holy Scriptures Teach

[Asinner]

What are the scriptures that support the physical impurity of a non-virgin.

There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband.

Why doesn't he say that a wife is also holy in body? Since a married woman can be holy in spirit, I think the conclusion is pretty obvious that only a virgin can be both.

Love,
Christina

 

[Mobiosity]

There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband.

Why doesn't he say that a wife is also holy in body? Since a married woman can be holy in spirit, I think the conclusion is pretty obvious that only a virgin can be both.

Love,
Christina

But, Christina what about a widow, divorcee' or a woman who has been raped? If we're using the presence or absence of the hymen to determine the virginity or lack of it, some women's hymen are broken in childhood through a physically active life.

 

[Asinner]

But, Christina what about a widow, divorcee' or a woman who has been raped? If we're using the presence or absence of the hymen to determine the virginity or lack of it, some women's hymen are broken in childhood through a physically active life.

A virgin is someone who does not know a man.

There are some Christians who remain celibate after their spouses death, to devote themselves to the Lord. This is wonderful! But knowing someone, through intimacy, deprives us of the innocence of not knowing. That is the difference.

Love,
Christina

 

[Uphill Battle]

There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband.

Why doesn't he say that a wife is also holy in body? Since a married woman can be holy in spirit, I think the conclusion is pretty obvious that only a virgin can be both.

Love,
Christina

that is basically akin to calling non virgins unholy in body.

yikes.

 

[PassthePeace1]

There is difference [also] between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please [her] husband.

Why doesn't he say that a wife is also holy in body? Since a married woman can be holy in spirit, I think the conclusion is pretty obvious that only a virgin can be both.

Love,
Christina

I don't see your conclusion as "pretty obvious", it seems to suggest, that a person called to a vocation of Marriage bodies are unholy, because of the martial act.

God calls us into our vocations, and that includes the vocation of marriage. Marriage is a sacrament, and as long as their is an fidelity to the intent of God's plan for the martial act....it's a blessing, not an act of impurity.

I am sorry, if I am misunderstanding you...but that does seem to me, to be what you are saying.

Peace be with you...Pam

 

[Mobiosity]

A virgin is someone who does not know a man.

There are some Christians who remain celibate after their spouses death, to devote themselves to the Lord. This is wonderful! But knowing someone, through intimacy, deprives us of the innocence of not knowing. That is the difference.

Love,
Christina

I need some more detail. So a woman who was raped is still pure in your lexicon because it was not through intimacy but through violence that her virginity was lost?

 

[IamAdopted]

I need some more detail. So a woman who was raped is still pure in your lexicon because it was not through intimacy but through violence that her virginity was lost?

I have not seem more of a dedication of women than those who take Gods word and train their children in the ways of the Lord. Not only dedication her life to the Lord but those of Her children. And a Husband that leads His family as Christ leads His church.

 

[Asinner]

I don't see your conclusion as "pretty obvious", it seems to suggest, that a person called to a vocation of Marriage bodies are unholy, because of the martial act.

God calls us into our vocations, and that includes the vocation of marriage. Marriage is a sacrament, and as long as their is an fidelity to the intent of God's plan for the martial act....it's a blessing, not an act of impurity.

I am sorry, if I am misunderstanding you...but that does seem to me, to be what you are saying.

Peace be with you...Pam

Hi Pam ,

I know everything seems muddled. Somewhere along the way, the point became lost.

Virginity was practiced in the garden. There was no intimacy, until Adam knew Eve and she conceived (Gen 4:1). This was after the fall. Mary has restored what Eve lost, this includes virginity. Although God has sanctified the marriage act through the Sacrament of Marriage, and is good . . . Virginity is the state of man before the fall, when he walked with God, and is therefore, the higher calling. Where marriage is good, virginity is better (1 Cor 7). The purity of the pre-fall state, Mary restored through Christ, and became what Eve should have, physically and spiritually. Certainly this does not mean that unless we are all virgins, we can not commune with God. It is a Gift that not everyone has. Those that do have it and are able to abstain from these passions, quench that which is most difficult to quench and thusly, have denied themselves (something all of us are called to do one way or another), picked up the cross, and followed Him. Christ and Mary, both virgins, are our restored Adam and Eve. There are many implications to Mary's PV, some of which you mentioned in one of your posts. This is simply another aspect to it.

As far as the marriage act being unholy, I would say that no, it is not unholy, nor is it pure. It is sanctified, set apart from that which is impure. It is good, but only because God made it so through His Sacrament. Outside of marriage, sex is unclean and impure. Within marriage, it is made clean.


Does this make better sense? I am not a theologian. Much of what I say, may be confusing because I am only reiterating what the fathers of the Church have said, yet with a mind that can not always fathom the depth of it.

Love,
Christina

 

[Mobiosity]

Hi Pam ,
Virginity was practiced in the garden. There was no intimacy, until Adam knew Eve and she conceived (Gen 4:1). This was after the fall.

Love making was practiced in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Gen 2 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

 

[Theophorus]

As far as the marriage act being unholy, I would say that no, it is not unholy, nor is it pure. It is sanctified, set apart from that which is impure. It is good, but only because God made it so through His Sacrament. Outside of marriage, sex is unclean and impure. Within marriage, it is made clean.

This is the patristic view. The pre-fall state was more "angelic". God made provisions for the fall and its effects on all of creation, including death, birth and procreation and carnal relations.

Patristics puts little stock into the physical aspect of marriage and procreation in general. It is regarded as a condescension to man's fallen state. When marriage is contemplated as a holy condition, it is within the context of being married to the lamb.

This is in stark contrast to the pagan view of marriage and procreation which celebrates the sex act as participating in the divine nature itself and as a spiritually creative activity.

 

[Asinner]

Love making was practiced in the Garden of Eden before the fall. Gen 2 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

Mobiosity ,

Thank you for your patience with me on this thread.

This was written in the fourth century by a church father named John Chrysostom. He is regarded very highly. This is a commentary, a very ancient one, but it's view has always been held by the Church.

On Genesis 2:24

How did it come to his mind to say this? How did he know the future, and the fact that the human race would multiply? How did it be come known to him that there would be intercourse between man and wife? After all, this occurred after the fall; but before that they lived in Paradise like angels, were not aroused by the flesh, were not inflamed by their passions either, were not weighed down by bodily needs, but being created entirely incorrupt and immortal, did not even need the covering f clothing . . . And so, tell me, from whence did the idea come for him to say this? Is it not clear that, since before the transgression he was a participant of the grace of prophecy, he saw all this with his spiritual eyes.

Although the verse you provided, seems to indicate at first glance, that marital relations happened in the Garden, please take into account Genesis 4:1, which explicitly states that Adam knew Eve, and she conceived. This verse is a very strong indicator that this was their first marital encounter because he knew her and she conceived. If your interpretation is correct, then why did conception not occur prior to the fall? If they were fulfilling the command to be fruitful and multiply, then why weren't they procreating? Please consider this aspect. To claim that Eve was infertile for a period of time seems inconsistent with them being newly fallen and thusly, still close to the image of God. Sin just entered the world and although we can see it's results today, in 2007 with infertility and barrenness, disease, ect., that is because we are thousands and thousands of years of living in a corrupted state. Also, Genesis states that Adam had hundreds of children . . . So, the fact that Eve did not conceive before the fall, means the likelyhood that they were "knowing each other" is rather slim.

Love,
Christina