by Bryan Matthew Dockens<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Nun.jpg\")
Members of religious orders of the Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox churches, most prominently priests and nuns, commit themselves to particular ascetic vows. Asceticism, by definition, is extreme self-denial. Self-denial, of course, is enjoined upon all those who would follow Christ (Luke 9:23-24). However, the Lord never placed such restrictions as vows of chastity and poverty on His followers.<\/p>\n
The apostle Paul made it abundantly clear that preachers and others are not bound by such a vow when he asked rhetorically, “Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:5). To ask the question is to answer it – preachers have a “right” to be married.<\/p>\n In another letter, Paul warned “that in latter times some will depart from the faith\u2026 forbidding to marry<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:1-2). To forbid it is apostasy since “Marriage is honorable among all<\/em>” (Hebrews 13:4).<\/p>\n Granted, Paul found bachelorhood beneficial (I Corinthians 7:1-7, 32-33), but that was his personal choice, not a requirement. While preachers have a right to lead about a believing wife, the elders who oversee the church are actually required to do so (I Timothy 3:2, 11), and so must the deacons (I Timothy 3:11-12). The so-called “vow of chastity” is not from God, but from the devil.<\/p>\n This one is just as unscriptural as the last. Nowhere does God’s word even hint that preachers should be deprived of their livelihoods. On the contrary, Paul wrote, “the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel<\/em>” (I Corinthians 9:14). He emphatically illustrated this point by referring to soldiers who are paid for their service, farmers who enjoy their produce, shepherds who live off their livestock (I Corinthians 9:7), beasts of burden who should not be hindered while working (I Corinthians 9:8-9), and the priests of Israel who partook from the offerings of the altar (I Corinthians 9:13). He argued that spiritual service should yield some material benefit (I Corinthians 9:11). Even Jesus accepted contributions from His disciples (Luke 8:1-3).<\/p>\n Churches indeed owe “wages” to preachers (II Corinthians 11:8) and elders (I Timothy 5:17-18). Such wages should be comparable to the earnings of others in the church. If the average member can afford the basics of life, so should the preacher. It is only reasonable that the preacher is at least able to provide food, shelter, clothing, and medicine for himself and his household (I Timothy 5:8). This is not an unrealistic expectation of churches. After all, if members contribute an average of ten percent of their income to the church, then the offerings of only ten members should be sufficient to meet the preacher’s needs! Of course, when a church lacks the ability to provide such needs, it is important to practice contentment (Philippians 4:10-20), and, if necessary, to rely on a secular trade (Acts 18:3; I Corinthians 4:11-12), but this is not what is intended by the Lord (Matthew 10:9-11).<\/p>\n Poverty is not God’s plan for anyone, as Agur declared, “Give me neither poverty nor riches – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God<\/em>” (Proverbs 30:8-9). The principle of self-denial remains intact (Luke 9:23-24), but God does not demand of his ministers the sacrifice of these specified liberties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bryan Matthew Dockens Members of religious orders of the Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox churches, most prominently priests and nuns, commit themselves to particular ascetic vows. Asceticism, by definition, is extreme self-denial. Self-denial, of course, is enjoined upon all those who would follow Christ (Luke 9:23-24). However, the Lord never placed such restrictions as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[656,1607,493,447,688,536,1599],"class_list":["post-55060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-anglican-church","tag-chasity","tag-episcopal-church","tag-orthodox-church","tag-poverty","tag-preaching","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-is-the-church-of-christs-view-of-baptism-different-from-the-denominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":0},"title":"How is the church of Christ’s view of baptism different from the denominations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I recently came across a YouTube comment about baptism that puzzled me a bit: \"It's also important to know the church of Christ view of baptismal salvation is different from every other view; that of the Lutherans, Anglicans, Catholics or Orthodox.\" Is this a correct assessment? If so,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18875,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/commenting-on-the-catholic-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":1},"title":"Commenting on the Catholic Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores I recently read a shared post on Facebook written by a Catholic priest who is angered by \"a sea of stupid articles, idiotic commentary and boneheaded op-eds about the Catholic Church, by people who have no clue what they're talking about.\" He goes on to rant about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Second_Vatican_Council_by_Lothar_Wolleh_005-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":68731,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-bible-on-roman-catholicism\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":2},"title":"The Bible on Roman Catholicism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores A while back, I read a shared post by a Catholic priest. He was angered by \"a sea of stupid articles, idiotic commentary and boneheaded op-eds about the Catholic Church, by people who have no clue what they're talking about.\" He went on to rant about \"the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-couldnt-stop-myself-and-made-a-vow-that-god-says-i-have-to-keep\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":3},"title":"I couldn’t stop myself and made a vow that God says I have to keep","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I have your opinion about Ecclesiastes 5:4-7? \"When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30355,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/apostolic-succession\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":4},"title":"Apostolic Succession (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: Acts 20:17-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do you prove that your brand of Christianity is real? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For some, the argument is based on who was around the longest. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A religion that just recently started is declared to be suspect. If the church has been around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-i-vow-not-to-make-promises\/","url_meta":{"origin":55060,"position":5},"title":"Did I vow not to make promises?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm worried that I vowed to God not to make promises. Now I was talking to God, and then in the heat of the moment, I said, \"I do not want to make vows,\" only I didn't say that fully, and I'm pretty sure I cut myself off halfway\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Vow of Poverty<\/h3>\n