“The sin was merely – marriage. John was a “virgin”; several of the Fathers assert the fact on the authority of tradition. Even Paul, the most liberal and high-minded of them all, finds it difficult to reconcile the position of a married man with that of a faithful servant of God. There is also “a difference between a wife and a virgin.” The latter cares “for the things of the Lord”, and the former only for “how she may please her husband.”
“If any man think that he behaveth uncomely toward his virgin…let them marry. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, and hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed…that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.” So that he who marries “doeth well…but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.” “Art thou loosed from a wife?”, he asks, seek not a wife” (27). And remarking that according to his judgment, both will be happier if they do not marry, he adds, as a weighty conclusion: “And I think also that I have the spirit of God” (40).
Far from this spirit of tolerance are the words of John. According to his vision there are “but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth”, and ”these are they which were not defiled with women; for they were virgins.” This seems conclusive; for except Paul there is not one of these primitive Nazari, there “set apart” and vowed to God, who seemed to make a great difference between “sin” within the relationship of legal marriage, and the “abomination” of adultery. With such views and such narrow-mindedness, it was but natural that these fanatics should have begun by casting this iniquity as a slur in the faces of brethren, and then, “bearing on progressively” with their accusations.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 