The Husband of One Wife: A Brief Look at the Requirement for Pastors and Deacons

By Garrett Ham

Who is the husband of one wife?

For years churches have struggled with Paul’s admonition that leaders be husbands of one wife, yet the meaning of this phrase has remained elusive. Some understand it as a simple prohibition against polygamy, while others see it as a permanent bar against divorcees serving in leadership.

This brief volume explores the meaning of the phrase, seeking to bring clarity to an opaque and difficult passage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Garrett Ham
• Release date: Sep 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311978998

Garrett Ham

Garrett Ham is an alumnus of both Ouachita Baptist University and the University of Arkansas School of Law. Additional information about Garrett and his writings can be found at www.garrettham.com.

Book preview

The Husband of

One Wife

A Brief Look at the Requirement for

Pastors and Deacons

GARRETT HAM

Applying the Bible: Book 2

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified as NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Greek Bible text from: Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th revised edition, Edited by Barbara Aland and others, © 2012 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Copyright © 2015 Garrett Ham

All rights reserved.

FOREWORD TO THE SERIES

Interpreting the Bible can be a complex and difficult task. Thousands of years separate us from the original audience, and so the worldview, presuppositions, cultural mores, common knowledge, and even the language the author and his original audience shared are foreign to us. Consequently, much of the information necessary for properly understanding Scripture goes unarticulated in the background of the text, leaving us to decipher these silent interpretive keys. We must therefore keep in mind the old adage that the Bible was written for us but not to us and be willing to undertake the often intense labor of biblical interpretation.

Yet, as difficult and time consuming as the process may be, if we value Scripture as the Word of God, we must seek to