What does the statement husband of one wife mean in regards to an elder?<\/p>\n\t
“The husband of one wife<\/i>” (I Timothy 3:2;\u00a0Titus 1:6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Only a married man may be an elder. Single men are eliminated as well as men who practice bigamy. The Law of Moses did allow some men to have multiple wives in certain situations (Exodus 21:10), but such men entering the Christian religion from Judaism could not serve as elders of the Lord’s flock. Neither can a man be involved in an adulterous relationship, whether caused by cheating on his wife or by an improper divorce (Matthew 5:32;\u00a019:9).<\/p>\n
Obvious, though sometimes contested, this qualification also eliminates women from the position. Despite the objections, the eldership holds authority over the congregation (Hebrews 13:17) and women are forbidden to hold authority over men (I Timothy 2:12).<\/p>\n
It is sometimes argued that a man who has married again after the death of a spouse or a proper divorce is eliminated from consideration for the eldership. To argue such is to say that the man’s first marriage continued past the death of his spouse or the proper divorce of a sexually immoral wife. Yet Paul said, “For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man<\/i>” (Romans 7:2-3). If a man has two wives, he is an adulterer. Since death releases the marriage covenant, remarrying after the death of his first wife does not mean he is the husband of two wives. Since\u00a0Matthew 19:9\u00a0implies that a man may remarry after divorcing his wife because she committed fornication, this situation also does not cause a man to be the husband of two wives.<\/p>\n
Another question that arises is whether a man may serve as an elder if his wife has died and he has not remarried. Since Paul’s instruction to Timothy in\u00a0I Timothy 3:2\u00a0is that an elder “must be” (i.e. present state of being) and Titus’ instructions were also in the present tense, we must conclude that the elder must be currently married. Just as a man cannot serve as an elder because he once was not self-willed or that he used to be hospitable, there is no indication that an elder can serve based on his past marital status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What does the statement husband of one wife mean in regards to an elder? Answer: “The husband of one wife” (I Timothy 3:2;\u00a0Titus 1:6). Only a married man may be an elder. Single men are eliminated as well as men who practice bigamy. The Law of Moses did allow some men to have multiple…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[123,76],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2007,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-if-an-elders-wife-dies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":0},"title":"What happens if an elder’s wife dies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man is qualified to serve as an elder but his wife dies before he is installed, can he still become an elder? If an elder's wife dies may he continue to serve? Answer: In looking for qualified men to be elders, we put so much emphasis on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-deal-with-an-elders-wifes-gossiping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":1},"title":"How do you deal with an elder’s wife’s gossiping?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do the wives of the elders have any authority over the other women of the congregation? Are there qualifications for the wife of an elder? How should it be handled when the wife of an elder repeats hurtful information about a member of the church she learns from her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51404,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-timothy-311-refer-to-both-elders-and-deacons-wives\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":2},"title":"Does I Timothy 3:11 refer to both elders and deacons’ wives?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Timothy 3:11, where it says \"Likewise their wives,\" do you think the word \"their\" means both elder and deacons wives? Or is this word a specific reference to deacons' wives? I ask this because in context this verse falls under the qualification of a deacon. Answer: Actually,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15678,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-divorce-disqualify-a-man-from-being-an-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":3},"title":"Does divorce disqualify a man from being an elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does divorce disqualify a man from being an elder? Is adultery covenant-breaking? Answer: Adultery does break the covenant or \"law\" between a man and a woman. \"Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-know-when-a-passage-is-talking-about-older-men-in-a-congregation-or-the-elders-of-a-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":4},"title":"How do you know when a passage is talking about older men in a congregation or the elders of a congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering with Elder being mentioned in 1 \u00a0or 2 or 3rd John and refers to a woman. I just remember reading it (II John 1; III John 1). I remember someone mentioning it to me a long time ago and the question I have now is how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3121,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-old-does-a-person-need-to-be-to-become-an-elder\/","url_meta":{"origin":1501,"position":5},"title":"How old does a person need to be to become an elder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How old does a person need to be to become an elder? Answer: The word translated as \"elders\" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word\u00a0presbuteros, which refers to an older person. No set age is implied by the word and it is sometimes used to denote relative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}