Elder Qualifications
I Timothy 3:1-4: “Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer [elder], he desires a noble task. Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.” [NIV]
These verses are used to bolster the idea that women cannot be elders. The question to ask is whether being the husband of one wife is a qualification or whether Paul is actually making an assumption that the person desiring the office is a man who is married and who has children. It’s not likely everything listed are qualifications because Paul himself was not married and likely had no children and therefore would not have been eligible himself. Most if not all churches today do not require every item in this list as a requirement for eldership, such as “able to teach.” If they insist on maleness as a qualification, then to be consistent, they should also insist on marriage and parenthood as well.
Hehehe.
I like this. Must be married. Must be able to teach. Understated, yet overwhelming!
Thanks.
WHAT?! throwing out the rest and only holding to one qualification, that they have the right equipment? ! in hiearchical churches?! never
This was the ancient world where polygamy was prevalent in many cultures. Men could have more than one wife, but a woman could not have more than one husband, so naturally Paul would not tell them to restrict themselves to one husband because that wouldn’t be necessary. If this passage were taken literally in every way, how many current pastors, teachers, and deacons would be qualified to lead?