Comments on: Episode #10 The Celibacy and Fatherhood of Paul Taylor's Marshall's Next Book & Podcast Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:43:35 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Emil Anton http://pauliscatholic.com/2009/08/episode-10-the-celibacy-and-fatherhood-of-paul/comment-page-1/#comment-231 Emil Anton Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:12:31 +0000 http://pauliscatholic.com/?p=274#comment-231 Good. The "husband of one wife" is an extremely interesting case. In the very same epistle to Timothy in ch 5 the patristic and Catholic understanding is apparent: the widow must be a "wife of one husband". So this manner of speaking doesn't mean "married", it means that one has to have had only one married partner in the past! I.e. "husband of one wife" is actually a requirement for continence or celibacy, because the assumption is that one that would've married again after becoming a widower can't hold themselves and thus isn't fit for the celibate ministry. Who would've believed it! As for 1 Cor 7, 7:1 doesn't seem to be Paul's principle for celibacy, rather, it is the Corinthians slogan and it concerns married couples. Paul then concedes temporal continence but exhorts to normal marital relations. His principle of celibacy is articulated better in 7:7-8 and 7:32-35. It would also be good to deal with the argument that his preference for celibacy was only because he thought the world was going to end soon anyway (see around 7:29 if I recall correctly). Good. The “husband of one wife” is an extremely interesting case. In the very same epistle to Timothy in ch 5 the patristic and Catholic understanding is apparent: the widow must be a “wife of one husband”. So this manner of speaking doesn’t mean “married”, it means that one has to have had only one married partner in the past! I.e. “husband of one wife” is actually a requirement for continence or celibacy, because the assumption is that one that would’ve married again after becoming a widower can’t hold themselves and thus isn’t fit for the celibate ministry. Who would’ve believed it!

As for 1 Cor 7, 7:1 doesn’t seem to be Paul’s principle for celibacy, rather, it is the Corinthians slogan and it concerns married couples. Paul then concedes temporal continence but exhorts to normal marital relations. His principle of celibacy is articulated better in 7:7-8 and 7:32-35. It would also be good to deal with the argument that his preference for celibacy was only because he thought the world was going to end soon anyway (see around 7:29 if I recall correctly).

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