forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Paul elsewhere warns of this erroneous notion in Colossians 2:21-23. This error arises from a false conception of material things being evil within themselves. Such ascetics reason that the body is evil because it is physical; therefore, to deny it satisfaction of its appetites is praiseworthy. Clearly Jesus contradicted them, saying, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man" (Matthew 15:11).