[DarkSavant]

Paul SPECIFICALLY mentions in his letter to Timothy it is OK for a bishop to be married. Read that passage again. 1 Timothy 3:2 It’s there. Unless you have some sort of spin on it that I’m not getting. Jesus NEVER says ANYWHERE in the gospels that celibacy is a requirement for service in the priesthood. NO ONE does. In fact Jesus had married men among his disciples including Peter.

For the last time. I never said celibacy was a requirement. I said celibacy had a scriptural context. There's a big difference between those two statements.

You are reading into the Bible. I am reading it as it is written and not making up these conclusions. Priests were in fact married men in the Bible, they were expected to be married.

Again, Paul was not married.

[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]

Paul NEVER states celibacy as a requirement for service in the priesthood. No one in the Bible does require such a mandate. This is a Church requirement, not a Biblical requirement.

I think you and I are talking over each other, unfortunately.

I think you seem to agree with me that there is no mandatory celibacy requirement for service in the priesthood. Right?

The fact that Paul is unmarried at the time he wrote the passage is neither here nor there. He is an older man at the time he wrote it. We know nothing about Paul’s personal or family life. He could have been a widower. He could have been divorced. We don’t know. So I won’t speculate. Nearly all men in the Jewish priestly class were expected to be married. In fact all Jewish men in that era were expected to be married and have families. You were considered an outcast if you weren’t. Or maybe you had a contagious disease like leprosy.

Paul never suggests his way is the only way and he has no trouble with married men serving in the clergy.