EVANGELICAL COUNCILS. – Invitations contained in the Gospel to stable forms of virtue in renouncing natural goods that hinder union with God. Among the norms of life given by Jesus Christ, some are binding on all, while others are merely recommended as effective means of attaining a higher spiritual perfection in this life and a greater reward in heaven: the former constitute the precepts (q.v.) or commandments, the latter the evangelical counsels, of which the principal three, known by antonomasia, are voluntary poverty, perpetual chastity, and perfect obedience, in opposition to the three concerns which, in corrupted human nature, become incentives to sin (1 Jn 2:16). The evangelical counsels were limited to three in the Middle Ages, with reference to St. Gregory the Great (In Ezech. hom., II, 8, 18).
With both word and example, Jesus Christ inculcated the practice of these counsels. Poverty (q.v.) is counselled to the rich young man: “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Mt 19:16-21; Mk 10:17-22; Lk 18:18-23); perpetual chastity (q.v.) in the reply given to the disciples concerning renunciation of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 19:10-12; cf. 1 Cor 7:7 ff., 23-40); perfect obedience (q.v.), or spontaneous subordination of one’s will to that of another, in the words that express self-denial (q.v.): “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23); and likewise in those that invite to faithful discipleship (Mt 19:21), since discipleship involves conforming to the directives of the master, or inculcate voluntary service (Mt 20:26; Lk 22:26). The earthly life of Jesus Christ provided a perfect example of poverty (2 Cor 8:9), of chastity (Heb 7:26), and of obedience (Phil 2:8).
St. Thomas demonstrates how fittingly Christ in the New Law, the law of freedom and perfection, added the counsels to the precepts, by means of which one can more easily attain the ultimate end. Man, he says, placed between earthly goods and spiritual goods, the more he clings to the former, the more he distances himself from the latter; and although it is not necessary, in order to attain eternal beatitude, that he abandon earthly things entirely—he may indeed use them according to reason—nevertheless he will attain it better and more swiftly by renouncing them.
Now, through the practice of the evangelical counsels, one renounces all the goods of the world, which are the object of the concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:16). For voluntary poverty renounces wealth; through perpetual chastity, the delights of the flesh; through perfect obedience, honours (Sum. Theol., I-II, q. 108, a. 4). Thus man is freed from earthly cares that delay him in the love of God, cares directed toward the administration of temporal goods, the governance of the family, the disposition of his own actions. And at the same time he makes a sacrifice to God of what he possesses: in his possessions, in his body, and in his soul (Sum. Theol., II-II, q. 186, a. 7).
It follows that the excellence of the religious state, in which one vows to God the observance of the evangelical counsels.
Protestants, who admit only precepts and not counsels, argue, adducing various texts of Holy Scripture, that every good work is commanded (Luther was answered by K. Schatzgeyer [q.v.], and Chemnitz by St. Robert Bellarmine). They cite the words of Jesus: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (Mt 5:48), deducing that every possible perfection is prescribed. But the perfection (q.v.) here commanded consists in loving one’s enemies (Mt 5:44), as St. Luke explains in a parallel passage (6:36). In Mt 22:37 perfect charity is commanded, in which perfection consists; but such an obligation pertains to charity (q.v.) as the highest evaluative good. In Mt 19:17-21 the distinction is clear between the common way of the Commandments (q.V. 17), necessary for salvation, and the higher and more arduous way, optional for those who wish (v. 21) to strive for the more perfect.
The practice of the evangelical counsels was in force from the earliest times of Christianity. The Acts of the Apostles describe the voluntary poverty of the faithful in Jerusalem (4:34), and mention the four daughters of the deacon Philip as virgins (Acts 21:9), i.e., consecrated to virginity (cf. Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, 31: PG 20, 279). The apologists of the 2nd–3rd centuries, such as Justin (Apol., I, 14-15: PG 6, 348-49), Athenagoras (Supplicatio, 33), and Minucius Felix (Octavius, 31, 36: PL 3, 551-52; 3, 566-67), speak of many Christians who, for the love of Jesus Christ, preserved perpetual continence. These ascetics at first lived within their own families, but later began to withdraw into solitude, in order to dedicate themselves more tranquilly to the service of God. Thus did Christian monasticism originate, which has since continued to develop, giving rise to a wide flourishing of religious institutes for men and women.
In addition to approving these religious institutes, the Church has always defended and vindicated the evangelical counsels and their practice against those who have sought to depreciate them; for example, against the Waldensians (Denz.-U., no. 426); against William of Saint-Amour (ibid., nos. 458 ff.), Wycliffe (ibid., nos. 600 ff.; 624, 680), the Jansenists (ibid., no. 1310 ff.); the Synod of Pistoia (ibid., nos. 1580–90); the positivists (ibid., nos. 1692, 1752 ff.); and Americanism (no. 1973).