Bible Verses About Celibacy

His disciples said to Him, “If this is the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry.”

“Not everyone can accept this word,” He replied, “but only those to whom it has been given.

For there are eunuchs who were born that way; others were made that way by men; and still others live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good to abstain from sexual relations.

But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.

I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Now to the unmarried and widows I say this: It is good for them to remain unmarried, as I am.

But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Now about virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is.

I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the work of the Lord, how he can please the Lord.

But the married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife,

and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband.

I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but in order to promote proper decorum and undivided devotion to the Lord.

However, if someone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his betrothed, and if she is beyond her youth and they ought to marry, let him do as he wishes; he is not sinning; they should get married.

But the man who is firmly established in his heart and under no constraint, with control over his will and resolve in his heart not to marry the virgin, he will do well.

So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does not marry her does even better.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, as long as he belongs to the Lord.

In my judgment, however, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and the loud rumbling of thunder. And the sound I heard was like harpists strumming their harps.

And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.