What does the Bible lay out for the standard to be the pastor of a church? The main area I point to is I Timothy 3. A few key verses here, then we will look at one area that some have disagreement over.
3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach
3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
One obvious thing should be pointed out. Somehow there are those that twist scriptures to allow women pastors. How can a woman be a husband of one wife? Ok, that should seem pretty straightforward, but lets move on to the issue of divorce and re-marriage regarding a pastor of a church.
Most of those qualifications I Timothy chapter 3 would seem obvious and expected. Regarding marriage however, some will claim that a man that has divorced is still qualified, assuming the divorce was "justified". See this post on marriage and divorce. The Bible is clear that marriage is to be between one man and one woman, for life. Except for fornication (not adultery), a man is to remain bound to his spouse until his death, or the death of his wife, even if the wife departs. Just because a woman leaves her husband, he does not then have justification to re-marry.
So what does the phrase "husband of one wife" mean in this context? One wife at a time - or one wife period? Just a few chapters later we can see what Paul is saying here, that it is the latter and not the former. Paul regarded Timothy as his son (I Timothy 1:2). He is instructing him on not just how to be a pastor, but what standards both he and others must meet. In I Timothy 5:9 we see Paul speak regarding widows that are taken in to be cared for. One of the requirements before doing so was that they had been a wife of one husband. This is the same qualification of sorts, just reversed. All of this so that the pastor or elder may be blameless. The keyword here - blameless does not imply sinless. These are character qualifications
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