Early Christian Views on Sex and Marriage

Hebrews 13:4 Direct teaching

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...release, she is a helper in keeping the house, and in the faith that is in Christ. And still more clearly he says, "To those who are joined in marriage I command, not I, but the Lord, that a wife is not to be separated from her husband. But if she is separated, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to send away his wife. But to the rest I say, I, not the Lord," down to, "But now they are holy," 1 Corinthians 7:14. What then will those say who speak against the law and against marriage, as though it were permitted only by the law, and not also in the New Testament? What can those who shrink from sowing and generation say against these laws that have been laid down? For he also appoints as bishop one who rules his own household well, and is the husband of one wife. Therefore he says that all things are pure to the pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. Rather, both their mind and conscience are defiled, Titus 1:15. But concerning pleasure that is outside the rule, he says, "Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the soft, nor those who lie with males, nor the greedy, nor

Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp (Short Version) Direct teaching

But it becomes both men and women who marry, to form their union with the approval of the bishop, that their marriage may be according to God, and not after their own lust.

Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp (Syriac Version) Direct teaching

It is becoming, therefore, to men and women who marry, that they marry with the counsel of the bishop, that the marriage may be in our Lord, and not in lust.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

For the conjunction of man and wife, if it be with righteousness, is agreeable to the mind of God.

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Supporting witness

[This took place] not as if the lawful union [of man and wife] were abominable, but such a kind of birth was fitting to God.

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

She knows one home; she guards with chaste modesty the sanctity of one couch.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

for so it is written, The Lord has testified between you and between the wife of your youth;

Ignatius, Epistle to the Philadelphians (Long Version) Supporting witness

Wives, be ye subject to your husbands in the fear of God;

1 Corinthians 7:1 Direct teaching

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

1 Corinthians 7:2 Direct teaching

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Athenagoras, Connection to Matthew 19:5 Supporting witness

For each of us thinks of the woman whom he has married, according to the laws laid down by us, and in the marriage state as his wife. For we believe that we shall live again... one wife, for whom we look.

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

But we are so far from practising promiscuous intercourse, that it is not lawful among us to indulge even a lustful look.

1 Timothy 4:3 Direct teaching

who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

...ty of chastity. God limits this not only within private walls, but also to the lawful bounds of the marriage bed, so that when a man has a wife, he should not also want to have either a female slave or a free woman besides her, but should keep faith in marriage. For according to human law, only the woman is an adulteress if she has another man, while the husband, even if he has several women, is freed from the charge of adultery. But the divine law joins the two in marriage with equal right, since it is one body, so that whoever has torn apart the union of that body in different directions is judged an adulterer. And for no other reason did God, although He made the other living creatures resist the males after conception, make woman alone among them all receptive to the man. This was clearly so that, if women resisted, lust would force men to desire something else, and by doing so they would not keep the glory of chastity. But neither would a woman gain the virtue of modesty if she were not able to sin. For who would call a dumb animal modest, when after conception it resists the male? It does this because it must come into pain and danger if it allows him. Therefore there is n

Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching

...woman unlawfully put away is just as much an adulterer as the man who marries a woman not divorced. Marriage is permanent when it is not rightly dissolved. Therefore, to marry while matrimony is undissolved is to commit adultery. Since, therefore, His prohibition of divorce was conditional, He did not prohibit it absolutely. And what He did not absolutely forbid, He permitted on some occasions, when the cause for which He gave His prohibition is absent. In truth, His teaching is not contrary to Moses, whose precept He partly defends, I will not say confirms. If, however, you deny that divorce is in any way permitted by Christ, how is it that you on your side destroy marriage, neither 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 agree together to repudiate the fruit of their marriage, and so the Creator Himself? Well then, what is a husband in your sect to do if his wife commits adultery? Shall he keep her? But your own apostle, you know, does not allow the members of Christ to be joined to a harlot. 1 Corinthians 6:15 Divorce, therefore, when it is justly deserved, has even

Minucius Felix, Octavius Direct teaching

...d hear with pleasure, glory in incests. In the same way, you also worship incestuous gods, who have intercourse with mothers, daughters, and sisters. Therefore, with good reason, incest is often found among you and is continually allowed. Miserable men, you may even, without knowing it, rush into what is unlawful. Since you scatter your lusts everywhere, since you beget children everywhere, and since you often expose even those born in your own homes to the mercy of others, it must happen that you return to your own children and stray to your own offspring. In this way you keep alive the story of incest, even though you have no awareness of your crime. But we keep our modesty not in appearance, but in our heart. We gladly remain in the bond of a single marriage. In the desire to have children, we know either one wife or none at all. We take part in banquets that are not only modest, but also sober. For we do not indulge in entertainments or drag out our feasts with wine. But we temper our joy with seriousness, with chaste conversation, and with bodies even more chaste. Many of us, still unviolated, enjoy rather than boast of a perpetual virginity of the body. So far, in fact, ar

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

Hebrews 13:14-16 And then, as putting the finishing stroke to the question about marriage, he adds: Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness

Assuredly also, when (the apostle) rules that marriage should be only in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 7:39 that no Christian should intermarry with a heathen, he maintains a law of the Creator, who everywhere prohibits marriage with strangers.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

for she did not take a husband in addition to a husband, But in the house the marriage-bed remains unpolluted.

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness

Let him who has a wife seek nothing further, but, content with her alone, let him guard the mysteries of the marriage-bed chaste and undefiled.

Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness

And in confirmation of this, in the case of the transgression and violation of marriage unions in the flesh, the law has decreed the penalty of death.

Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness

...an obstinate refusal to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing but meetings early in the morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and sealing their way of life by a united pledge to remain faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. In reply, Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought out. But if they were brought before him, they should be punished. O miserable deliverance. Under the necessities of the case, it is a self-contradiction. It forbids them to be sought out, as innocent, and it commands them to be punished, as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel. It passes by, and it punishes. Why do you play this game of evasion with yourself, O Judgment? If you condemn, why do you not also inquire? If you do not inquire, why do you not also absolve? Military stations are set throughout all the provinces for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public enemies every man is a soldier. Search is made even for their confederates and accessories. The Christian alone must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge, as if a search had any other end than that! And so

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness

...whose lives they turn into mysteries. But if they really meant to condemn shameless and promiscuous intercourse, they should hate either Zeus, who begot children by his mother Rhea and his daughter Koré, and took his own sister as wife, or Orpheus, the inventor of these tales, who made Zeus more unholy and detestable than Thyestes himself. For the latter defiled his daughter in pursuance of an oracle, and when he wanted to obtain the kingdom and avenge himself. But we are so far from practicing promiscuous intercourse that among us it is not even lawful to indulge in a lustful look. For He says, "He who looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery in his heart." Matthew 5:28. Those, then, who are forbidden to look at anything more than that for which God formed the eyes, which were meant to be a light to us, and to whom a wanton look is adultery, since the eyes were made for other purposes, and who must be called to account for their very thoughts, how can anyone doubt that such persons practice self-control? For our account does not lie with human laws, which a bad man can evade. At the outset I proved to you, sovereign lords, that our doctrine is from the

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness

Therefore, let this be kept in all the duties of life, and let it also be kept in marriage. For it is not enough if you keep away from another man's bed, or from a brothel. Let the man who has a wife seek nothing more. Instead, being content with her alone, let him keep the secrets of the marriage bed pure and undefiled. For in God's sight, the man who throws off the yoke and gives himself to forbidden pleasure with another woman, whether free or a slave, is just as much an adulterer and impure. But just as a woman is bound by the bonds of chastity not to desire any other man, so the husband must be bound by the same law, since God has joined the husband and wife together in the union of one body. For this reason, He has commanded that a wife must not be sent away unless she is found guilty of adultery, and that the bond of the marriage covenant must never be broken unless unfaithfulness has broken it. This also is added to complete chastity: there must be an absence not only of the sinful act, but even of the thought of it. For it is clear that the mind is polluted by desire, even when it is not carried out. So a just man ought neither to do, nor to want to do, what is unjust. The

1 Corinthians 7:38 Direct teaching

So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

1 Corinthians 7:5 Supporting witness

Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

...e the distinction between male and female does not exist in souls. Nor do they have any ability for sexual relations, or any desire for them. And where there is no desire, there can be no sexual relations. Where there are no sexual relations at all, there can be no lawful sexual union, that is, marriage. And where there is no lawful union, there can also be no unlawful desire for, or sexual relations with, another man's wife, that is, adultery. Again, the command against theft, or against the desire to have more, does not apply to souls. Souls do not need the things for which men usually steal or rob because of natural poverty or lack, such as gold, silver, an animal, or something else suited for food, shelter, or use. For to an immortal nature, everything that needy people desire as useful is useless. But the fuller discussion of these matters should be left to those who want to examine each point more exactly, or to argue more earnestly with opponents. Since what has just been said, together with what agrees with it in proving the resurrection, is enough for us, it would not be fitting to spend more time on these things. For our aim has not been to leave out nothing that could

Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, Fragments Direct teaching

...ancy isn't a necessary consequence of having a womb. Both barren and fertile women can abstain from sexual relations, some from birth and others later in life. Men also remain virgins, some from birth and others later on, thus preventing marriage corrupted by lust. Some animals with wombs don't bear offspring either, such as mules; male mules don’t father offspring. So, both in humans and animals, sexual relations can cease even before the afterlife. Our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin to end procreation driven by wrongful desire and to show the ruler that forming man was possible for God without human intervention. After His birth, He conformed to other human conditions—like eating, drinking, and wearing clothes—but not to fulfilling sexual functions. Regarding fleshly desires, He accepted some as necessary but did not indulge in those unnecessary. Without food, drink, or clothing, the flesh perishes, but it doesn't suffer from the absence of wrongful desire. He also foretold that, in the afterlife, sexual intercourse will cease; as He said, “The children of this world marry and are given in marriage; but the children of the next world neither marry nor are given in marr

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness

But marriage, when by agreement it gives time to prayer, is a teaching of self-control. For he added the words “by agreement,” so that no one might dissolve a marriage. And he added “for a time,” in 1 Corinthians 7:5, so that a man who has taken a wife, if he practices self-control by necessity, may not slip into sin, and while sparing his own marriage, may desire another’s. For this reason, in the case of the man who thinks he is behaving improperly because he keeps his virgin unmarried, he rightly says that if she marries, he does not sin. But each person, whether he has chosen chastity, or whether he has joined himself in marriage for the begetting of children, must firmly remain in his own purpose and not turn aside to what is worse. For if he is able to increase and intensify the pattern of life he has chosen, he gains greater honor with God because of pure self-control that comes from reason. But if he goes beyond the rule he chose, he will then fall back into a lesser hope of glory. For just as chastity has its own duties and ministries, marriage also has its own duties and ministries that belong to the Lord. I mean the care of children and of a wife. For what properly occup

Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness

Let lust not go beyond the marriage-bed, but be subservient to the procreation of children.

Justin Martyr, On the Resurrection, Fragments Direct teaching

but those even who are not barren abstain from sexual intercourse, some being virgins from the first, and others from a certain time.

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching

..."They are daughters of each other. One of them is called Simplicity, another Guilelessness, another Chastity, another Intelligence, and another Love. When you do all the works of their mother, you will be able to live." I said, "I would like to know, Lady, what power each one of them has." She said, "Hear what power they have. Their powers are arranged by each other, and they follow each other in the order of their birth. For from Faith comes Self-restraint; from Self-restraint, Simplicity; from Simplicity, Guilelessness; from Guilelessness, Chastity; from Chastity, Intelligence; and from Intelligence, Love. So the deeds of these are pure, chaste, and divine. Whoever gives himself to these, and is able to hold firmly to their works, will have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God." Then I asked her about the ages, whether the end was now coming. She cried out in a loud voice, "Foolish man! Do you not see that the tower is still being built? When the tower is finished and built, then the end comes. And I assure you, it will be finished soon. Ask me no more questions. Let you and all the saints be content with what I have called to your remembrance, and with my renewing

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...ement is expelled. So only the unusual nature found in hyenas devised this extra part for excessive intercourse. For that reason it is also somewhat hollow for a short distance, so that it may serve itching parts. But after that, the hollow closes up. For it was not made for generation. From this it is clear to us, and openly admitted, that intercourse with males must be avoided, and fruitless sowings, and preposterous Venus, and the unions of androgynes, things which nature cannot join together. We should follow nature itself, which forbids this by the arrangement of the parts, since it made the male not to receive seed, but to pour it out. And when Jeremiah, that is, the Spirit speaking through him, says, "My house has become a hyena's den," he uses a wise allegory to condemn the worship of idols, rejecting the food that consisted of dead bodies. For truly the house of the living God ought to be pure from idols. Again, Moses also forbids eating the hare. For the hare mates at all times, and leaps, with the female sitting there, attacking her from behind. For it is one of the animals that leap on from behind. It conceives every month, and it conceives again while already pregna

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...e should be taken, how can it be freely allowed to make constant use, not only of food, but also of intercourse, as if it were a necessary thing? From this it can be seen that the sinews are stretched like threads, and in the violent strain of intercourse are broken. Further, it also casts darkness over the senses and weakens the strength. This is plain both in animals without reason and in bodies trained by exercise. For those who abstain overcome their opponents in contests. And animals kept away from intercourse are driven around and almost dragged, after all their strength and force have at last, as it were, been weakened. The sophist from Abdera used to call intercourse a small epilepsy, thinking it an incurable disease. For do not relaxations follow, which are attributed to that emptying and to the greatness of what departs? For man is born from man and is torn away from him. See how great the loss is. The whole man is drawn away by the emptying of intercourse. For he says, "This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." Genesis 2:23. Therefore a man is emptied by seed to the same measure that he appears in body. For what goes out is the beginning of generation. Ind

Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh Supporting witness

Virginity, likewise, and widowhood, and the modest restraint in secret on the marriage-bed, and the one only adoption of it, are fragrant offerings to God paid out of the good services of the flesh.

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

for by the two, he says, whom the Word desires to agree on earth, we must understand the husband and wife, who by agreement defraud each other of bodily intercourse that they may give themselves unto prayer;