It is good for a man not to touch a woman, yet each has their own gift, one this way and another that
Paul frames celibacy and marriage as two distinct callings rather than ranking one as universally superior, using the word for spiritual "gift" to suggest both are received rather than simply chosen.
First Corinthians 7 opens with Paul responding to a question the Corinthians had apparently written him, likely whether married couples should abstain from sex altogether for spiritual reasons — his answer is a firm no, insisting spouses owe each other conjugal rights and should only abstain temporarily and by mutual consent. It is in this context, verse 7, that he says he wishes everyone were as he is, unmarried, but each has his own gift (charisma) from God, one of one kind and one of another. The Greek word charisma is significant — the same word Paul uses elsewhere for spiritual gifts like prophecy or teaching — which places celibacy and marriage on the same footing as callings rather than one being a compromise and the other an achievement. This passage is often cited as the New Testament's clearest statement that lifelong celibacy is a specific vocation given to some, not a universal ideal everyone falls short of.
It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
1 Corinthians
Written about in
- What the celibate traditions say about making a hard decision
Paul answers a Corinthian question about abstinence in marriage with a firm no, then says he wishes all were as he is, but each has his own gift. The Greek is charisma, the word he uses for prophecy and teaching — which makes marriage and celibacy two callings rather than a right answer and a wrong one.