The Teaching of Paul on Divorce and Church Leadership Paul’s view of Christian marriage as a lifelong union which admits no divorce and remarriage, is indirectly supported by the marriage qualifications he sets forth for church leaders:1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, Tit 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. Tit 1:7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; . "Let deacons be the husband of one wife, and let them manage their children and their households well" also 1Ti 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. The basic qualifications given by Paul for the church office of elder (or overseer) and deacon were designed to enable Timothy in Ephesus and Titus on Crete to appoint church leaders [qualified] to serve in such offices. The first qualification for the office of elder is that the man must be "above reproach." His blameless lifestyle is to serve as a role model to the congregation and is to offer no reason for criticism in the community. The first important aspect of his role modeling is his marital status, which Paul defines as "husband of one wife" (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:6). This qualification occurs both in 1 Timothy and Titus immediately after the demand for blamelessness thus indicating the prominence Paul gives to the marital status of a church leader. The Greek words translated "husband of one wife" can be rendered literally as "one-wife-man." This short phrase has been the subject of considerable discussion. Did Paul mean that a church leader should be married only to one woman at a time or only once during his lifetime? Did Paul intend to exclude from church leadership polygamists, that is, men married to several wives or bigamists, that is, men married twice or more legally? Exclusion of Polygamists. Some, have understood the phrase "husband of one wife" to exclude polygamists from church leadership. This interpretation is discredited by two main considerations. First, there was no need for this qualification since no Christian, whether church leader or not, was allowed to practice polygamy. Second, in New Testament times polygamy was generally outlawed in the empire and thus it hardly needed insistence by Paul.31 Exclusion of Bigamists. The most plausible meaning of the phrase "husband of one wife" appears to be "married [only] once." This is in fact the rendering of the. According to this view, divorce and remarriage would disqualify a man from the office of elder and deacon. Paul would be stressing the importance of appointing to church leadership only men whose marital status was beyond suspect by having been married [only] once.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 19:40:15 +0000
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