Chapter 10
What does “the husband of one wife” mean?
Good morning to you, and thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me.
As a course of my normal daily bible reading, I recently encountered a familiar marital situation in scripture. And what I read caused me to think about a familiar doctrine about a qualification for a bishop.
The verse that I read was 2 Chronicles 13.21:
“But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives, and begat twenty and two sons, and sixteen daughters.”
(That’s a lot of wives)
Polygamy is very abundant throughout scripture; it’s not God’s will, but it’s common nonetheless.
So when I read passages like 1 Timothy 3.2: “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;“
It seems to me that the problem of polygamy is what’s being dealt with, (rather than barring a man from being a bishop if he’s been divorced & remarried).
However please don’t think that I’m making light of divorce, I’m not at all. Divorce is horrible and hurtful.
And I don’t know if I’m right in my analysis of this topic, (I may be wrong). But at least I’ll give you my reasons why I believe that polygamy is the issue being addressed.
Because:
1. If a man has a wayward past prior to his salvation (and who doesn’t), such as divorce for example, and he’s forbidden to be a bishop on that basis. Then his past sins are being held against him that God has forgiven and put away. Making him (in practice) a second-class citizen in the body of Christ based on sins that God has cleansed & removed.
I believe in regeneration by God; I really believe that God makes someone a new creature (2 Corinthians 5.17), when Christ has been formed in them, (Galatians 4.19). Therefore to penalize someone for their sins that they committed while they were in their spiritually dead state, seems (to me) to be a denial that God actually makes someone a new creature when He regenerates them.
2. Conversely, there are plenty of adulterous married pastors out there who’ve never been divorced. Therefore if a man has never been divorced, that doesn’t necessarily equate to him being a quality shepherd.
3. Moreover, a man who’s married to multiple women simultaneously is going to have a very chaotic personal life. his affections are going to be pulled in multiple directions, with excessive drama and strife in his life. Therefore polygamy would be an appropriate prohibition to Christian leadership.
4. And finally, (I believe that) the forbidding of polygamy better-fits the grammar in 1 Timothy 3.2.
Why do I say that?
It’s because a married, (or a divorced & remarried) man is the husband of one wife.
While a polygamist is not the husband of one wife, (and thus the polygamist would be disqualified from being a bishop).
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So like I said, I may be totally wrong in my analysis of this topic, and if you disagree with me, that’s fine with me, please help me to see what I’m missing.
Thank you for considering this topic with me.
All glory to the risen Lord Jesus Christ! And no glory to us whatsoever!
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A church leader or pastor needs to be married. One wife. When the man is not able to keep up his marriage, how will he be able to manage a whole congregation?
And we know that there are many false teachers and church leaders. They are always trying to justify themselves. It may not always mean they are “skirt”-hunting” but what about drunkenness and drugs?
There is nowhere in the Bible that when a man is serving the LORD, he must live his life in celibacy. That is another man-made, conclusion.
Also, women have no business behind a pulpit. They can lead a Bible- or a Sunday school class. But that’s where it ends. The neutral gender modern bibles allow everything that God forbids.
1Corinthians 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1COrinthians 14:35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
But Abijah waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives
More wives, we think about David. Solomon had once his seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. God inspired both men to write Books in the Bible.
When you ask me, I believe that God does make a new creature in spite that we are still in the flesh. If that doesn’t happen one is not born-again, neither saved to begin with. Yes, it is the new life within us that Paul the apostle is talking about.
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Thank you for sharing that good & useful contribution to this post miss Jackie!
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When I wrote this post, I also had in mind the man who was divorced and remarried prior to his salvation…and his being barred from being a bishop on that basis.
(Or perhaps the bishop whose wife divorced him to run off with another man, and he later on remarried).
Are such men prohibited from being a bishop in the assembly of saints?
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To answer your question Mr. Lee I don”t have a clear answer.
When the man was saved before he remarried that means he is born-again, and sealed with the Holy Spirit. God set him apart with the other saints. To become a pastor or a bishop of a congregation is quite another thing.
On other the hand, when a leader gets barred from a church or a congregation who are the ones who barred him?
What lifestyle do they have who barred him?
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I hope you dont mind the input of a stranger… Christ Alone is the Husband of one wife… and the only leader of His Church… He died to the old covenant on the cross before He married His Church (true communion is Christ in you, the New Coveannt)…
Jesus always called remarriage adultery… a divorced person is still married in the eyes of God, which is why remarriage is considered adultery against their first spouse…
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Also if I may add… Both men and women (bride of Christ) are the “woman” that is to be silent in the church while her husband (Christ) speaks (thru her)… we are not to speak our own opinions and teachings, rather speak what our Husband (Christ) has taught us in subjection to Him. Paul used common analogies to illustrate his point but it’s always about Christ and His Church (His Bride, the woman, the weaker vessel… BOTH men and women in the body submitted to Christ).
YOU are the church (not a building)! Being silent (with our own opinions/speaking from our flesh… both men and women) and letting Christ speak/live thru us.
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That’s a very interesting and good thought that you passed along, thank you for sharing that.
God bless you in your pursuit of truth sister.
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