Fathers

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What the Fathers say

1 Corinthians 7:3

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Now what is the meaning of "the due honor? The wife hath not power over her own body;" but is both the slave and the mistress of the husband. And if you decline the service which is due, you have offended God. But if thou wish to withdraw thyself, it must be with the husband's permission, though it be but a for short time. For this is why he calls the matter a debt, to shew that no one is master of himself but that they are servants to each other. …

Homily on 1 Corinthians 19 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Consider love for one another as a debt; and since it is a debt, you are necessarily obligated to show it to one another.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Western Saints

Thomas Aquinas

Then when he says, the husband should give, he deals with the use of the marriage contract: first, about rendering the conjugal debt; secondly, about postponing the debt (v. 5). In regard to the first he does two things. First, he states his proposition, saying: it has been stated that a man should have a wife and a wife her husband. …

Commentary on 1 Corinthians ↗

Bonaventure

That conjugal chastity is to be approved according to the evangelical law is shown by authority, as follows. 1 Corinthians 7: Let the husband render to the wife the debt owed, and the wife to the husband. The husband does not have power over his own body, but the wife does: therefore for the husband to render the debt to the wife is consonant with the law of God: but this is done according to the conjugal act: therefore the conjugal act is consonant with the law of God.

Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 3 ↗