On the Issue of Celibacy

On his website, Elijah's Voice, Rob has made the following statement:

Compare the Scriptures......

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth." 1 Timothy 4:1-3

"Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?" 1 Corinthians 9:5

.....with dogmatic conciliar documents......

Rob then goes on to cite various Council statements in which priestly celibacy is required; however, the implication that the Catholic Church "forbids marriage" is somewhat misleading. The context surrounding 1 Timothy 4:1-3 has to do with certain Judaizing tendencies among the new Christians, i.e., there remained among these former Jews the prevailing concern for law observances like dietary restrictions (Rom 14, Col 2:16-23, 1 Cor 8,10) and marriage (1 Cor 7:1). The implication was that they were already spiritual and should abstain from all physical things like sex, food, marriage, etc, therefore suggesting early Gnostic or Manichean roots (where all physical matter is inherently evil). Apparently, it was Paul's opinion that certain women were the most easily swayed by this heresy (1 Tim 5:13, 2 Tim 3:6), so he hastened to assure them that marriage, in general, was a good thing. After all, the Catholic Church was the first to consider marriage as a sacrament - a good and holy symbol of Christ and church, a visible sign of God's grace. Catholics have been getting married for centuries, so what is not entirely clear in Rob's presentation is that he disagrees with the Church discipline of clerical celibacy, NOT marriage in general, because I'm certain he would not try to suggest that the Catholic Church forbids marriage totally.

Now that I have defined the issue more concisely, let me say that any statement that there are no married Catholic priests is simply untrue. In the Eastern (Orthodox) Rite, there are many married priests. In the Western (Roman) Rite, men who were married before becoming priests are not told to divorce their wives - they remain married. Priestly celibacy applies only to those men who are taking their vows as unmarried men, for reasons that will be outlined from Scripture below:

The idea of celibacy is present as early as in the Old Testament. In fact, the prophet Jeremiah was told to be celibate:

This message came to me from the Lord: Do not marry any woman; you shall not have sons or daughters in this place..." - Jer 16:1-2

So, it appears that there is a biblical precedent for a man not to take a wife. The Old Testament even goes so far as to portray refraining from sex as a sanctifying, consecrated act:

" 'Now what have you on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find.' But the priest replied to David, 'I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that.' David answered the priest: 'We have indeed been segregated from women as on previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men are consecrated - even for a secular journey.' " - 1 Sam 21:4-6

"Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and had them sanctify themselves and wash their garments. He warned them, 'Be ready for the third day. Have no intercourse with any woman'" - Ex 19:14-15

Catholics believe that our leaders should be holy, consecrated people and we recognize that celibacy is a means to achieve this. Now, before the claim is made that what is in the Old Testament no longer applies, I point out that the same mindset is seen in the New Testament. It is well recognized that Paul had no wife (1 Cor 7:8) and he recommended the celibacy of widows (1 Tim 5:9-13). He acknowledged that most of the apostles were married (although there is some suggestion that they gave up their wives after being made "fishers of men", Mt 19:27-29; Mk 10:28-30), as Rob points out by quoting 1 Cor 9:5 above; however, note that Paul, remaining consistent, informs us just seven verses later that "I have NOT used any of these rights" (1 Cor 9:12) - in fact, he had written just two chapters earlier:

"I wish that all were as I myself am [celibate]. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another." - 1 Corinthians 7:7

Paul goes on to explain why he thinks celibacy is a good idea:

"I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided." - 1 Corinthians 7:32-24

Allow me a medical analogy. As a busy physician specializing in internal medicine, my time is spent in long hours at the hospital, in early morning rounds or meetings and late at night with critically ill patient. My work requires that I am gone from home at least one weekend per month, leaving my wife and three-year-old son behind. In a similar way, my interests "are divided" between my job and my family, and I submit that a married Protestant minister has many of the same demands on his or her time. What better solution than to not have the responsibility of taking care of a family so that one can focus 100% on serving God and caring for His flock?

Now, if Paul's words are not enough, perhaps the words of Jesus will be enough:

"For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it." - Matthew 19:12

In his book, The Perpetual Holocaust, Paul Seberras makes the following clarification regarding these eunuchs by examining Isaiah 56:3-7:

The 'eunuch,' is not to be considered a "dry tree,." i.e. barren. In fact, the eunuch will be blessed with children. What Isaiah is implying in this regard, is that the eunuch will be blessed with a spiritual fecundity, a harvest of souls. Through his progeny, the eunuch will have an 'everlasting name'. The 'everlasting name' pertains to the graces conferred upon the eunuch by God. He is rewarded by God for his work in bringing spiritual children into God's Eternal Kingdom. The eunuch, therefore, will be greatly honored and revered in heaven by his spiritual offspring.

The eunuch is to keep God's sabbaths and hold fast to his covenant. God's sabbath in the new creation is Sunday. Sunday is a holy day of obligation which is binding upon all Catholics. Lying at the core of the Catholic sabbath is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It is not by accident that Isaiah combines sabbaths with covenant. In the New Covenant dispensation the Mass, i.e. the Eternal Sacrifice is a mandatory part of the Eternal Covenant trilogy. The Eternal Sacrifice is the visible bond, affirming that the people celebrating this rite, are in an Eternal Covenant relationship with God. As you are aware we continually underline the important significance of this covenant trilogy, Eternal Sacrifice, Gospel and its people (Israel), the Church.

The eunuch in maintaining the sabbaths and holding fast to the covenant is in effect therefore, the celebrant at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Henceforth, we can cease calling this man a eunuch, since Isaiah's prophecy, finds its fulfillment in the celibate priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church.

This house of prayer for all nations is the Church, where pleasing sacrifices acceptable to God, through Jesus Christ, (I. Pet. 2:5) are offered by all nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun, as prophesied by Malachi, (Mal. 1:11). Isaiah had clearly foreseen the universal dimensions of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. An account was recently given of the manner in which these pleasing sacrifices are offered, in our outline of that section of the Eucharistic Liturgy called the Offertory.

In today's society, there seems to be a prevailing idea that life without sex is impossible. This simply is not so - God gives us the ability to rise above the level of mere animals by discernment and worship of Him; He gives those who have chosen celibacy the grace to live this life (Phil 2:13) so that they can be consecrated for the purpose of harvesting souls. Indeed, God became incarnate in the womb of a virgin. So, we see that there is clear, irrefutable scriptural support for the Catholic discipline of clerical celibacy, in order to disentangle themselves from the world (2 Tim 2:4) for the purpose of focusing their undivided attention to preaching the gospel. Not everyone believes this, including Rob. How appropriate, then, that in the preceeding verse to Jesus' acceptance of those who have become "eunuchs" for the sake of the kingdom, He points out that not everyone will be able to understand this discipline of clerical celibacy, but only those who have actually done it:

"He answered, 'Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted' " (Matthew 19:11)

ADDENDUM
Rob has added a editorial note to his article - it reads

"Clay Randall, Pillar of Truth site, has pointed out in response that Jesus and Paul both encouraged celibacy for those devoted to ministry. We do not dispute this. But even Paul, in writing to the Corinthian church acknowledged his right to marry, should he wish to do so.

We hold that the Church simply does not have the right to forbid marriage to those entering vocational ministry. If Paul, writing scripture, acknowledged the right of apostles to marry, no-one (bar God) can take away that right."

[Clay] While it is very gratifying to see that Rob acknowledges the sound scriptural basis for priestly celibacy, two statements must be made:

1) Catholics believe that after Simon was individually blessed, had his name changed to Peter (meaning "rock"), and was given the keys to the kingdom (unlike anyone else) by Jesus, the church was given the authority to make certain decisions. "And so I say to you, you are PETER, and upon THIS ROCK I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

Examples of decisions made by the church with the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16) include the allowance of Gentiles into the church (Acts 10), the decision not to hold Gentiles to the Judaizers' requirements (Acts 15), settling the controversy over the nature of the Sacred Trinity, and even the very canon of the Bible. The Apostles (and their successors) were given the power to speak with Christ's voice (Luke 10:16), to forgive sin (Jn 20:23), to legislate (Mt 18:18), and to discipline (Mt 18:17).

2) Protestants, in general, have no authority of their own to interpret scripture. What they have is merely their opinion of what they think, to the best of their own ability, scripture is telling them. It is unfortunate, then, that they do not allow the Catholic Church the same "rights" they claim for themselves.

peace