What is meant by the phrase, "a husband of one wife", as it pertains to the qualification of elders and deacons? Watch the full episode here: • Albert Mohler - Ask An...
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"One woman man" - Husband of one wife ... at a time... (with one more distinction)... *that is alive. A pastor who has ex-spouses who are alive will be eviscerated by congregants wanting to pursue multiple marriages. Indeed, counciling for marital solidarity is at stake. Mohler is always sound, and he was correct in mentioning the nuanced distinctions of a local biblically ordered congregation.
I have a question that I need help with. A deacon at my church looks at porn and I know it's a struggle for him and I don't condemn him because I am fighting this very sin. His brother is the Pastor and he knows he hasn't overcome this sin but he keeps him as a deacon because he told him it would affect him in a worse way if he took away his position. I am just thinking of that verse that says a deacon should be blameless. Is this a valid reason to find another church? Should I ask them about this? I don't want to cause division or strife but it's just something on my mind about how to proceed. Any advice appreciated.
Of course the fact that you are thinking of going to another church shows that the Lord is leading you too move. How can this deacon ever help you if he is in the same position. God bless you.
Sidestepped issue isn’t answering question. The way way answered was a passing of the buck if you will. It isn’t this church that church, although here in America we seemed to have made it so, it’s THE CHURCH, of which the same Bible governs all. Sadly, man doesn’t like what this body is sticking to in the word so they go over there were they don’t hold so tightly to literal truth of the word. I don’t think on judgement day this kind of answer will suffice for those who are in the places of teachers and or Pastors. We need to get back to the simplistic truth of God’s Word!
Divorce is a learning experience that provides valuable perspective from the point of view of a counselor, which might even serve as a source of cautionary tales preventing further divorces among the congregation...or not. At the end of the day, it's the couple in question that has to make the final EROEI call; not the pastor. Using divorce as a filter for whether or not someone is qualified to read from a book in context and expound on it is asinine.
If a God fearing, honorable, faithful man has a wife who cheats on him and leaves him, that should not disqualify him by any means. Let's not forget how unfaithful Israel was to God, and yet his covenant faithfulness was unshaken.
Michael, I do not believe it is that cut and dry. Scripture says this "Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. If she is unfaithful he is disqualified based on that alone. God's standards are VERY high for the office of Pastor and Deacon. Now if what you said happened he could still preach or teach, but NOT be a Pastor or Deacon.
I think in a very painful situation like that, the removal of office of elder or deacon would not be for the purpose of disciplining him for sin but rather to free up his time and energy to focus on praying for his wife's repentance and pursuit of her. It is also vital the church come alongside him and show extra love and help at this time.
Can a woman be a deacon? I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. At the end of Romans, Paul mentions about 24 people. Phoebe is the first to be mentioned. Translation is NIV, and is also correct, regarding the word 'deacon'. Strongs Number: G1249 I believe an unmarried man or woman can be an elder, deacon, etc. But such positions/titles are not for just anyone.
@@yjk5737 Yes. I believe any man or woman can be a deacon or elder, regardless of being married or not. But not just anyone can be a deacon or elder of course. In Corinthians, Paul writes that he is an apostle and unmarried. Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God... -excerpt 1 Corinthians 1 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. -excerpt 1 Corinthians 7 So if one wants to be legalistic, Paul couldn't qualify to be a deacon or elder, according to his words in 1 Timothy 3. Nor even Jesus.
If you are going to apply all of a man’s history (past marriages) then you must also apply his history of anger, alcohol abuse, mistakes with kids and all the other requirements. What is done with one requirement must be equally applied to all requirements. You are not a better Christian just because you have only been married once. As a retired counselor, I could write on this all day. Quit using double standards. Some sins are easier to hide than others.
I am shocked by how seriously Albert Mohler is wrong about the passage on husband of one wife. First off the Greek does not say husband of one wife. It says one woman man and should have been translated that way. It has to do with character. A man can be the husband of one wife and not be a one woman man. He may flirt with other women or just have roaming eyes or what ever. The passage goes way beyond how many times someone is married. Based on scripture it is my opinion that a man should NOT be considered for Pastor or Deacon unless they are married and proven themselves to be a one woman man and ruling over their children and household well.
μιας γυναικος ανδρα - Could validly be translated as "husband of one wife" or "man of one woman". Both are within the semantic range. Almost every Bible translation favors the latter, since this is *usually* the implication of ανηρ and γυνη. I also strongly doubt that Dr. Mohler would disagree with your application that pastoral qualifications includes a faithful man within the context of marriage.
I believe your comment is directly in line with what Dr M said. It absolutely has to do with character, not numbers, which is what he said should be taken at a minimum. Plus, he mentioned ability to teach and an orderly family, which is still only a fraction of the full qualifications.
There is no mention of the pastor being a man and therefore a woman cannot be one as Adam was created first and it was Eve who was deceived and sinned. Women therefore are not to have spiritual authority over men. Perhaps I should watch the full discussion . The Word of God proclaims, “A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:11- The structure of 1 Timothy 2:11-14 makes the reason why women cannot be pastors perfectly clear. Verse 13 begins with “for,” giving the “cause” of Paul’s statement in verses 11-12. Why should women not teach or have authority over men? Because “Adam was created first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (verses 13-14). God created Adam first and then created Eve to be a “helper” for Adam. The order of creation has universal application in the family (Ephesians 5:22-33) and in the church
1 Timothy 3 :2 clearly says Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, So the pastor, preacher , overseer they all mean the same thing - must be a man
Let deacons be the husbands of one wife: who rule well their children, and their own houses.1Timothy 3:12. The scripture dosan't anticipate a wifeless clergy!
Quit beating around the bush! It's not up to the church to decide! The scriptures decide! And it's a big NO! Preachers just do not speak with authority anymore😣 and another thing I never hear preachers bring up is the scripture in 1st Timothy 5:9 where it talks about a widow not being taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man. They had to have qualifications. It means only married one time there, and it means only married one time for a deacon and a bishop. NO EXCUSES!!!
Agree, he was avoiding answering the question and pawned it off a local church to decide if it was sin or not. What messy logic. One church is ok with sin and another is not. So it's sin in one church and not in another. This is nonsense speak.
Polygamy was practiced by Israel in New Testament times. The scriptures do not condemn polygamy (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses were Prophets of God and they practiced polygamy). The scripture cited above recommended that only Bishops refrain from practicing polygamy. Apparently it was OK for other Christian disciples to practice polygamy as it doesn’t say otherwise. Stop providing your own “private interpretation” of scripture.
still it not ideal. in fact all apostles believe monogamy was ideal. It even was legal to have ploygamous marriage in judea. Yet the apostles felt it was bad to marry off widows because they were looking for different way to support them. Also none apostles where ploygamous. The old testament was different time.
Fitzboden... God did not justify polygamy. God told those men in the Bible not to multiply wives unto themselves. And also in 1st Corinthians 7:2 it says let every man have his own wife and let every women have her own husband. It meant one husband for a wife and one wife for a husband.
@@TheEndtime60 thank you! And where men took more wives, see where it led…… bitterness and sin. Solomon, known for his wisdom took many wives and concubines and it led to his pleasing them rather than the Lord. .Solomon’s taking of many wives and concubines was in direct violation of God’s Word. Just as God had predicted, “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God” (1 Kings 11:4). To please his wives, Solomon even got involved in sacrificing to Milcom (or Molech), a god that required “detestable” acts to be performed (1 Kings 11:7-8).
I was so disappointed by this video. To say that something as important as this topic is something whose interpretation and resultant application should be determined by the "local, Biblical, rightly-ordered congregation" (show me the church that does not believe this about itself) implies either that one, any and every interpretation is equally valid, provided that interpretation is arrived at by a sincere, Bible-believing Christian church, or two, that every sincere Christian church will each independently arrive at the exact same interpretation. Because we know the second would never happen (and I don't believe that's what you're saying), then this video, in suggesting that a Biblical church would arrive at the "right" interpretation, fails to answer the inevitable follow-up question: what happens when two self-professed, Biblical, rightly-ordered Christian churches disagree on the meaning of this passage? This is a question for which this particular video provides no answer; indeed, it's a question it fails to even entertain. Your stated view that "we'll have to trust the local church to do that," (come to a solid, Biblical understanding on this subject) implies that all interpretations are valid, provided the individual churches are sincere in their pursuit of Christ. That's kind of the same attitude that says, "It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere." A church's view of itself does not and cannot equip it to determine for its own congregants objective truth. If you believe the text refers only to polygamy, say that. If you believe it refers to anyone who has been divorced, say that. If you believe that given, for instance, a divorce had happened prior to the man's conversion (with that man now being a new creation, and the mandate now therefore not being applicable to him), say that. If you even believe that there's insufficient Biblical support to adopt ANY position with certainty, (which is not to say that there's not a truth, but just that it's hard to determine) say that; perhaps (and I'm hoping here) this is what you intended to convey. What you did convey, however (in my opinion), is that the word of God is malleable, open to any number of interpretations. And whatever is malleable is of course unreliable, and we know God's word is reliable and sufficient.
I thought he’d address the issue of women pastors but it never came, that is that only a man can be pastor as women should not have spiritual authority over men. Disappointing.
@@gracepilditch9388 That would have been nice to hear. Much of the American church has become so weak, so mealy-mouthed when it comes to addressing what the Bible says to and about women. We shouldn't wonder then that the church experiences some of the the same cultural chaos as the world, to say nothing of adding fuel to the charges of hypocrisy which comes from the world toward the church.
The American church in particular has so drunk the kool-aid of feminism, that now many, and perhaps most pastors are seemingly petrified to preach what the Lord says to and about women, fully, truthfully and without apologizing for God's word. Pastor Joel Webbon put it very well when he pointed out that on Mother's Day, most church's sermons are "Thank God for moms"; on Father's Day, it's "Men, do better."
" Husband of one wife". I see no difference to having 5 wives at once vs one at a time with the current wife being number 5. You are not deacon or elder material.
@@jonyoung6405 I'm not sure how that comports if the divorce(s) occurred before the conversion, in the light of 2 Corinthians 5:17-19. If now that we're saved, and our former trespasses are not counted against us, and all things have become new; and if we are in fact new creatures, and the old things have passed away, I guess it's not as clear to me that with everything except divorce, I became a new creature when I was born again. You may well be right, but I guess I'm not yet seeing it as clearly as you do. Thanks for replying to my comment.
I seldom ever comment on anything I watch on youtube, but the Lord has put this on my heart after hearing this video and reading some of the responses. I am getting on up in years now. I have been a Christian for most of those years as well. As I see it, you will not find a modern-day preacher or pastor that will give you the answer you are looking for. Either they are afraid to hurt someone's feelings, or they try to make the Bible say something that's not there for the sake of inclusion or exclusion or whatever the need is. It also puzzles me that 50 years ago, everyone knew exactly what "Husband of one wife" meant. If divorce was attached to your name in any way, you were disqualified from being a preacher or deacon. Listen folks, the Bible has not changed one bit over the years and preachers or pastors should not be afraid or ashamed to preach the truth. If the Lord tarries another 50 years, I can't imagine what will allowed by then.
Read the Bible in its entirety. David was a murderer and adulterer but God did not remove him as king. He restored David. Moses was a murderer and disobeyed God numerous times but God did not remove him from leadership Peter betrayed Jesus but He was restored and was given the keys to the kingdom. And was not removed from being an apostle.. The scriptture is speaking of polygamy. The sad thing is church bi laws are written but they should not supercede Gods word. God does expect us to use common sense when living in the word.
Just for clarification, God forgives all sins of the ole man when you are reborn. That is scripture. Man does not forgive and is a stumbling block by not forgiving of old sins. That is mans opinion and judgement, outside of scripture.
I feel bad for this man, because he knows not and has a Pharisee view of his authority. As The Scripture tells us, when you accept Him as your Lord and Savior, the ole man has died and a new man is born, at which time GOD casts you sins as far as the east from the west. GOD forgives you, but man in a Pharisee fantasy, condemns your past behavior. Let me clear, GOD forgives your past sins, man condemns your past sins. GOD good, man bad. Think, this man walks up to the gate, he is told I know you not because you were a stumbling block to a child I forgave and that I sent. Are you betting your eternity on your self-serving interpretation of GOD’s Word? I know that if GOD wants to say divorced, He would have said it. The gospel tells us, a believer can not be a deacon if he is not the husband of only one wife. Simple stated without a Pharisee interpretation from a NIMBY point of view.
