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One wife
Text: Titus 1:6
Forbidding marriage to pastors, elders, bishops is devilish
- 1 Timothy 4:3
- Paul was not married, but could be married if he wanted to be as he said in 1 Corinthians 9:5.
- Marriage can teach valuable lessons, but being married isn’t a qualifier in itself. There are plenty of married men who don’t know how to be married. And some who aren’t in the ministry right now because they didn’t know how to be married.
Polygamy disqualifies someone from this position in a New Testament congregation
- Polygamy was common in the Old Testament and even among people that God used.
- Polygamy is also probably more common than we’d like to admit.
- The slang term “side chicks” has been used.
- A good number of men from Mexico who come to the States travel back and forth from Mexico because they have another wife and sometimes family in Mexico.
- A very close friend of mine found out that his dad had another family in another city. His half-sister tracked him down after their dad died and that’s how he found out. His dad had faithfully served in a church for years. He was a doctor.
Remarriage
- The expectations in marriage after the new covenant get higher. And that matches the expectations in the new covenant itself.
- The question that comes up here is whether a remarriage disqualifies someone from this position of leadership in a congregation.
- The fact is there are clearly instances where a marriage is dissolved and the LORD agrees that the marriage is over.
- 1 Corinthians 7:12-15 an unbeliever decides their spouse’s Christianity is not for them and leaves. The abandoned brother or sister is blameless in that event.
- In the event of the death of a spouse, there is certainly no blame to the living spouse.
- Immorality outside the marriage has the potential to dissolve a marriage. It doesn’t have to, but it is a legitimate reason.
- The real questions then are the standards higher for elders and bishops? The answer is the standards for bishops and elders is certainly higher, but does that mean:
- if a man’s wife dies and he remarries he’s out?
- Does that mean if his wife rejects his Christianity and leaves, he’s disqualified?
- If the LORD said he’s not willing to find fault in these cases, then neither can we.
What you’ll see is that the family is a wonderful proving ground for the family of God. And how a man behaves in this commitment and whether he’s able to rule his own house well certainly gives you plenty of indicators of how things would go if he were overseeing a congregation.
