I know the Bible says a deacon is to have one wife and rule their children well, among other qualifications, but these are the two I have a question about (I Timothy 3:8-12).<\/p>\n
If a deacon is divorced based on scriptural grounds, meaning his wife cheated on him and he left her. Later on, he marries another woman who already has children. Do her children count as his and, therefore, is he able to be a deacon?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
“Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households<\/em>” (I Timothy 3:12).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There is nothing in this passage indicating that the children in a man’s family must be biologically his own. He and his wife could adopt children, and if he manages his children and household well, then he would be qualified to be a deacon.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I know the Bible says a deacon is to have one wife and rule their children well, among other qualifications, but these are the two I have a question about (I Timothy 3:8-12). If a deacon is divorced based on scriptural grounds, meaning his wife cheated on him and he left her. Later on,…<\/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":[1568],"class_list":["post-66639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-deacons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-be-a-deacon-in-the-church-if-he-doesnt-have-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":0},"title":"Can a man be a deacon in the church if he doesn’t have children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question I would very much like an answer to: Can a man be a deacon in the church if he doesn't have children? Answer: \"Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households\" (I Timothy 3:12). \"Must\"\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":89489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-certain-some-of-our-deacons-are-qualified-to-be-deacons\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":1},"title":"I’m not certain some of our deacons are qualified to be deacons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm a member of the church of Christ and have questions about the deacons where I serve. We have several deacons, and some of them have unknown situations to me. The first, to my knowledge, married without having children of his own, but his wife had children she\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":43615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-havent-married-yet-can-i-still-be-a-deacon\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":2},"title":"If I haven’t married yet, can I still be a deacon?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Bro. Jeffrey, I write this email in order to seek a mature answer and guidance from a well-rounded spiritual leader. Our local church here wants to appoint deacons since we don't have formally appointed ones. We already studied the apostle Paul's teachings on appointing deacons based 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":51404,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-timothy-311-refer-to-both-elders-and-deacons-wives\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":3},"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":5206,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-qualifications-does-an-elder-need-that-a-deacon-does-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":4},"title":"What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What qualifications does an elder need that a deacon does not? Answer: In regards to the family, an elder must have \"faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination\" (Titus 1:6) and be \"one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence\" (I\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":40822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-a-man-be-qualified-as-a-deacon-if-his-teenage-son-attends-denominational-services-with-his-friends-and-is-not-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":66639,"position":5},"title":"Would a man be qualified as a deacon if his teenage son attends denominational services with his friends and is not a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, I would like to compliment you on your website. There have been many times I have included the phrase \"La Vista Church of Christ\" when web searching tough scriptural questions that I have. I am an elder in the church of Christ. We are in the process 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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66639","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=66639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}