Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul ’s Instruction to Timothy

Romans, and Greeks, it was easy to divorce and remarry. In the case of remarriage following a divorce, two or three living women could have been married to the same man. Some have termed this successive po lygamy. They believe Paul prohibits a remarried, divorced man from office because of the potentially embarrassing situations his ex-wife (or ex-wives) creates for the elder and the congregation. The correctness of this interpretation seems impossible to prove one way or the other. In fact, the problem with this interpretation as well as the previous ones is that they create more problems than they solve. The interpretation, married only once in a lifetime, particularly raises a homet’s nest of mind-puzzling theological and marital ques tions. Regarding the issue of whether or not a divorced or divorced and remarried man (whether the divorce took place before or after his conversion) can become an elder, the New Testament doesn’t directly comment. Commentator Philip H. Towner is on target when he writes, “the point is not how often one can be married, nor precisely what constitutes a legitimate marriage (that the marriage of the candidate is legitimate is assumed), but rather how one conducts himself in his marriage.”10 A final interpretation, and the one favored here, is the simplest and least problem creating. It contends that the phrase “the husband of one wife” is meant to be a positive statement that expresses faithful, mo nogamous marriage. In English we would say, “faithful and true to one woman” or “a one-woman man.” This latter phrasing closely fol lows the Greek wording. Negatively, the phrase prohibits all deviation from faithful, mo nogamous marriage. Thus it would prohibit an elder from polygamy, concubinage, homosexuality, and/or any questionable sexual rela tionship. Positively, Scripture says the candidate for eldership should be a “one-woman man,” meaning he has an exclusive rela tionship with one woman. Such a man is above reproach in his sexual and marital life. What does 1 Timothy say about sexual and marital sins committed before a person’s conversion to Christ? What about people who have legally divorced and remarried (assuming the local church allows for such)? What about the forgiveness and restoration of a fallen spiritual leader? These and many other painful and controversial questions are not answered directly here. They must be answered from the whole of Scripture’s teaching on divorce and remarriage, forgiveness, grace, and

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