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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, |
Subject: Serious study on this passage |
Bible Note: Since Paul was the writer of both the passage in question as well as this on... 1 Tim. 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, 10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. Why did Paul say so clearly what was meant for the widow? having been the wife of one man. Yet when it came to naming the qualifications for the leadership of the church he all of sudden is short on words. I find it hard to believe that he would not have said, “being the husband of one women at a time”, if indeed that was what he really meant. Adultery was the warning here... not polygamy. Where in Scripture does Paul spend energy writing to the Church concerning “multiple wives”... polygamy? But many times he touched on the problem of unfaithfulness and immorality. The word of God is clear to the pure in heart. But when we do not like what we are reading, or are not comfortable with it for our lives, it is tempting to wrestle the Scriptures to fit our situation rather that change our situation to fit the scriptures. It still remains true that at a village smith shop, many hammers have been worn out but the anvil still stands. 2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. |