[biblewonk]

Please show me the verses that show that a Christian Priest must be celebate(sp).

[annalex]

show me the verses that show that a Christian Priest must be [celibate]

Good question. There isn't one, and as you know some married men are allowed to become priests.

Celibacy of priests is a Latin tradition dating from the Middle Ages. It was firmly established by Pope Leo the Great. The underlying theology is that a priest is a vicar of Christ and is spiritually married to the Church, because Christ is married to the Church. If he is at the same time married in the usual sense to a woman, that creates a complication in his life because his loyalty is now divided between the Church and the earthly family. It can be allowed as a charity to a man already married who at the same time is called to priesthood. Fundamentally, a married priest is an exception, which became the rule for parish priests in Orthodoxy and Eastern Rites. Bishops are celibate throughout the Church.

None of that is in the Bible, at least not directly, so don't ask for verses. The Church does not operate in wonkish ways.

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "Please show me the verses that show that a Christian Priest must be celebate(sp)."

//sigh//

No one has said Scripture requires them be celibate but it is recommended and it is a matter of Church obedience. They signed on for it now many want to follow their own WILL not their oath to GOD. You do not see the distinction or is willfulness at issue here as well?

From the Gospel of Matthew 19:12

For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.


Care to venture a guess who said it? Go on take a guess.