Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul ’s Instruction to Timothy

The phrase “husband of one wife” is made up of three words in Greek: mias gynaikos andra. The words literally mean:

0 mias, one 0 gynaikos, wife or woman 0 andra, husband or man

The phrase “of one wife” is placed first in an emphatic position to stress the idea of “one wife.” It modifies the noun “husband.” Thus we can translate the phrase in the following ways: “one-wife husband,” “one-woman man,” or “husband of one wife.” There is broad disagree ment, however, on the proper interpretation of this little phrase. We will consider four possibilities:

- elders must be married 0 elders must not be polygamists - elders may marry only once ° elders must be maritally and sexually above reproach

It’s not uncommon to hear people say that an elder must be married because Scripture says he must be “the husband of one wife.” This, however, is not an accurate interpretation. If Paul requires elders to be married, he flatly contradicts what he teaches in 1 Corinthians 7 where he outlines the distinct advantages of singleness in serving the Lord and even encourages singleness for the purpose of more effective, un divided service (1 Cor. 7232-35; cf. Matt. 19:12). If an elder is re quired to be married, Paul should have qualified his statements about the advantage of singleness because singleness would disqualify an aspiring elder or deacon. However, Paul didn’t write, “an elder must be a man who has a wife.” Rather, he says that an elder must be a one wife man, which is quite a different point. Using similar logic, some people also conclude that an elder must have children because of the qualification that an elder manage “his own household well, keeping his children under control” (1 Tim. 324). I’ve talked with some men, for example, who don’t believe they can serve as elders or deacons because they have only one child. They say that Paul’s qualification requires “children.” Paul, however, is not re quiring an elder to father two or more children. We must realize the limitations of Paul’s language. He wouldn’t use “child” because people

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