Bible Verses About Celibacy

The talmidim said to him, "If that is how things are between husband and wife, it would be better not to marry!"

He said to them, "Not everyone grasps this teaching, only those for whom it is meant.

For there are different reasons why men do not marry -- some because they were born without the desire, some because they have been castrated, and some because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever can grasp this, let him do so."

Now to deal with the questions you wrote about: “Is it good for a man to keep away from women?”

Well, because of the danger of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Actually, I wish everyone were like me; but each has his own gift from God, one this, another that.

Now to the single people and the widows I say that it is fine if they remain unmarried like me;

but if they can’t exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.

Now the question about the unmarried: I do not have a command from the Lord, but I offer an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is worthy to be trusted.

I suppose that in a time of stress like the present it is good for a person to stay as he is.

What I want is for you to be free of concern. An unmarried man concerns himself with the Lord’s affairs,

with how to please the Lord; but the married man concerns himself with the world’s affairs, with how to please his wife;

and he finds himself split. Likewise the woman who is no longer married or the girl who has never been married concerns herself with the Lord’s affairs, with how to be holy both physically and spiritually; but the married woman concerns herself with the world’s affairs, with how to please her husband.

I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to put restrictions on you — I am simply concerned that you live in a proper manner and serve the Lord with undivided devotion.

Now if a man thinks he is behaving dishonorably by treating his fiancée this way, and if there is strong sexual desire, so that marriage is what ought to happen; then let him do what he wants — he is not sinning: let them get married.

But if a man has firmly made up his mind, being under no compulsion but having complete control over his will, if he has decided within himself to keep his fiancée a virgin, he will be doing well.

So the man who marries his fiancée will do well, and the man who doesn’t marry will do better.

A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if the husband dies she is free to marry anyone she wishes, provided he is a believer in the Lord.

However, in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains unmarried, and in saying this I think I have God’s Spirit.

The Spirit expressly states that in the acharit-hayamim some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron.

They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth.

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Tziyon; and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing waters and like the sound of pealing thunder; the sound I heard was also like that of harpists playing on their harps.

They were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who have been ransomed from the world.