Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120401.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part IX: God's Qualifications For Local Church Elders
A. God's Marital Qualification For Local Church Elders
(1 Timothy 3:1-2c)
  1. Introduction
    1. God's plan for the local church involves a key role for its human leaders who must necessarily meet certain qualifications that help and not hinder God's work in the body.
    2. However, today a debate exists in evangelical realms on whether an elder or a pastor of a church should be allowed to minister if he has a history of divorce or divorce and remarriage, and various pastors, some of whom are nationally known, function with such a history.
    3. Accordingly, 1 Timothy 3:1-2c in its context provides us the answer (as follows):
  2. God's Marital Qualifications For Local Church Elders, 1 Timothy 3:1-2c.
    1. Paul claimed that if one desired the office of elder, he desired a kalos work, one "at once seen to be good" by others versus an agathos work, one which "is good in virtue of its results," U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966, p. 723; Moulton & Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek N. T., 1972, p. 318. In other words, it is essential that those who serve as elders (and pastors by application) be immediately seen by all onlookers as being qualified and good for the office itself, be it even immature believers or the onlooking lost world!
    2. This leads to necessary qualifications for elders as signaled in the introductory words of 1 Timothy 3:2a:
      1. The inferential particle, oun, translated "therefore" (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Ibid., Moulton & Milligan, p. 465-466) that introduces 1 Timothy 3:2 and ties it to 1 Timothy 3:1 reveals that the elder qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:2-7 equip one's work as an elder quickly to be seen as good even by immature believers and the onlooking lost world.
      2. Indeed, Paul added the word dei to his expression, a word translated "it is necessary" (Ibid., U. B. S. Greek N. T.; Ibid., Moulton & Milligan, p. 137) to show the need in the context for elders to meet qualifications that make them immediately respected by onlooking immature believers and the world!
    3. Of necessity, then, elders must have qualities that keep them above valid censorship, 1 Timothy 3:2b: an elder must be "irreprehensible" (anepilaptos), "affording nothing which an adversary could take hold of, on which he might ground a charge," Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the N. T., 1973, p. 381-382), 1 Timothy 3:2b. There should be nothing in his life or status that the unsaved world or immature Christians would note to make him a stumblingblock to their role as elders in a church.
    4. In this context of an elder's being immediately seen by onlookers as "irreprehensible", Paul added an elder must be a "one-woman-man" (mias ginaikos andra, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.), 1 Tim. 3:2c, and in such a context, this must include a flawless marital history free of divorce and remarriage (as follows):
      1. This phrase readily "prohibits both polygamy and promiscuity" (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 736).
      2. However, some claim it can mean "one woman at-a-time" to allow for divorce and remarriage.
      3. Yet, if this phrase were to let such men be elders, it would have to permit one with an unlimited number of divorce and remarriage states in his history involving many consecutive spouses, and that would undermine Paul's effort to make an elder seem immediately "irreprehensible" before others as it would give the world and immature believers opportunity to ridicule a leader with such a history!
      4. Also, Malachi 2:16 NIV states, "I hate divorce,' says the Lord God of Israel," and Jesus taught in Matthew 19:3-12 in the context of a question on divorce that God wants a man and a woman joined in marriage to have that union indissoluble! With such a negative attitude expressed by God on divorce in Scripture, to allow men to be elders with a history of divorce and remarriage creates a glaring inconsistency with God's revealed attitude, creating a stumblingblock for the immature and the lost!
      5. Thus, Paul's phrase of "one-woman-man" must prohibit all divorce and remarriage in one's history.
Lesson: Due to the need for an elder to be seen as immediately above reproach by immature believers or the onlooking world, he must have a marital history of pure faithfulness to one woman with no divorce.

Application: May we heed this qualification for the testimony of the local church before all onlookers!