Elders and the Husband of One Wife

[steve]

But as for your method, John - do you engage Sufi and/or Hindi mystics with the same credulousness that you afford Saul of Tarsus?

John6809 has answered this very adequately, I am sure. I would point out further (on a point to which he already alluded) that the people of Paul's day who accepted his claims were not men inclined toward "simple belief," but were people who not only expressed great initial skepticism about Paul, but also who might have a great deal at stake in accepting his claims without convincing proofs. He had been a persecutor, and a great danger to the Christian body. Suspicion that he was perpetrating a ruse in order to gain the confidence of the fellowship would be natural.

Besides this, he was now claiming an authority equivalent to that of the other apostles—a claim we might expect to meet with strong resistance from the others . However, they became convinced of his genuineness by observing his miracles, his godly integrity and his willingness to suffer for his testimony. These were, apparently, very compelling evidences. Compelling enough, at least, to convince persons who had more at stake than we have in accepting Paul on his own terms.

[Choosethisday]

Please allow me to add one more element to this whole issue. We worry about the prior marital status of a potential elder, as we should if it is a recent issue, yet too often ignore an ungodly lifestyle prior to marriage. I Corinthians 6:16 says,

“Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”

“The two will become one flesh” clearly equates sex with marriage. And I believe this would include any sex before marriage. Yet too often in selecting elder candidates we care only if the man does not have a divorce in his past and not what his life looked like before marriage or necessarily try to determine if there may have been unfaithfulness since being married. I am not suggesting we intensely investigate a person’s background before their becoming an elder. What I am suggesting is that if we are going to be legalistic about their prior marital status, we should be consistent and include their pre-marital and intra marital life.

[Homer]

Please allow me to add one more element to this whole issue. We worry about the prior marital status of a potential elder, as we should if it is a recent issue, yet too often ignore an ungodly lifestyle prior to marriage....

I am not suggesting we intensely investigate a person’s background before their becoming an elder. What I am suggesting is that if we are going to be legalistic about their prior marital status, we should be consistent and include their pre-marital and intra marital life.

It seems to me that the key issue is the principle Paul begins with in 1 Timothy 3:2' "Now the overseer must be above reproach.....". All aspects of a person's life should be considered in regard to the elder's role as a prominent representative of Christ. Not that he may never have committed a notorious, serious sin in the past, but it should be far enough behind him that it is not a problem. And the more grievous the sin the longer that is likely to take, perhaps a very long time.