Here^[1] some make the charge that the apostle has divided the human being into two parts, and that he states that a human’s combined essence conflicts with itself, and that the body has a contest with the soul.^[2] But this is clearly not so, for by the flesh he does not mean the body; if he did, what would be the sense of the clause immediately following, for it lusts, he says, against the Spirit? Yet the body does not move but is moved, is not an agent but is acted upon. How then does it lust, for lust belongs to the soul not to the body, for in another place it is said, My soul longs,^[3] and, Whatever your soul^[4] desires, I will even do it for you . . . and So my soul pants.^[5] Therefore when Paul says, the flesh lusts against the Spirit, he means that the flesh is not the human body but the depraved will, as where he says, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,^[6] and again, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.^[7]

But good will also goes together with generosity, for generosity really starts from it, seeing that the habit of giving comes after the desire to give. But generosity may be distinguished from good will. For where generosity is lacking, there good may abide—the parent, as it were, of all in common, uniting and binding friendships together. It is faithful in counsel, joyful in times of prosperity, and in times of sorrow sad. So it happens that any one trusts himself to the counsels of a man of good will rather than to those of a wise one, as David did. For he, though he was the more farseeing, agreed to the counsels of Jonathan, who was the younger.

As for Saul, he hated and abhorred David so much after the countless good services which he had done, after his brilliant triumphs, and the salvation which he had wrought in the matter of Goliath, that Saul could not bear to mention him by his own name but called him after his father. For once when a festival was at hand, and Saul, having devised some treachery against him and contrived a cruel plot, did not see him arrive— where, said he, is the son of Jesse? He called him by his father’s name because he thought to damage the distinguished position of that righteous man by a reference to his low birth—a miserable and despicable thought. For certainly, even if he had some accusation to bring against the father this could in no way injure David. For each man is answerable for his own deeds, and by these he can be praised and accused. But, as it was, not having any evil deed to mention, Saul brought forward his low birth, expecting by this means to throw his glory into the shade, which in fact was the height of folly. For what kind of offence is it to be the child of insignificant and humble parents? Saul, however, did not understand true wisdom in these things.

For love does nothing unseemly, but as it were with certain golden wings covers up all the offenses of the beloved. Thus also Jonathan loved David and heard the scorn of his father as one . . . who has nothing of a man, but lives to the shame of himself and the mother who bore you. What then? Did he grieve at these things, and hide his face and turn away from his beloved [David]? No, quite the contrary; he displayed his fondness as an ornament. And yet the one was at that time a king, and a king’s son, even Jonathan; the other a fugitive and a wanderer, David. But not even in this circumstance was he ashamed of his friendship. For love does not act inappropriately. This is its remarkable quality that it not only does not suffer the injured to grieve and feel irritated but even disposes him to rejoice. Accordingly, the one of whom we are speaking, after all these things, just as though he had a crown put on him, went away and fell on David’s neck. For love does not know what sort of thing shame is. Therefore it glories in those things for which another hides his face. The shame is in not knowing how to love rather than incurring danger and enduring all for the beloved when you do love.

For that commendable friendship which maintains virtue is to be preferred most certainly to wealth or honors or power. It is not apt to be preferred to virtue indeed, but to follow after it. So it was with Jonathan, who for his affection’s sake avoided neither his father’s displeasure nor the danger to his own safety.