1 Tim 3:2

[bnmhebda]

A good friend of mine differs with me on certain verse of Scripture. Now if one of us knew how to read Greek we may be able to resolve our difference. I say "may", because we both may be wrong. And if we are both wrong, maybe you can straighten us out. Here's our problem:

Ref. 1 Tim 3:2 "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife..." (NKJV)

δει ουν τον επισκοπον ανεπιληπτον ειναι μιαϚ υναικοϚ ανδρα

Our difference lies in the understanding of the phrase "must be", and how it is applied to the verse in question. One of us understands the "must be" as referring to the state of marriage, meaning that the bishop (overseer, or elder) must be married. The other one sees the "must be" as applying to the word "one", meaning singleness of spouse. By your knowledge of the Greek language and ability to read the Greek Scriptures, is the emphasis of the "must be" on the word "husband" or on the word "one", or on both?

 

[Saiph]

The verse could be paraphrased as such:

"A bishop must be pure and free from blame of all sexual immorality. If he is married, he must be devoted to his wife, and not a whoremonger."

 

[pastorway]

The key is the phrase "the husband of one wife", as this is what the elder [i:6f69ba679e]must be[/i:6f69ba679e]. And study proves that the phrase "husband of one wife" is idiomatic and has nothing whatsoever to do with marital status!

The phrase means a "one-woman man." It refers specifically to purity and faithfulness, and modifies the key characteristic already mentioned in the text, namely, being "above reproach." The term "blameless", or "above reproach" rises from a Greek word that means "not to have a handle" and identifies the inability of one to grab ahold of something with which to discredit you.

So the elder must be blameless in his relationships with the opposite sex. He must be a pure and faithful man. Remember, marriage has nothing to do with it and only applies to say that if the man is single or if he is married, he is to be faithful and pure.

If one believes that to lead in the church one must be married, then what do they do with Paul and Timothy (to name two examples) since they were single men! Timothy was pastoring ( a "bishop" ) at Ephesus when Paul wrote this to him. Was he telling Timothy that he was disqualified? Not at all. It did not even phase Timothy to read this since he knew what Paul meant. And as a single pastor, he was certianly well qualified to be leading the church.

Phillip

 

[C. Matthew McMahon]

This is an article I did on this subject:

[b:d515894da3][color=blue:d515894da3]The Elder and Divorce[/color:d515894da3][/b:d515894da3]