IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.
It comes from Ilene Ashworth.
I’ll paraphrase the question, to shorten it.
Paul’s number one qualification for an elder or a deacon is that they be married. If the wife dies, can the husband remain an elder or a deacon?
That question surprised me. I didn’t realize people read Paul that way.
Paul assigned two of his associates, Timothy and Titus, the job of finding church leaders – Timothy in what is now Turkey and Titus on the island of Crete.
Writing letters to each of them, Paul gave them pretty much the same wish-list of character traits to look for in church leaders.
There’s one flaky phrase – tough to translate – that leads some to think he was insisting on married men only.
Paul said the church leaders should be: “the husband of one wife” (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6, KJV).
Not the husband of one dead wife.
Or the husband of a second wife.
Or the husband of no wife.
Here’s the biggest problem with the assumption that every Rev. Dude needed a Dudette.
Paul was Dudetteless. He liked it that way. He recommended it to others:
“It’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am” (1 Corinthians 7:8, NLT).
There’s no indication Timothy or Titus were married, either.
“The husband of one wife” is an old-fashioned, ill-informed way of translating the Greek phrase into today’s English. Consider these other, more modern Bible translations:
- “faithful to his wife,” (NLT)
- “He must have only one wife” (GWT)
- “married only once” (NRSV)
- “committed to his wife” (The Message)
- “faithful in marriage” (CEV)
Requiring pastoral candidates to produce a marriage certificate isn’t what Paul had in mind, most scholars agree. It wasn’t anything like the Party of the First Part demanding the birth certificate of the Party of the Second Part.
Paul simply presumed that most candidates for ministry would be hitched to somebody’s daughter. So when he created a checklist of the moral behavior he expected to see in candidates, he included “loyalty to the little lady.” My paraphrase.
Paul’s list pretty well shows what he was after: a few good men, married or not.
If married, not sleeping with the church secretary.
If not married, not sleeping with the church secretary.
Married or not, these church leaders must:
- have a good reputation
- be self-controlled, sensible, well-behaved
- be kind and gentle and not love money
So in answer to the question, yes widowers can still pastor a church.
So can single guys.
Ladies, too, as far as a great many Bible experts are concerned. Many Southern Baptists might disagree with that. But that’s a question for another week.
In some middle eastern countries,even today, men were allowed to have more than one wife. I think Paul was also saying you shouldn’t have a harem.
Since you touched on it at the end of the blog… Is there biblical backing for women ministers?
Erin, I’ve added that to my list of Questions of the Week.
Hmm…I always read those verses as indicating that if a man is to be given any counseling/spiritual authority over the body of Christ, they must be good spiritual leaders in their own homes first. I am Catholic and appreciate that the priests at my church are unmarried, living lives of simple humility. Their focus is on the church and the body of Christ, not on their homes, cars, wives, kids, clothes, vacations, etc. I appreciate this. It is difficult for me to tithe to an institution (being that I live below the poverty level) when part of my tithe might go to fund a pastor’s annual vacations, large home and keep his double-car garage well-stocked. just my humble opinion.
Hey, Erin. Sorry for the delay. Your post got caught in my spam filter. I just found it. And one other comment of yours. I released them both out into the wild.
Protestants have this thing about all ministers need to be married, despite Paul emphasizing singleness as preferred and Roman Catholics make their ministers take a vow of celibacy when Scripture makes it clear that not everyone has that gift. Personally, I think Paul is talking about polygamy not a status of marriage. Most churches want their clergy married and don’t care how many times they have been married – which I find more ridiculous than hiring a single pastor! I wanted to be a MInister and was discouraged because I was single.
This is why there has to be a happy balance between the Catholic practice and too often the the Protestant practice where a pastor may be single or married according to their calling. My greatest example of a single pastor was Reverend Alvin Lawhead, a children’s camp counselor for me in the Upstate New York District Church of the Nazarene, who completed his career as a Professor of Old Testament at Nazarene Theological Seminary.
Personally, I have felt this discrimination too often in my life especially as a single father of a son who is differently able. I must live a lifestyle of forgiveness of all the people who have hurt me. I forgive, help me Lord to forgive as you forgive fully.
Married with at least two children is a written requirement in the uneducated Baptist churches of the deep south, which covers 90% of them. I have actually been told by church leaders that Paul, Timothy, and Jesus himself would not be allowed to stand at the pulpit. Personally, I don’t think it has anything to do with misinterpreting a passage of scripture. Instead, they hate all singles. If you’re over 30-40, you must be married to be accepted in any church today.