Different Christian views on Celibacy and Marriage

Question 1

Key Terms and Context:

• Celibacy refers to living without sexual activity.

FOR CELIBACY:
- Very early Christians believed the end of the world was near, and they should focus on preparation for that rather than having children.
- St Paul said, ‘but if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.’ (1 Corinthians 7:9) This suggests he believed celibacy to be a higher spiritual goal than marriage.
- In Matthew 19:12, Jesus taught that ‘there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.’ This implies that celibacy was the better option to marriage, and Jesus never married as far as we know.

FLEXIBILITY:
- Over time, Christians came to realise the end of the world wasn’t near, and so marriage became the goal.
- Monasticism grew during the 4th century, and this celebrated total devotion to God. This meant some saw this as a higher calling than family life.
- An increasingly negative view of sexuality and women led to a growing popularity of monasticism. It was not until the 12th century that there was a definitive rule prohibiting marriage for the clergy.

Question 2

View One- Roman Catholic Church on Celibacy

FOR: Celibacy is widely practised by monks, clergy and nuns the Catholic Church.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘Celibacy is a sign of the new life, to the service of which the Church’s minister is consecrated.’

SOME FLEXIBILITY: A special concession was made for Church of England priests when they moves to the Catholic Church following the allowance of female ordination in the Church of England. This meant that those priests did not have to remain celibate.

Question 3

View Two- Orthodox Church on Celibacy

• Celibacy is widely practiced, as in the Catholic Church.

FLEXIBILITY:
- Priests may be married when they are ordained, but cannot marry after ordination.
- Bishops may not be married so bishops are selected from those priests who remain celibate.

Question 4

View Three- Church of England and Protestant Evangelical

• CoE: Priests are allowed to be married, so it is not a requirement to be celibate.

Protestant Evangelical Churches on celibacy: AGAINST CELIBACY- Actually prefer their clergy to be married with a family, following the advice of 1 Timothy 3:1-7. A celibate man fails to live up to the biblical requirement to have an orderly family life,

Question 5

Marriage:

CONTEXT
- From the time of the early Church, the only two acceptable choices were celibacy or marriage, Marriage became a sacrament within the Church. A sacrament is a special means of receiving God’s grace. Raising a family was seen as a vocation.

Question 6

Roman Catholic Church on marriage:

• Marriage remains a sacrament, a special means of receiving grace. But, marriage is seen as inferior to living a celibate life. In the West, from the Fourth century, monks and priests were required to be celibate.

Question 7

Roman Catholic Church on divorce and remarriage:

• The RCC focuses on the sacramental nature of marriage. Marriage is a physical act which causes a profound change to the souls of the people involved.
• Since two people become ‘one flesh’ in marriage, divorce is not possible.
• While unhappy couples can live apart, neither partner can remarry because marriage cannot be dissolved in the eyes of the God and the Church.
• If people do remarry, there are excluded from Holy Communion and considered sinful
• Marriages can be annulled.

Question 8

Protestant Churches on divorce and remarriage:

• These churches do not see marriage as a sacrament, therefore marriages can be dissolved.
  However, most Protestants agree that divorce shows that the couple has failed to live up to God’s high standards of personal life.
• Jesus seems to only allow divorce in instances of marital unfaithfulness.
• Churches allow remarriage of divorcees in church if they evidence that they admit their failures and intend to live out a marriage as God intended.

Question 9

Protestant Evangelical Churches view:

• Based on Timothy 3:1-7: ‘Whoever desires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s Church?

Question 10

Problems that arise when Christianity tries to put historical views into the context of modern western societies:

• Nowadays marriage is more about a relationship than having children, but the traditional Christian purpose is procreation.
• Many marriages are civil ceremonies with no religious element whatsoever. This raises questions of whether these marriages are considered full marriages for Christians.
• Divorce is much more common and many people will be unwilling to remain celibate after divorce. This raises questions of whether divorcees should still be able to take part in the full life of the Church.
• Caring and acceptance nature of Jesus vs traditional views