Hi Ellis,

This had to do with the Gnostics who thought the body was evil.  All creation, they said, was created by an evil god and so consequently marriage was evil and they forbade it. Some of them also forbade eating meat because all creatures were bad.

Gnosticism was the first big theological challenge that the early Christians had to face.

Anti-Gnostic themes permeate the New Testament so it only makes sense that the reference here is to Gnosticism.

Hope this helps,

Eric

Hi Ellis,

Thanks for your question:

In 1 Timothy 4:3 Paul is not talking about a form of marriage that is forbidden, rather he is correcting a Gnostic heresy which forbade its followers from marriage.

Throughout Christian history, we've had other groups that have done the same. The first to come to mind is the Shakers. They were a small apocalyptic group, who lived in community, that forbade marriage because they believed the flesh was inherently evil.

Regarding the meat, Paul again was addressing another heresy: (the Judaizers). These people taught that in order to be Christians, gentiles coming into the Church had to follow the entire Mosaic Law, including the dietary laws.

John