So I find this fascinating...
So while learning about a translation of the Bible I'm not familiar with (CEV) I learned about a scripture that has 3 different interpretations that I find fascinating because I see what they are all talking about. Yet this topic can and has caused divisions among Christians in the past.
(I am more familiar with kjv, nkj, eob, and esv. Kinda nlt.)
The scripture is 1 Timothy 3:2 but the context is 1 Timothy 3:1-7. This text was written by Paul in Greek to a young man named Timothy who was going to be a pastor in the town of Ephesus.
Now text translated into English generally goes either by thought-for-thought or word-for-word. Thought for thought is helpful for things like "don't put all of your eggs in one basket". The meaning of the phrase is in the thought rather than words. If taken by words only, it would end up looking like a superstition command unless the reader takes up the initiative to study the phrase to understand it's meaning in x time period in x location and in x culture.
Anywho back to what I am trying to get to...
There are 3 interpretations dealing with marriage in leadership that came out of this scripture.
1. The man can only have one wife.
2. The person must be faithful in marriage.
3. The person/man can only have been married once.
The literal Greek text translation says "one-woman man"
Fascinating because...
My thoughts:
1. Polygamy seemed to have been allowed (not forbidden) in the Biblical (Torah) Law though not seen as a wise decision via reading about the marriages of Jacob, Abraham, various kings, ect. It even goes as far as allowing someone to marry their dead brother's wife and produce children.
And Polygamy wasn't common in Paul's time period, I read, but idk if that is accurate or not.
2. No thoughts. Faithfulness in marriage is a common thing throughout the whole Bible. This stance seems straightforward unless you are gonna nitpick at gender. But even if you are one to nitpick at gender, let's say you lack men (men that qualify at that!) to take on a pastor or elder role in a church... who is to step up then? Answers is found in the book of Judges of the Old testament when women stepped up. Gender can't omit ability or what is right so I'm thinking he and man/men is more about masculine language rather than the gender of a human. Granted, regardless of who leads, the congregation would have to be willing to listen..
3. Divorce. I feel like this is so ignored in the West. Though divorce isn't forbidden in certain cases in the old and new testament, many times it isn't allowed. Certain conditions must be met in the religions (Old testament is Judaism and considered Christianity's inherited history, new testament is Christianity). The new testament even allows more room than the old.
The other part to this that is mentioned by people who stick to this interpretation only will also mention remarried widows/widowers.
Remarrying after your spouse passed is allowed Biblically. However sometimes offspring have issues with this, especially if they are still in the household.
The new unrelated parent could cause issues with children due to bad treatment or unfair treatment. Even favoritism.
There could also be squabbles over inheritance. Especially if the second spouse produced children with this new spouse or they had kids already that wasn't the new spouse's, but the second spouse's name being on stuff because of marriage. These things can cause disorder in a household and/or family.
I know of quite a few scriptures that have various interpretations between people but somehow I missed this one for a long time. I guess I just didn't give it much thought on marriage and gender details but found it interesting none the less because I find it fun to see how people think differently about the same piece of text. I don't find it fun seeing how far people take things sometimes though... that can get very unhealthy.