Clerical Celibacy: A Protestant Critique

Gavin Ortlund offers a Protestant critique of clerical celibacy, as practiced in Roman Catholicism and to a lesser degree in other traditions.

Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.

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00:00 Framing the Concern
04:03 Book Recommendation
05:09 The Biblical Case
16:27 Lessons From Church History
35:21 Summing Up

[BecketCook]

Great ep.! Also, love your new set up. Looks great...and you're in full frame!

[jj]

hey Gavin love your work. any chance you could do a video on the catholic view of mortal sin vs venial sins and how us protestants should view sin? It makes sense in a way and wanted to know your take on this. Thanks!

[BrianRich]

Gavin is a total sleeper build. He's great at articulating these fact better than most. This man is a treasure for us Protestants.

[MarkWCorbett]

This is a very helpful video. I'm thankful that in addition to your other material, you continue to help us understand why people should choose to be Protestant (I would say, more specifically, theologically conservative, evangelical, Protestant) instead of Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. The last week or so I have been communicating with another brother in Christ who is considering leaving the Protestant church and becoming RC or EO. Material like this helps me (and, I, pray, people like this brother I mentioned) a lot!

[susanburrows]

Even Catholic priests say that only 50% of themselves have been able to keep their celibacy vows. And the criminal child abuse horror by Catholic clergy for 60 years ( of apx. 250, 000 victims worldwide) w/ coverup & denial &financial payoff for silence -- indicates something very wrong. The rate of victims per clergyman & years & decades of abuse is unparalleled under one organization. Such lifetime devastation for (young) individuals. Sinful, heinous harm.
THANK YOU, Gavin, for your thorough clarification.

[PreacherT]

So what i find interesting is in the RC is that marriage is a sacrament, but the RC also forbids their clergy from taking part in that sacrament.

[julesgomes]

The principle is clear: what God has permitted, the Church cannot prohibit. Conversely, what God has prohibited, the Church cannot permit. Kudos to Dr Ortlund for another fantastic video.

[cyclqal]

Thank you for your videos Gavin! I have recently been getting a lot of ecclesial angst, but your videos have been crucial in giving me assurance that I'm in Jesus' care. :)

[tbrickman]

Already know this is going to be a banger Gavin!

[gardengirlmary]

Gavin you give a great framework for understanding church history. Thank you for all you do ❤

[EllieRose-pemu]

Thank you for another great video. We appreciate your humble tone and clarity! Coming from a Roman Catholic family, I'm often invited to Catholic funerals, weddings, baptisms, etc. Would love a video on how best to navigate. Thank you for all you do!

[nervousdorito]

I was just thinking about this the other day! God’s timing is great :)

[mchristr]

If we could integrate the best of Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, and demote the non-biblical doctrines to secondary statues, what a glorious Church we would have. But therein lies the rub: the argument over biblical superiority in doctrine and practice.

[peachgumdrop]

Wow I was really wondering this, thank you so much!

[chrisdoe]

I honestly don't understand how Catholic priests can read 1 Tim 4:3 without completely reevaluating everything about their denomination.

[anac.]

I know of a catholic guy that left his girlfriend for church ministry, they remained friends for a while, but he ended the friendship because it was “too tempting” for him, that should not be. If you are not given the spiritual gift of celibacy you shouldn't force it, this is extremely problematic, and could lead to worst sin cause is not human nature. Specially when the bible is so clear about this.

[robbchristopher]

Forced clerical celibacy is one of the reasons why I could not become a Roman Catholic.

[jotink]

Great in depth video and for me a clear addition to Gods word through tradition. This should give Catholic food for thought as you said Dr Ortlund how the church functions on the ground.

[robindammer]

When I was researching examples of infant baptisms in the early centuries, I was amazed at how many church fathers came from clerical families and were only baptized as adults, e.g. the Capadocian fathers.

[imjustheretogrill]

Check out the Distinguo video on this topic. It’s called “Only One Church Has This Biblical Practice”