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NASB | 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Timothy 3:2 Now an overseer must be blameless and beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, |
Bible Question: When it talks about the husband of one wife does it mean one wife at a time (referring to paligamy)or does it mean one wife period? And, if it means one wife at a time, then how can the pastor be above reproach and be found blameless? And, is not the marriage union until death do you part whether you are divorced or not? |
Bible Answer: I've heard this put as "a one woman man", however, the grammer appears to favor the most common translation, as the King James, husband of one wife. This would be in keeping with the context describing external conditions which indicate characture, rather than describing the characture traits themselves. Paul will do this later, but he does not do it here. Some Notes on this Passage: Robertson¡¦s New Testament Word Pictures: ¡§Of one wife (mias gunaikos). One at a time, clearly.¡¨ Adam Clark¡¦s Commentary: ¡§He must be the husband of one wife. He should be a married man, but he should be no polygamist; and have only one wife, i.e. one at a time. It does not mean that, if he has been married, and his wife die, he should never marry another.¡¨ Albert Barnes NT Commentary: ¡§The husband of one wife. This need not be understood as requiring that a bishop should be a married man, ¡K (1.) It is the most obvious meaning of the language, and it would doubtless be thus understood by those to whom it was addressed. At a time when polygamy was not uncommon, to say that a man should "have but one wife" would be naturally understood as prohibiting polygamy. (2.) The marriage of a second wife, after the death of the first, is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as wrong. The marriage of a widow to a second husband is expressly declared to be proper, 1Co 7:39¡K (3.) There was a special propriety in the prohibition, if understood as prohibiting polygamy. It is known that it was extensively practised, and was not regarded as unlawful. Yet one design of the gospel was to restore the marriage relation to its primitive condition¡K John Wesley Notes: ¡§The husband of one wife-This neither means that a bishop must be married, nor that he may not marry a second wife; which it is just as lawful for him to do as to marry a first, and may in some cases be his bounden duty. But whereas polygamy and divorce on slight occasions were common both among the Jews and heathens, it teaches us that ministers, of all others, ought to stand clear of those sins.¡¨ Matthew Henry: ¡§1Ti 3:2. He must be the husband of one wife; not having given a bill of divorce to one, and then taken another, or not having many wives at once, as at that time was too common both among Jews and Gentiles, especially among the Gentiles.¡¨ People¡¦s New Testament Commentary: ¡§The husband of one wife. A married man, and having only one wife. In those loose times of divorce, men might be converted who had successively several wives. Divorce for unscriptural reasons would not free a man from his first, lawful wife. Hence the limitation to those who had only one living wife. I do not think there is any reference to re-marriage after the death of a wife.¡¨ Teacher's Commentary: ¡§Of one wife. Various interpretations have been placed upon this phrase. In view of the ease with which divorce was accomplished in those days it was not unusual that a man might have had several wives, in succession. It is quite probable that Paul's prohibition was directed against men of this character.¡¨ William Burkitt's Notes on the New Testament: ¡§The husband of one wife; that is, one at a time; not guilty of the sin of having many wives, or of putting away the wife by divorce, as the Jews frequently did for frivolous causes. Here note, 1. The apostle's command (that the bishop be the husband of one wife) doth not oblige him to marry, but it establishes the lawfulness of his marriage, if he sees sufficient reason for it. Nor, 2. Does the apostle here forbid successive marriages, as if when a bishop has married one wife, or more, he might not lawfully marry again; for this he elsewhere allows.¡¨ Grammatical Analysis: maisƒn a-cgf-s Adjective Cardinal Genitive Feminine Singular gunaikosƒn n-gf-s Noun Genitive Feminine Singular anerƒn n-nm-s Noun Nominative Masculine Singular ¡§Mais¡¨ and ¡§gunaikos¡¨ are both genitive feminine singular, so ¡§one¡¨ modifies ¡§woman/wife¡¨. The genitive case names the noun being measured. ¡§Aner¡¨ is nominative, the subject of the verb found earlier, ¡§is¡¨. ¡§If any 'is' blameless, one wife husband¡¨, and so is rendered, ¡§If any is husband one wife¡¨ mais gunaikos anerƒnƒnƒnthe husband of one wife ASV, the husband of one wife NKJV, of one wife a husband Youngs Literal. Green¡¦s, Bishops, Geneva, Tyndale, all translate this way. Consider, is the apostle instructing Timothy (and Titus) to judge the hearts, the thoughts and intents of these men, or to judge their lives, their fruits - what can be seen? Leaders of the church are called to be "blameless", but this is literally "unable to be called into court", or "above reproach". Who among us is blameless in the internal, moral sense. Is that what Paul is requiring? I think Paul is instructing Timothy and Titus to judge according to what can be seen. Love in Christ, Mark |