Does divorce disqualify a man from being an elder? Is adultery covenant-breaking?<\/p>\n\t
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 as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man<\/em>” (Romans 7:1-3).<\/p>\n Since an elder is required to be the husband of one wife (I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:6) and the Greek is clear that he must currently be the husband of one wife, then a man who used to be the husband of one wife no longer qualifies for the position.<\/p>\n Now, it is possible that you are asking if a man who was remarried after divorce still qualifies to be an elder and the answer there depends on the reason for the divorce. Jesus allowed a person to divorce his spouse because of sexual immorality (fornication) and could marry another (Matthew 19:9). Since Jesus allowed it, we cannot use that situation to disqualify a man from being an elder. However, if the divorce was because he had committed adultery or was for some other reason and he has married again, then he is in adultery and he should be withdrawn from until he leaves his sin. Consideration for eldership doesn’t even enter the picture in such a case. “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery<\/em>” (Matthew 5:32).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 as long as he lives?…<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[167,123],"class_list":["post-15678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-divorce","tag-elders"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-man-married-three-times-but-his-wives-are-all-now-dead-can-he-marry-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":0},"title":"If a man married three times, but his wives are all now dead, can he marry again?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man had three spouses, he divorced his first wife for adultery and he married an adulterer, divorced her for unknown reasons, and married a woman who was not an adulterer and divorced her to go back to his second wife, and all three spouses die, is it\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":1501,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-meant-by-an-elder-being-the-husband-of-one-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":1},"title":"What is meant by an elder being the husband of one wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":28455,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-the-adulterer-remarry-after-his-original-spouse-dies\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":2},"title":"Can the adulterer remarry after his original spouse dies?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a person, scripturally married, commits adultery and ends up divorced, can the one who committed the adultery remarry if the one who was innocent dies? Answer: \"For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if\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":29692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-cant-my-sister-get-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":3},"title":"Why can’t my sister get baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In a second marriage where a non-Christian is wanting to become a Christian but was divorced for reasons other than adultery, is the sin the adultery or the remarriage?\u00a0I am asking this in the context of repenting.\u00a0Do you repent of the adultery in this second marriage or repent of\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":28224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-who-married-a-person-who-had-no-right-to-marry-divorce-and-marry-someone-else\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":4},"title":"Can a person who married a person who had no right to marry, divorce, and marry someone else?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a man marries a woman who was not supposed to remarry because she and her husband had committed adultery, can the man in the second marriage divorce her because of her continued adulteries during the second marriage and be able to marry again? Answer: When a person marries\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":67183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-the-laws-for-remarriage-different-between-the-old-law-and-new-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":15678,"position":5},"title":"Why are the laws for remarriage different between the Old Law and New Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If the marriage law is universal, why is the remarriage law in Deuteronomy 24 different from Romans 7:2 in that the guilty party who gets married to a second spouse can go back to his\/her first husband? Answer: The two laws of God are different. \"Behold, days are coming,\"\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\/15678","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=15678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}