Does an Elder Have to Be a Husband and a Father?

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Well, as we continue looking here and think about what

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Paul says to Timothy and to Titus, there's this list of areas in which a pastor must be blameless.

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They're not necessarily exhaustive, the list, there may be other areas in which a person must be above reproach, but in these areas, he must be above reproach.

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Particularly, right. Right, right. And, again, we don't have time to look at all of them, but there are two qualifications that both kind of consider the man's domestic life, and they are both areas that Paul gives a bit of space to.

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He mentions them to both Timothy and to Titus, and so I think those would be two good ones to take up today.

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Yeah, so the first one being he is the husband of one wife. Right, which is also perhaps one of the more controversial ones.

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Because, well, okay, first off, before we get into the controversy, there's what, four historical understandings or interpretations of that phrase.

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So real quick, what are they? Yeah, I knew you would ask me that. So that he has to be married.

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He must be married. He cannot be a widower. He cannot be divorced.

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He is a one -woman man. I think those are the four. Yeah. I don't think I wrote those down, did I? That's the four that I know of.

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If there's more, I'm sure, if there's more, you can let us know in the comments. Right. Yeah, and there may well be more, but those are four that are kind of historically viewed and with supporting evidence for each.

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You know, there are people who have arguments for each, and we don't have time to argue out each of those.

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No, but we just want to say there are four. One thing that we do want to be very certain of, and we'll, well,

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I'll tell you what, before we get into that, let's get into the children, because he also mentions the children. Because I think that, what

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I want to say is that we cannot be more severe than God, and I think we can get into that after we've kind of gone over both of these things.

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So what is the requirement when it comes to children? That they be obedient children.

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And so I think that the requirement has to do with how the man manages his children, how he cares for them, how he disciplines them, and that it's obvious that that is ongoing, that he's doing that.

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There's a big question mark there, particularly in Titus, because Titus, in the New American Standard, Titus, Paul states to Titus, they must be believing children.

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And so there are people who take that to mean exactly that. They must be believing.

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But if you understand it that way, then you have to ask the question, there's several questions you can ask.

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One, does it mean he must have children? What if he didn't have kids? What if he's a mature believer, but he's a newlywed?

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He doesn't have children. He's not qualified to be a pastor because he doesn't have children yet. Or let's say he has children, but they're newborn.

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Well, are they converted? Not as we understand it. Or let's say that he was converted later in life when his children were already adults, and now he is a mature believer and clearly is called to ministry.

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And they are unbelievers? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so that's a question mark that some people have, and some people, again, interpret it to mean, well, obviously he's unqualified because they are not believing.

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So Paul's words to Titus, he says specifically, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.

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And so having children who believe or having children who are faithful is not set against having children who are unbelievers or unfaithful, but against dissipation or rebellion.

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So they're not behaving. And so I believe that what he's saying is basically the same thing he's saying to Timothy, that they are children who are under control.

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They're not rebellious. They're not overtly, actively rebellious, but they are children who are behaved.

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He's disciplining them well. Right, exactly. He's disciplined. He's leading them. He's training them. So let's go back because we never really dove into husband of one wife as we did here.

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So of those four, how do we interpret that?

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And again, the four that we mentioned was, you know, that he has to be married, can't be a widow, or can't be divorced, and husband of one man, or I'm sorry, husband of one wife.

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My apologies. That's a whole other view. So we understand it as a one woman man.

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The Greek text can be translated either way, husband of one wife or one woman man. And you can see how translating it, husband of one wife, leads us to some conclusions.

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And if we understand it as one woman man, it can lead us to different conclusions. Even there though, so again, he must be married.

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Well, what about Paul's words to the Corinthians about the good thing of being a single person in ministry?

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So that you have to kind of weigh those things out. If you say, well, he cannot be a widower, Paul also says to widows that, you know, you're free.

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That person has passed away. Right. I mean, the vow has been fulfilled. Right. And to the young widows in 1

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Timothy, he tells them, get married. So there's no stigma on remarriage to the...

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Nor is there sin. Right. To the widower, widower. So we believe that understanding that there are exceptions that allow divorce, that those exceptions could come into play when we consider this.

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But there again, the issue, the quality that we're looking for is above reproach. So as people observe this person's life, who perhaps has been married more than once, what do they see?

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And does the, do they know enough about the past that that's a problem?

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Or has it been so recent that it's a problem? There needs to be time that has passed so that anyone who looks on would agree that person is a one woman man.