Husband of one wife.....

The Apostle Paul's instruction for the local assembly of believers in both 1 Tim. 3:2 and Titus 1:6 involves God's principles and qualifications for leadership in the church. In order to be deemed eligible for service to the flock, the pastor and deacon is required to be in line with God's holy standard with regard to marriage, as well as being a good steward of his conduct, family relationships, and resources with which God has entrusted him.

Some read these instructions to mean that a man must be married in order to serve in the capacity of a pastor or deacon. This is not a prerequisite by Biblical comment, but, if married, that man must be the husband of only one wife, thus in line with God's pattern for marriage initiated as early as Genesis.

Others use human logic to interchange the gender of the nouns, reasoning that it doesn't really mean that a pastor must be the husband of one wife, but the spouse of one spouse. In other words, if it says "husband of one wife", it may also mean "wife of one husband", thus opening the door to Biblical and presumably divine condoning of female pastors. This presumed theological leap may suit the modernists and feminists, but it cannot be substantiated or condoned by Biblical linguists as the Greek nouns CANNOT be interchanged in such a loose manner merely for the sake of justifying a modernist notion of what the Bible "should say"!

This will no doubt be interpreted by some as a sexist, male chauvinist comment, but it is perectly in line with God's holy Word and His ordination of male headship and responsibility. Gal. 3:28 etc. makes it plain that Paul--supposed by some to be a out-of-touch female-hater and a throwback to a long-lost male-dominant culture--viewed woemn as pefectly equal to males in terms of access to salvation and a personal relationship with Christ through faith, but Paul clearly also understood God's specified order in human relationships, with the corresponding responsibility and accountability that comes with that headship.

There are many rationalizations & justifications for allowing women to occupy the pulpit. The Bible, however, cannot be used as one of them!

 

The phrase,husband of one wife,has been a topic of heated discussion in a couple of churches that I have been a member of!!!!
In one church divorce was the issue and the statement "husband of one wife" was thought to mean the pastor or deacons must not be divorced.Also there was a man whose wife had been divorced and felt he should not be disqualified.
In another church we had a missionary return from Africa on furlow and gave a report that in the village he worked in most men had more than one wife so he was forced to take on deacons with more than one wife.Some believe that church government is not complete without pastor and deacons.
When I saw this thread come on the screen it brought back memmories of some heated meetings ER

 

Willow, there's at least 3 other threads going on this right now. There's a LOT of posts to read through.

I believe it means one wife unless the previous wife has died.

Diane

 

Heeerrrreeee we go again!

 

It's not so hard to consider this passage to be a generic use of the sexual terms involved. When we read "it is apointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement" . . . then we automatically include women in that appointment, don't we? That is the generic use of the term. In the same way, the term could here be generically used to include single men and, perhaps, women, who abide by the customary law of what a marriage should be in the church, i.e. no bigamists allowed.

We might very well conclude from OTHER biblical verses that women should be excluded from the ministry but this is not one of them, since we already realize it isn't meant to exclude single men.

 

Willow, there's more threads but here's 3 that are still active.

http://www.baptistboard.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001764


http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=002927

http://www.baptistboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=48;t=000443

 

Actually, that first link is dead! It died of stubbornness and close-mindedness, but just keeps playing like a broken record!

 

LOL... but can she just read it to get the gist? We just keep kicking this poor old horse over and over and need to agree to disagree! LOL


I know there's another one started just a few days ago but couldn't find it in a quick search.
Diane

 

I've been in the middle of a few of these discussions....still have the scars.

"The husband of one wife": If the man is married, he is to be devoted to his wife. Faithful. To one wife. The one he is married to.
It doesn't matter if he's been divorced, as long as it was before his salvation, or along Jesus' guidelines for divorce.
I won't go into the double standards churches have regarding peoples' pasts...it would start another firestorm.
But, in a nutshell, it's the man who has one wife. Period.

 

wizofoz,

And as I have said previously, eyes and heart for only one woman, i.e. a "one-woman man," which fits the bill of "blameless" that is being expounded here, like the literal interpretation of the Greek says!

 

Willow, Don't worry about others who ask you to look to other threads. I'm sure they only mean to be helpful. It's always okay to ask a question when you have one.

The same can be found in Titus 1.

I believe it means that these offices can only be filled by married men fitting the other criteria in the passage. These passages preclude woman, single and divorced men from the office as they can not possibly be a husband of one wife. Divorce and remarriage would make the person a husband of two wives. I'm not sure if the exceptable reason of adultery for divorce would allow a divorced man to seek these offices. It may depend on the church.

I've debated this issue with some very good Christians, but despite thier arguements, this is still what I believe.

 

California Girl, with all due respect,

I 100% disagree with this statement.

Can you provide scripture supporting this?

 

As far as a woman behind the pulpit...well, let's just say that I would find somewhere else to be.

The qualification of being the husband of one wife, I think that it speaks for itself. Elsewhere Scripture states that the position of overseer (pastor, bishop) is to be filled by a man. For him to be devoted to his wife would be to keep him out of the temptation to lust after other women.

Our Lord is wise beyond our wisdom. Even in this small detail, He is looking forward into that which is/was to come, and has provided a way to escape yet another snare of the enemy.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

California Girl,

You can read my detailed defense elsewhere in the several other threads going. I don't understand how you can interpret "husband of one wife (woman)" to mean "only married once."

Scripture is explicit that "unfaithfulness" (Matt 5:31-32) and abandonment by an unbeliever (1 Cor 7:15) constitute acceptable grounds for divorce. And how about:

If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)

While this passage does not command, commend, condone, or even suggest divorce, it does recognize that divorce occurs and permits it only on restricted grounds. How can you ponder these passages and conclude otherwise?

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:8-9)

Now if “Moses permitted . . . divorce,” where did Moses’ authority come from? Yes, God hates divorce, but because God understands the difficulties levied by the curse after The Fall:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)

God granted Moses the authority to permit divorce under restricted grounds.

Now, divorce ends a marriage, does it not? “I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” (John 4:17-18)

Jesus did not tell the woman, “you HAVE five husbands.” He said “you have HAD five husbands.” So tell me then, if a man divorces for biblical reasons and marries again, is he not the “husband of one wife?” Not only does your interpretation defy the literal rendering of the phrase, but it defies all the biblical passages given.

 

Well said. And as I pointed out in the sister thread:

You know God is divorced?

Jeremiah 3:8
"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also."

You know He will also get remarried?

Revelation 19:7
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready."