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1 Corinthians 7, 32-35
 Virginity as a lifestyle was introduced by the Christians of the first century for clearly several reasons. One, Jesus offered celibacy as a possible lived option for his disciples connected with his teaching on fidelity and permanence in marriage. (Matthew 19, 3-12) Two, the early church believed the end of the world was close at hand. So, they felt it was necessary to lay aside certain worldly cares to ready oneself spiritually for the arrival of the kingdom. St. Paul leads here with his practical advice for standing ready to receive the Lord when he comes in his glory (Ephesians 5). Third, early Christian sexual ethics was a clear reaction against the rather free sexual practices of Greek and Roman societies.
 Christians believed that Jesus called us to a higher level of living. Therefore, our sexuality is called to a higher spiritual plane. Taking Jesus' instructions to their logical conclusion, Christians quite soon confined sexual relations to lawful marriage. This was logical from the moral injunctions found in the Old Testament books, principally, the law of Moses.
Virginity and celibacy were certainly strange to Jewish culture. Whereas the Jews, by reason of religious and cultural formation, did not tolerate promiscuity, not to marry eventually and insure progeny to Israel would cause folks to wonder about one's loyalty to the nation. Thus, when Jesus suggested the option of celibacy it caught disciples by surprise in that cultural context. But Jesus didn't command the lifestyle for his followers. He simply said, "Let him accept this teaching that can." (Matthew 19,12)
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