Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/4-3.htm

What groups/persons were forbidding marriage?

arnoldo wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 5:22 am Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/4-3.htm

What groups/persons were forbidding marriage?

Possibly encratite groups.

Andrew Criddle

Paul himself does not actually forbid marriage; he allows it as a concession to human weakness. If one cannot control one's sexual desires, one can marry to avoid engaging in extramarital sex.

1 Cor 7.8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. 9 But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

He makes it clear that he would prefer people not to marry:

1 Cor. 7.25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

He considers that unmarried people are less divided in their devotion to God:

1 Cor 7.32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.

Here you can see the sectarian nature of early Christianity

Paul is ascetic and ideally thinks the church should not engage in marriage
Sure he compromises but that tells you other leaders are around close by who didn't compromise
Contrast this with the later NT texts talking about church leadership that should be married and raising children normally (ie 1 Timothy) and condemning the ascetic impulse (which is reversed a few centuries later on when priests become ascetic again, then reversed again in the reformation)

If it was sectarian over this issue then it was the same for all other issues as well, there is no agreement on display in the NT over many issues which is why Acts is at pains to try and present unanimity in line with proto-orthadoxy's claims it represents the original form

Do i think there was 'an original' once before the splits emerged? sure i do. But the textual evidence begins only after that period, only the Odes of Solomon could possibly be from the earlier phase. In terms of 1 Timothy and Paul the Odes is less ascetic than he is! Fascinating subject