The heretics were pressing two particular points. First, that people should not marry (see v. 3). Paul had counseled in an earlier letter and on an entirely different basis that in view of “the present crisis” it would be better to refrain from marriage (see 1 Cor. 7:26; see also vv. 29–31). But here the prohibition is based upon the Gnostic point of view that since the human body is material and therefore evil, its natural relationships should be severely curtailed. Paul doesn’t bother to refute