5.3: Compulsory celibacy condemned in advance

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

Scripture does not merely fail to support the attainment system's celibate ministry; it explicitly warns against the doctrine. "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils... forbidding to marry" (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The qualification for a bishop is that he be "the husband of one wife, having his children in subjection" (1 Timothy 3:2-4). Marriage is "honourable in all" (Hebrews 13:4). Paul's personal celibacy was a gift and a preference, expressly "not commandment" (1 Corinthians 7:6-7). A system that makes renunciation of marriage the gate to the highest heaven has inverted an apostolic warning into a foundational doctrine. Nothing in this is a question about the sincerity or the sacrifice of the men and women who have embraced that renunciation; many of them have given up more for their convictions than their critics ever have. The apostle's warning addresses the doctrine that demanded the sacrifice, not the devotion of those who paid it, and it is possible to honor the second while refusing the first.