THE PRIESTHOOD

THE PRIESTHOOD
Call No Man Father 
Acts 7:2 - St. Stephen calls Jewish leaders "fathers" 
Acts 21:40, 22:1 - St. Paul calls Jerusalem Jews "fathers" 
Rom 4:16-17 - Abraham called the father of us all" 
1Cor 4:14-15 - I became your father in Christ through gospel 
1Tim 1:2 - my true child in our common faith 
Heb 12:7-9 - we have earthly fathers to discipline us 
Lk 14:26 - if anyone comes to me without hating his father... 
1Thess 2:11 - we treated you as a father treats his children 
Philem 10 - whose father I became in my imprisonment 
1Jn 2:13, 14 - I write to you, fathers, because you know him 

Celibacy 
*1Tim 4:1-3 - forbidding marriage is a doctrine of demons 
*1Tim 3:2 - bishop must be married only once 
Eph 5:21-33 - marriage is good: holy symbol of Christ & church 
Mt 19:12 - celibacy praised by Jesus, who was chaste 
Jer 16:1-4 - Jeremiah told not to take wife & have children 
1Cor 7:8 - St. Paul was celibate 
1Cor 7:32-35 - celibacy recommended for full-time ministers 
2Tim 2:3-4 - no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits 
1Tim 5:9-12 - pledge of celibacy taken by older widows