In today’s post, I want to answer a very specific question that has significant implications. As most of my readers know, Lake Hills Baptist is considering a change in our polity (church governance). That is, we are considering embracing what I call “Shared Pastoral Oversight,” and what most call plural eldership.
It’s natural for various side questions to come up when going through changes like this. The side question I am referring to in this post is whether or not the Scripture requires for the office of pastor/elder/overseer (three words for the same office) and deacon to be filled by men who are married and have children. In other words, should pastor-elders and deacons be able to serve if they’re single or have no children?
First Glance
At first glance, it would appear that the answer would be “no,” based on the qualifications for the offices in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. They read as follows, with the relevant text bolded by me:
1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5
“Therefore an overseer must be . . . the husband of one wife . . . 4He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”
The Titus passage says something similar, but it doesn’t sound as explicit. Therefore, I’ll leave that one out of my discussion.
Regarding deacons, notice 1 Timothy 3:12:
1 Timothy 3:12
“Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.”
1 Timoty 3:2 in the greek
Allow me to tell you what 1 Timothy 3:2 says in the original language: μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα, or (mias gynaikos andra). It is literally translated “(of) one woman man.” This qualification speaks to his character, not his marital status. If he is married, yes, of course, he will be a husband to one wife. But his character should be that of a man who is committed to only one woman, and not many.
Using this verse to only require a man to not have been divorced is taking the verse too narrow. And using this verse to require a man to be married is missing the point. It’s not telling us the man has to be married or that he could never have been divorced. It’s telling us the man must be known as a man who is a one-woman kinda guy.
A simpler answer
If that’s not enough, let me offer a more simple answer but in a different route. Were Jesus and Paul qualified to be pastor-elders or deacons? If you say that those two offices in the church require a man to be married with children, then you’re saying Jesus and Paul are unqualified to serve in those offices, since they, of course, were both single without children.
I think it highly unlikely for Paul, an apostle, to be given authority over an office for which he was personally unqualified. (An apostle is a higher, now closed office.) And I think it impossible for Jesus to create an office in His church for which He is unqualified.
Because of the meaning of the greek and the example of Jesus and Paul, I think 1 Timothy 3 says that pastor-elders and deacons ought to be one-woman kind of men and, if they have children, to be faithfully leading their families.
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