While studying the scripture with this guide on your website:\u00a0Paul’s Restraint in Exercising His Liberty<\/a>, I found this question:<\/p>\n Why do you suppose Paul qualified his right to only a sister in Christ and not claim a more general right to marry?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It’s a question I have asked too, and I would like to understand what Paul means in claiming to have a right to marry a believing wife like Peter and the Lord’s brothers. Why was he specific about a believing wife?<\/p>\n I need more light, please.<\/p>\n\t I believe that the matter is one of influence. A preacher or leader in the church whose wife is not a Christian has less “clout” than someone who is married to a Christian. While we understand that everyone is responsible for his own choices, it does cause others to wonder how effective a preacher or leader is if he cannot influence the person he is closest to to become a child of God.<\/p>\n A second problem is that the life of an apostle, preacher, elder, or deacon can be very difficult at times. Imagine what the wives of the other apostles had to go through with their husbands constantly targets for persecution. Paul chose not to marry so that he could focus on teaching without concern (I Corinthians 7:32-35). A Christian wife knows what she is getting into and will be able to support her husband through difficult times. See:<\/p>\n Question: While studying the scripture with this guide on your website:\u00a0Paul’s Restraint in Exercising His Liberty, I found this question: Why do you suppose Paul qualified his right to only a sister in Christ and not claim a more general right to marry? It’s a question I have asked too, and I would like to…<\/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":[170,353,1511],"class_list":["post-62816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apostles","tag-influence","tag-preachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-done-about-a-preacher-whose-wife-no-longer-attends\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":0},"title":"What should be done about a preacher whose wife no longer attends?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have a minister whose wife no longer attends church services. We have no elders. What should we do, or what should he do? (I Timothy 3:5). Answer: A preacher is not the same duty as an elder, nor does a preacher have the same requirements on him as\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":79693,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-imply-that-he-could-only-marry-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":1},"title":"Did Paul imply that he could only marry a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, What is the meaning of I Corinthians 9:5? Is Paul implicitly stating he can only take a fellow believer as a wife? I know there are other verses for circumstances that touch situations where believers are married to non-believers. Answer: Here is something I wrote about the context\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":51729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-continue-to-preach-when-his-wife-left-him-because-she-doesnt-want-to-be-a-preachers-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":2},"title":"Can a man continue to preach when his wife left him because she doesn’t want to be a preacher’s wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a minister's wife leaves him, is it still biblical for him to stay in the pulpit? She left him as she didn't want to be a preacher's wife any longer. He preaches for a church of Christ. Answer: There are few qualifications of a preacher, beyond his ability\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":2802,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-a-preachers-wife-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":3},"title":"What does a preacher’s wife do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am getting married soon and my future husband will be looking for a church at which to preach.\u00a0 While I've grown up in the church, I've never really been around for the \"behind the scenes\" look at what a preacher's wife does and what position she holds.\u00a0 Any\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":31640,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-for-a-preacher-to-hold-the-office-of-minister-and-his-wife-belongs-to-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong for a preacher to hold the office of minister and his wife belongs to a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greeting my brother. I have a question: Is it wrong for a preacher to hold the office of minister and his wife belongs to a denomination? Answer: \"Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord,\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":85351,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-help-me-understand-i-corinthians-712-16-and-how-it-applies-in-a-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":62816,"position":5},"title":"Can you help me understand I Corinthians 7:12-16 and how it applies in a situation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I appreciate the content posted on your website. It has been very helpful in studies, for clarity and explanation on several occasions, and in discussions I've been involved in. I have a question I couldn't quite find an answer to, though, and I was hoping you could provide some\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\/62816","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=62816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n
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