Treat a Wife as Your Own Body

We should act toward a wife as we do toward our own body. When sickness arises in a bodily member, we do not cut off the member; we drive away the sickness. So too with a wife. If some evil appears in her, do not cast away the woman; drive away the evil.

Indeed, it is often possible to correct a wife, while a bodily member that has been permanently damaged may be impossible to heal. Yet even when we know that a member’s disability is incurable, we still do not cut it off. Many people have a twisted foot, a lame leg, a withered and lifeless hand, or a blinded eye. They do not gouge out the eye, cut off the leg, or amputate the hand. Even when those members bring no advantage to the body and may even cause embarrassment, people keep them because of their natural bond with the rest of the body.

How absurd, then, to show such care where correction is impossible and there is no practical gain, while where there is good hope and great possibility of change, to give up on healing. What is damaged by bodily nature may be impossible to restore; a distorted will can be reshaped.