Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CELIBACY

Abstention from marriage in fulfillment of a vow. Celibacy as depicted in the NT has both Jewish and Hellenistic parentage.

The OT speaks of Nazarite vows taken for life (Judg. 13:5, 7; 16:17). The prophetic task laid on Jeremiah expressly forbade marriage (Jer. 16:1-2). Philo reports that, in order to remain in perpetual readiness for divine revelation after Sinai, Moses never again “knew” his wife Zipporah (Life of Moses 11.68-69). According to Jubilees, Adam and Eve were chaste in the garden until the time of their expulsion (3:34-35; 4:1), and not until the first Jubilee after their expulsion (49 years) did they have sexual intercourse and children.

As a symbol for Jerusalem, entry into the holy place and participation in the holy cult at Qumran required abiding sexual purity or celibacy. Likewise, within the popular Hellenistic philosophical currents of the last two centuries b.c.e. celibacy functioned as a precondition for entering sacred space, an escape from a destitute world, preparation for communion with the gods, and a foundation for a life of virtue. Any literate Jew in touch with the major philosophical movements of the time would have been influenced by this rich body of tradition and practice.

Early Christian celibacy shared many of these tendencies. Luke 20:34-36 reflects an early Christian belief that celibacy offered a foretaste of the eschaton, and 1 Cor. 7 bases Paul’s celibacy on the impending eschatological crisis.

See Asceticism.

Calvin J. Roetzel

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CELIBACY

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)