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The Christian theologian Methodius uses Sirach as an authoritative source to teach about self-control, repeating its call to resist desire and indulgence, demonstrating how Sirach influenced Christian tradition and practice.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 18:30
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
27 A wise man is cautious in everything. In days of sinning, he will beware of offense. 28 Every man of understanding knows wisdom. He will give thanks to him who found her. 29 They who were of understanding in sayings also became wise themselves, and poured out apt proverbs. 30 Don’t go after your lusts. Restrain your appetites. 31 If you give fully to your soul the delight of her desire, she will make you the laughing stock of your enemies. 32 Don’t make merry in much luxury, and don’t be tied to its expense.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Methodius, Banquet of the Ten Virgins 1.3
Early Christian
“But if anyone dares to accuse this account of lacking support from the Scriptures, come, let us set out the words of the prophets as well and show what has been said to be even more true. Abraham, at any rate, who first received circumcision as a covenant, seems to signify nothing else, by being circumcised in a member of his flesh, than this: that one should no longer [go] to flesh formed from the same blood, teaching each person to cut off the pleasure of intercourse with his own sister, as with his own flesh. So lying with one's own sisters and having them as bedfellows ceased from the times of Abraham; and being joined in unions with several wives is abolished from the times of the prophets. For it says, ‘Do not go after your desires, and restrain yourself from your appetites,’ for ‘wine and women will lead astray men of understanding.’ And in another place: ‘Let your fountain of water be your own, and rejoice with the wife of your youth,’ clearly now forbidding many wives. And Jeremiah openly calls those who rage after various women ‘stallions mad for mares’; for ‘the prolific multitude of the ungodly,’ it says, ‘will be of no use, and from bastard slips it will not strike deep root.’ But, so as not to speak at length gathering the prophetic sayings, come, let us show again how continence succeeds the union with one wife, until it wholly loosens the inclination toward intercourse that comes from habit, taking away little by little the pleasures of the flesh. Immediately, indeed, someone is introduced who already plainly renounces this distraction, saying: ‘Lord, Father and Master of my life, do not abandon me to their counsel; take from me the haughtiness of the eyes; do not let the appetite for food and sexual intercourse take hold of me.’ And in the all-virtuous Wisdom, the Holy Spirit, now openly drawing the listeners to self-control and continence, sings thus, crying out, ‘Better is childlessness with virtue; for immortality is in its memory, because it is known both with God and with men; they honor it when present and long for it when it has departed; and in eternity it marches crowned, having won the contest for undefiled prizes.’
Date: 270–310 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Turning to the Western Church, the earliest evidence comes from Irenaeus (died 202), who, although he never quotes from the Book of Sirach, includes quotations from Baruch and the Additions to Daniel in his Against Heresies. He cites these as the works of 'Jeremiah the prophet' and 'Daniel the prophet,' respectively, and also quotes from the Wisdom of Solomon. This suggests that he likely considered the books of the Apocrypha as canonical. Tertullian (died 220) also quotes from our book in works such as Against the Gnostics and On the Exhortation of Chastity, using the same formula, "as it is written," that he employs for the Hebrew Canon. Cyprian (died 258), in his Testimonies and letters, frequently quotes from the Book of Sirach and introduces them with phrases like "as it is written" or "Divine Scripture says." Methodius (circa 311), bishop of Lycia and later Tyre, freely quotes from the Book of Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Baruch, treating them as 'Scripture.' Hilary of Poitiers (died 368) lists the books of the Old Testament in his Prologue to the Book of Psalms, including only the Epistle of Jeremiah from the Apocrypha but adds that some also count the Book of Tobit and the Book of Judith, totaling 24 books to align with the number of Greek letters. Nonetheless, he cites Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon as 'prophets,' implying his belief in their canonicity ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 302.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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