1 Timothy, Chapter 3
© Copyright 2002 Darroll Evans, all rights
reserved
The issue of who qualifies has been of great
concern in the Church.
Even among translators it is a hot issue.
I know that some may be angry concerning
this, no matter what I say.
However, after a good deal of study of this
text, and despite my personal preferences, there is no way a Church can justify
placing a woman or a divorced man in a position of Pastor.
Some may tell us that "there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28/NKJV).
That is true in dealing with salvation, but
in looking at the Servants of the Church Galatians 3:28, it does not apply!
The key to understanding this section is
found in the Greek word translated "wife."
It comes from the Greek word gune-gune.
In verses 2 and 12 it appears as Mais
gunikos-maiV gunikoV.
"Mias gunikos" means one, only one,
or first wife.
The same wording is found in verse 12 in
reference to Deacons.
The literal translation of the beginning of
verse 11 is "Wives, in the same manner, be honest…." The word in
question is gunikas-gunikaV the plural of gunikos.
As I studied these verses, I realized that if
the word in verse 11 is translated "women," the word in the others
verses would need to be translated "woman."
In doing that the Bible’s stance on marriage
would be need to be dismissed.
Using Paul as an example, a weak case may be
made for single Deacons may be made.
Using Phebe as an example, a weak case for
Deaconesses may be made.
However, no biblical case can be made for
divorced Pastors or Deacons or unmarried Pastors without abusing Scripture.
In anger you may point to 1 Peter 2:25.
In that verse, Jesus is called the Bishop
(Pastor) of our souls.
That is in reference to the risen Savior and
cannot be used to elevate an un-risen human being.
To do so would be an extreme abuse of
Scripture.
1 Timothy 3:14-15
14 These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave
thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth.
Both letters to Timothy were written in the
period between Roman trials.
In the first trial, Paul was acquitted. Later
he was re-arrested tried again and executed.
At the time of this writing, Paul wanted to
go back to visit with his son in the Spirit as soon as possible.
Also at the time of this writing, Timothy may
have been near to thirty years of age.
That was still young in the Jewish tradition.
Also Timothy may not have been married at
that time.
With a strict, letter of the law, reading of
these verses, he could not have qualified to be a Bishop/Pastor.
1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
As we all know, the mysteries of godliness
are "great" (Gr. mega).
Then, Paul puts it all in perspective.
"God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory."
That is the mystery of Christ Jesus.