Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul ’s Instruction to Timothy

would then think that an elder could have only one child. He is simply saying that an elder who has offspring must manage his home well. The fact is, most men are married and have children. Scripture re quires that these men have their homes in order and that their marital relationships exemplify what Christian marriage should be. These quali fications obviously don’t apply to elders who are single or childless. A number of biblical commentators believe that the phrase, “the husband of one wife,” means “married to one wife.” They say that Paul’s intent was to prohibit polygamy—having two or more wives at the same time—and conclude that elders must not be polygamists. This seems like a good interpretation on the surface, but the related phrase, “the wife of one man” (1 Tim. 5 29), makes this interpretation nearly impossible. First Timothy 529 lists the qualifications for wid ows who receive living assistance from the church, and specifies that a woman must have been “the wife of one man.” Certainly Paul wasn’t referring to women who had two or more husbands at one time, which is called polyandry. Polyandry was abhorrent to Jews as well as to Romans and definitely was not a problem in the church. So it is un likely that the phrase, “the husband of one wife,” is intended primarily to address polygamy. Some prominent biblical commentators believe that this phrase means “married only once in a lifetime.” Paul, they say, prohibits re marriage for any reason, even remarriage following the death of a spouse. Thus a man who was divorced and remarried or a widower who had remarried wouldn’t qualify to be an elder or deacon. This interpretation, however, is plainly at odds with the rest of the Bible’s teaching on the sanctity of marriage.8 “Nowhere else in the N.T.,” writes biblical expositor J.B. Huther, “is there the slightest trace of any ordi nance against second marriages.”9 By itself, the phrase “the husband of one wife” doesn’t indicate whether Paul means one wife in an entire lifetime or one wife at a time. This phrase must be interpreted within the larger context of Paul’s overall teaching on marriage. It must never be allowed to contradict God’s clear, general teaching on marriage. Therefore, from a New Tes tament perspective it is unthinkable that this phrase is meant to dis qualify remarried widowers. A remarried widower could still be called “the husband of one wife.” Other commentators interpret this phrase to mean that men who have remarried following a divorce cannot be elders. Among Jews,

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