one of your articles<\/a>,\u00a0you stated the exception of “plural of class” using widows in I Timothy 5. You stated that I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 show no indication of the plural of class exception. Please consider, not just Titus 1:6 alone, but Titus 1:5-6. In verse 5 it states “Elders” (plural), then it proceeds to talk about those men who qualify to be Elders. It seems to me that if I Timothy 5 with widows is then talking about an individual widow and it meets the plural of class exception, then Titus 1 would as well. If this is the case then an Elder could have one or more children. Is this logical and correct?<\/p>\nThank you for your help!<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
Where in the case of the widow in I Timothy 5, I can make the argument from the passage that a widow can have one child because of the use of\u00a0teknon\u00a0<\/em>in I Timothy 5:10 and the points made that a child should care for his parent (I Timothy 5:8, 16), I am missing these sorts of clues in Titus 1:5-9. Yes, we have elders in verse 5 being taken one at a time starting in verse 6, but this is insufficient by itself to declare that there is a plural of class being used in regards to\u00a0tekna<\/em>\u00a0(children). As I mentioned, plural of class was not commonly used. In addition, the passage in I Timothy 3 does not even have the plural taken one at a time format. It is solidly singular while using the plural\u00a0tekna<\/em>\u00a0(children).<\/p>\nTitus 1:5-9 does not form a\u00a0necessary<\/em>\u00a0inference that Paul was using a plural of class. Combined with I Timothy 3, the evidence is heavily on the side that Paul was stating that each elder was expected to have raised a plurality of children.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Hello, I have been diligently studying the qualifications for Elders. I recently stumbled upon a discussion regarding the use of\u00a0tekna. In\u00a0one of your articles,\u00a0you stated the exception of “plural of class” using widows in I Timothy 5. You stated that I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 show no indication of the plural of class…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[123,1098,1574,835],"class_list":["post-52505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders","tag-grammar","tag-greek-language","tag-titus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2861,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-elders-have-more-than-one-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":0},"title":"Must elders have more than one child?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Must elders have more than one child? Answer: \"one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence\" (I Timothy 3:4). \"if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination\" (Titus 1:6). The Greek\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":57292,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-elders-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":1},"title":"The Elder’s Children","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry C. Ray The Gospel Guardian, 26 November 1964 In the study of the qualifications for elders, one of the most frequently asked questions is regarding the \"children\" (I Timothy 3:4; Titus 1:6). Does the expression necessitate a plurality, or does it mean that a man is qualified with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-my-source-say-teknon-instead-of-tekna-in-i-timothy-34\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":2},"title":"Why does my source say\u00a0teknon\u00a0instead of\u00a0tekna\u00a0in I Timothy 3:4?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good afternoon, Thank you for your labor and articles. Recently my brother sent me this article:\u00a0Must elders have more than one child? In this article, you state: \"The Greek word in both I Timothy 3:4 and in Titus 1:6 is\u00a0tekna.\" I follow the logic, but when I checked (according\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":1486,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-appoints-elders\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":3},"title":"Who appoints elders?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 18, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who appoint elders? Answer: The qualifications for the position of elder are found in lists recorded in\u00a0I Timothy 3:1-7\u00a0and\u00a0Titus 1:5-9. That the eldership is a distinct duty is clearly seen in\u00a0I Timothy 3:1, \"It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is\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":19244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-when-one-of-a-congregations-two-elders-moves\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":4},"title":"What happens when one of a congregation’s two elders moves?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When one elder relocates to another district and there is no one to replace him, who leads the church? Is it the remaining one elder? Please explain to me with clear scripture references because we have this problem at our congregation. Answer: A congregation with only one man qualified\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":47990,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-be-an-elder-if-his-adopted-son-is-unruly\/","url_meta":{"origin":52505,"position":5},"title":"Can a man be an elder if his adopted son is unruly?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question about the children in the qualifications for elders. If a man has a natural-born child and adopts a child, would this be plural children? What if the adopted child is unruly and irreverent and eventually moves away from home?\u00a0To me, this does not fit\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\/52505","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=52505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}