Early Christian Views on Celibacy
Early Christian writings often praise celibacy and virginity as a special gift, while still saying marriage is good and not sinful. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian, Hermas, and Tertullian connect this teaching with Matthew 19 and 1 Corinthians 7. The main pattern is choice and calling, not a ban on marriage for everyone.
124 early-church witnesses · 211 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about celibacy?
Early Christian writings treat celibacy as a higher calling for some believers, but not as a rule for everyone. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Cyprian, Hermas, and Tertullian all connect virginity or continence with a life that is closer to God, often using Matthew 19:10-12, 1 Corinthians 7, and Revelation 14:4.
At the same time, several of these writers say marriage is not sin and should be honored, so the teaching is about choice, gift, and discipline rather than a blanket ban on marriage. The evidence is broad across the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but it is strongest for voluntary celibacy and weaker for any claim that all Christians were expected to abstain from marriage. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians often praised celibacy as a higher calling for some believers.
- Marriage was still treated as good and honorable, not sinful.
- Matthew 19:12 and 1 Corinthians 7 were the main Bible passages used to talk about virginity and continence.
- The strongest evidence supports voluntary celibacy, not a universal command to remain unmarried.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians treat celibacy or virginity as a higher calling?
The selected sources repeatedly praise virginity, continence, and remaining unmarried as honorable, and sometimes as bringing greater glory or a better place with God. They also connect this to the idea that some receive this way of life as a gift or purpose from God.
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
...arries, does he or she commit sin?" He said, "There is no sin in marrying again. But if they remain unmarried, they gain greater honor and glory with the Lord. But if they marry, they do not sin." Therefore, guard your chastity and purity, and you will live to God. Keep the commandments that I now give you, and that I am going to give you, from now on, yes, from the very day when you were entrusted to me, and I will dwell in your house. And your former sins will be forgiven, if you keep my commandments. And all will be forgiven who keep these commandments of mine and walk in this chastity.
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
..."They are daughters of each other. One of them is called Simplicity, another Guilelessness, another Chastity, another Intelligence, and another Love. When you do all the works of their mother, you will be able to live." I said, "I would like to know, Lady, what power each one of them has." She said, "Hear what power they have. Their powers are arranged by each other, and they follow each other in the order of their birth. For from Faith comes Self-restraint; from Self-restraint, Simplicity; from Simplicity, Guilelessness; from Guilelessness, Chastity; from Chastity, Intelligence; and from Intelligence, Love. So the deeds of these are pure, chaste, and divine. Whoever gives himself to these, and is able to hold firmly to their works, will have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God." Then I asked her about the ages, whether the end was now coming. She cried out in a loud voice, "Foolish man! Do you not see that the tower is still being built? When the tower is finished and built, then the end comes. And I assure you, it will be finished soon. Ask me no more questions. Let you and all the saints be content with what I have called to your remembrance, and with my renewing
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Origen, Commentary on Matthew Direct teaching
..., or, if he did not endure them, he might break the word of Christ. So they said to Him, turning to celibacy as easier and more useful than marriage, even though marriage also seems useful, “If that is the case between a man and his wife, it is not useful to marry.” Matthew 19:10 To this the Savior replied, teaching us that complete chastity is a gift given by God. It is not merely the result of training, but is given by God through prayer. He said, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.” Matthew 19:11 Then, since some make a clever but misleading attack on the words, “those to whom it is given,” as if people who wanted to remain pure in celibacy but were overcome by their desires had an excuse, we must say this: if we believe the Scriptures, why do we hold on to the words, “but only those to whom it is given,” yet no longer pay attention to this, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” Matthew 7:7 and to what is added to it, “For everyone who asks receives”? Matthew 7:8 For if those to whom it is given can receive this teaching about complete purity, then let the one who is willing ask, obeying and believing Him who said, “Ask, and it will be give
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching
...d women, growing old unmarried, in hope of living in closer communion with God. But if remaining in virginity and in the state of a eunuch brings a person nearer to God, while the indulgence of carnal thought and desire leads away from Him, then in the cases where we shun the thoughts, much more do we reject the deeds. For we give our attention, not to the study of words, but to the showing and teaching of actions: that a person should either remain as he was born, or be content with one marriage. For a second marriage is only a specious adultery. For He says, "Whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery," Matthew 19:9. He does not permit a man to send away her whose virginity he has brought to an end, nor to marry again. For he who deprives himself of his first wife, even though she is dead, is a cloaked adulterer. He resists the hand of God, because in the beginning God made one man and one woman, and he dissolves the strictest union of flesh with flesh, formed for the intercourse of the race.
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
... in propriety, and in modesty of dress and adornment, so that, according to the apostle, she who is unmarried may be holy both in body and in spirit. Paul instructs and teaches us, saying, "He that is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please God; but he who has entered marriage cares for the things of this world, how he may please his wife." So both the virgin and the unmarried woman think on the things of the Lord, so that they may be holy both in body and in spirit (1 Corinthians 7:14). A virgin ought not only to be so, but also to be seen and believed to be so. No one, on seeing a virgin, should have any doubt whether she is one. Perfection should show itself equally in all things. Nor should the clothing of the body bring discredit on the good of the mind. Why should she go out adorned? Why with her hair arranged, as if she either had or were seeking a husband? Rather, if she is a virgin, let her fear to please in this way. And if she is keeping herself for better and divine things, let her not invite risk upon herself. They who do not have a husband whom they claim to please should continue sound and pure, not only in body but also in spirit. For it is
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Tertullian, To His Wife Direct teaching
...ven greater difficulties. How many are there who, from the time of their baptism, place the seal of virginity on their flesh? How many, again, by equal mutual consent, cancel the debt of matrimony, becoming voluntary eunuchs for the sake of their desire after the celestial kingdom? But if abstinence is endured while the marriage bond is still intact, how much more when it has been undone. For I believe it is harder to completely forsake what is still intact than not to yearn after what has been lost. Surely it is a hard and difficult thing for a holy woman, for God's sake, to remain continent after her husband's death, when Gentiles, in honor of their own Satan, endure sacerdotal offices that involve both virginity and widowhood. At Rome, for example, those who attend the image of that inextinguishable fire, keeping watch over the omens of their own future punishment in company with the old dragon himself, are appointed on the ground of virginity. To Achaean Juno, in the town of Aegium, a virgin is allotted. And the priestesses who rave at Delphi do not know marriage. Moreover, we know that widows minister to the African Ceres, enticed away indeed from matrimony by a very stern
More related quotations from this section 16 shown
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
...his reason, in the case of the man who thinks he is behaving improperly because he keeps his virgin unmarried, he rightly says that if she marries, he does not sin. But each person, whether he has chosen chastity, or whether he has joined himself in marriage for the begetting of children, must firmly remain in his own purpose and not turn aside to what is worse. For if he is able to increase and intensify the pattern of life he has chosen, he gains greater honor with God because of pure self-control that comes from reason. But if he goes beyond the rule he chose, he will then fall back into a lesser hope of glory. For just as chastity has its own duties and ministries, marriage also has its own duties and ministries that belong to the Lord. I mean the care of children and of a wife. For what properly occupies the man who is complete in marriage is the marriage bond itself, so that he may show care and foresight for everyone in the common household. Therefore, he says, bishops ought to be appointed from those who have first trained themselves in ruling their own house, so that they may also be able to preside over the whole Church. So then, each person, in whatever calling he was
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
... Himself says: “All men cannot receive this word, but those to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs who were born so from their mother’s womb; and there are some eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:11. Again, by this word of the angel also, the gift of continency is set forth, and virginity is proclaimed: “These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they have remained virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” Revelation 14:4. For the Lord does not promise the grace of continency only to men and pass over women. Since the woman is a part of the man, and is taken and formed from him, God in Scripture almost always speaks to the Protoplast, the first-formed, because they are two in one flesh, and in the male the woman also is signified at the same time.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
Let those who have once made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven please God in all things, and not offend God's priests nor the Lord's Church by the scandal of their wickedness.
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Tertullian, On Exhortation to Chastity Supporting witness
nay, rather, a cause for blushing, if we are slow to exhibit to God a continence which some render to the devil, by perpetuity sometimes of virginity, sometimes of widowhood.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
... it is better not to take a wife, the Lord answered, "Not all can receive this saying. For some are eunuchs from birth, and others are eunuchs by necessity," Matthew 19:11-12. They interpret this saying in this way. Some, from the time they are born, naturally turn away from women. If they make use of this natural disposition, they do right if they do not marry. These, they say, are eunuchs from birth. But those who are eunuchs by necessity are actors on the stage, and trainers, who keep themselves continent because they are driven by the desire for glory. Also, those who have been mutilated by some accident have become eunuchs by necessity. Therefore, those who become eunuchs by necessity do not become eunuchs according to reason. But those who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the eternal kingdom, they say, did this to avoid the troubles of marriage, because they feared the burden and anxiety of managing a household. And when the Apostle says, "It is better to marry than to burn," 1 Corinthians 7:9, they say he means this: Do not throw your soul into the fire, resisting night and day, and fearing that you may fall away from self-control. For when the soul is occupied in
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Supporting witness
... generations. And they do not understand this saying: "Not all can receive this word. For there are eunuchs who were born so, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it." Matthew 19:11-12 They do not understand that, after He had spoken about divorce, when some asked, "If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry," then the Lord said, "Not all can receive this word, but those to whom it has been given." Matthew 19:10-11 For those who asked wanted to learn from Him whether, after a wife had been condemned and sent away because of fornication, it was permitted to take another wife. They also say that not a few athletes abstain from sexual relations, practicing self-control for bodily training, such as Astylus of Croton and Crison of Himera. Also Amoebaeus the lyre-player, when he had only recently been joined in marriage, abstained from his bride. And Aristotle of Cyrene alone looked down on Lais the courtesan. So, after he had sworn to the prostitute that he would take her back to his homeland if she helped him
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Supporting witness
for it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of heaven with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into everlasting fire.” And, “Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced from another husband, committeth adultery.” And, “There are some who have been made eunuchs of men, and some who were born eunuchs, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake;
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Supporting witness
...man who is divorced from another husband commits adultery.” And, “There are some who have been made eunuchs by others, some who were born eunuchs, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake; but not everyone can accept this saying.” Therefore, all who, by human law, marry twice are deemed sinners in the eyes of our Master, as well as those who look at a woman to lust after her. For He rejects not only those who commit adultery in action but also those who desire to commit adultery: since both our deeds and our thoughts are open before God. Many, both men and women, who have followed Christ from childhood, remain pure even at the age of sixty or seventy; and I boast that I could find such individuals from every race. What shall I say of the countless number of those who have reformed from intemperate habits and learned these principles? For Christ did not call the just or the chaste to repentance, but the ungodly, the licentious, and the unjust; His words being, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” For the heavenly Father desires the repentance of the sinner more than their punishment. Regarding our love for all, He taught
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
If a man hates his wife, the blessings of celibacy are enumerated to him;
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...ven to them. Yet virginity is not therefore lacking in the Church, nor does the glorious purpose of continence grow weak through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes, and chastity and modesty keep the course of their glory. Nor is the strength of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are made easier for the adulterer. It is one thing to wait for pardon, and another thing to attain glory. It is one thing, when thrown into prison, not to go out from there until one has paid the very last penny; another thing to receive at once the reward of faith and courage. It is one thing, when cleansed by long suffering for sins, to be purified and for a long time purged by fire; another thing to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, finally, to remain in uncertainty until the judgment of God on the day of judgment; another thing to be crowned at once by the Lord.
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Tertullian, On Exhortation to Chastity Supporting witness
which (second virginity) either in the marriage state keeps (its subject) pure by mutual compact, or else perseveres in widowhood from choice: a third grade remains, monogamy, when, after the interception of a marriage once contracted, there is thereafter a renunciation of sexual connection.
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Background
For those who are spending their days in virginity, celibacy, and discipline; and for those in holy marriage; and for the holy fathers and brothers who struggle in mountains, dens, and caves of the earth;
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Background
For those who are passing their days in virginity, and celibacy, and discipline, and for those in holy matrimony;
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Tertullian, Apology Background
...an obstinate refusal to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing but meetings early in the morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and sealing their way of life by a united pledge to remain faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. In reply, Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought out. But if they were brought before him, they should be punished. O miserable deliverance. Under the necessities of the case, it is a self-contradiction. It forbids them to be sought out, as innocent, and it commands them to be punished, as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel. It passes by, and it punishes. Why do you play this game of evasion with yourself, O Judgment? If you condemn, why do you not also inquire? If you do not inquire, why do you not also absolve? Military stations are set throughout all the provinces for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public enemies every man is a soldier. Search is made even for their confederates and accessories. The Christian alone must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge, as if a search had any other end than that! And so
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Background
...lares, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance;” as if in the future kingdom, the earth, from which the substance of our flesh originates, is to be possessed by inheritance. This is the reason He desires the temple (meaning, the flesh) to be clean, so that the Spirit of God may take delight in it, as a groom with a bride. Just as the bride cannot wed, but is wedded, when the groom comes and takes her, so also the flesh cannot by itself inherit the kingdom of God; but it can be taken as an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living person inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited. The former commands, wields power over, and manages the inherited items at his discretion; but the latter are under control, are directed, and are governed by the one who has obtained the inheritance. What, then, is it that lives? Doubtlessly, the Spirit of God. What are the possessions of the deceased? Certainly the various parts of the man, which decay in the earth. But these are inherited by the Spirit when they are transferred into the kingdom of heaven. For this reason, too, Christ died, so that the Gospel coven
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background
21. Let an eunuch, if he be such by the injury of men, or his virilia were taken away in the persecution, or he was born such, and yet is worthy of episcopacy, be made a bishop.
Did early Christians say marriage was still good and not sinful?
These sources do not present marriage as evil or sinful. Several explicitly say marriage is lawful and that choosing marriage is not sin, even while other passages prefer continence or singleness.
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Matthew 19:12 Direct teaching
For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
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1 Corinthians 7:34 Direct teaching
There is a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.
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1 Corinthians 7:28 Direct teaching
But even if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such will have trouble in the flesh, but I would spare you.
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1 Corinthians 7:37 Direct teaching
Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
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1 Corinthians 7:36 Direct teaching
But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
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Revelation 14:4 Direct teaching
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,
More related quotations from this section 1 shown
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
...d to them, "Not every man can accept this saying, except the one to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."
Which Bible verses did early Christians use for celibacy and virginity?
The clearest Bible passages in the supplied set are Matthew 19:10-12 and 1 Corinthians 7. Early Christian writers cite these passages to support continence, singleness, and the higher freedom of an unmarried life for some believers.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching
About chastity, the holy word teaches us not only not to sin by our actions, but not even in our thoughts. We must not even think any evil in our hearts, or look at another man's wife with lust in our eyes. So Solomon, who was a king and a prophet, said, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids look directly before you. Make straight paths for your feet." Proverbs 4:25 And the voice of the Gospel teaches even more strongly about chastity, saying, "Whoever looks at a woman who is not his own wife, in order to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28 And, the Gospel says, "He who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. And whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery." Matthew 5:32 Because Solomon says, "Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can someone walk on hot coals and his feet not be burned? So he who goes in to a married woman will not be innocent." Proverbs 6:27-29
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness
...y and pursuit of every pleasure. Over all these, desire rules like a tyrant. And countless passions related to these increase, by which uncontrolled habits are carried to the highest degree. And Scripture says, "Whips are prepared for the intemperate, and punishments for the shoulders of fools," Proverbs 19:29, calling the powers of intemperance, and the steady endurance of it, "the shoulders of fools." Therefore, "Remove vain hopes from your servants," it says, "and turn away shameful desires from me. Let not appetite for food and intercourse take hold of me."
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
...ed in the heart of man and cannot be defiled with blood, righteousness, patience, faith, innocence, chastity, and self-control are placed. This is the truest worship. This is that law of God, as Cicero calls it, glorious and divine, which always commands what is right and honorable, and forbids what is wrong and shameful. And he who obeys this most holy and certain law cannot fail to live justly and lawfully. And I have set down a few main points of this law, since I promised that I would speak only of those things that completed the character of virtue and righteousness. If anyone wishes to include all the other parts, let him seek them from the fountain itself, from which that stream flowed to us.
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Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Direct teaching
...e or a slave, is just as much an adulterer and impure. But just as a woman is bound by the bonds of chastity not to desire any other man, so the husband must be bound by the same law, since God has joined the husband and wife together in the union of one body. For this reason, He has commanded that a wife must not be sent away unless she is found guilty of adultery, and that the bond of the marriage covenant must never be broken unless unfaithfulness has broken it. This also is added to complete chastity: there must be an absence not only of the sinful act, but even of the thought of it. For it is clear that the mind is polluted by desire, even when it is not carried out. So a just man ought neither to do, nor to want to do, what is unjust. Therefore the conscience must be cleansed, for God, who cannot be deceived, examines it. The heart must be cleared from every stain, so that it may be a temple of God, lit not by the shine of gold or ivory, but by the brightness of faith and purity.
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Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins Supporting witness
...f continency itself as well. The more their sex is eager and warm toward females, the more toil the continence of this greater ardor involves. Therefore, it is the worthier of all ostentation, if ostentation of virginity is dignity. For is not continence also superior to virginity, whether it is the continence of the widowed, or of those who, by consent, have already renounced the common disgrace which matrimony involves? For the constancy of virginity is maintained by grace; of continence, by virtue. For great is the struggle to overcome concupiscence when you have become accustomed to such concupiscence. Whereas a concupiscence, the enjoyment of which you have never known, you will subdue easily, not having as an adversary the concupiscence of enjoyment. How, then, would God have failed to make any such concession to men more than to women, whether on the ground of nearer intimacy, as being His own image, or on the ground of harder toil? But if nothing has been conceded to the male, much more to the female.
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Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins Supporting witness
For is not continence withal superior to virginity, whether it be the continence of the widowed, or of those who, by consent, have already renounced the common disgrace (which matrimony involves)?
More related quotations from this section 3 shown
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
I have not yet carried out everything required by the duty of chastity. God limits this not only within private walls, but also to the lawful bounds of the marriage bed, so that when a man has a wife, he should not also want to have either a female slave or a free woman besides her, but should keep faith in marriage. For according to human law, only the woman is an adulteress if she has another man, while the husband, even if he has several women, is freed from the charge of adultery. But the divine law joins the two in marriage with equal right, since it is one body, so that whoever has torn apart the union of that body in different directions is judged an adulterer. And for no other reason did God, although He made the other living creatures resist the males after conception, make woman alone among them all receptive to the man. This was clearly so that, if women resisted, lust would force men to desire something else, and by doing so they would not keep the glory of chastity. But neither would a woman gain the virtue of modesty if she were not able to sin. For who would call a dumb animal modest, when after conception it resists the male? It does this because it must come into p
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
Therefore, upon the altar of God, which is truly very great, and which is placed in the heart of man, and cannot be defiled with blood, there is placed righteousness, patience, faith, innocence, chastity, and abstinence.
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Hermas, Connection to 1 Thessalonians 4:3 Supporting witness
I charge you, guard your chastity, and let no thought enter your heart of another man's wife, or of fornication, or of similar iniquities; for by doing this you commit a great sin.
Common Questions
Did early Christians think celibacy was better than marriage?
Many early Christian writers said celibacy or virginity could be better for some people, but they did not teach that marriage was sinful.
Did early Christians require everyone to stay unmarried?
No. The writings here treat celibacy as a calling for some, while also saying marriage is allowed and honorable.
Source Index for Celibacy
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 211 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 124
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 87
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.