The question of whether a divorce under any situation disqualifies a man form being a Pastor comes up quite often. It must be understood that Pastor and Bishop are not biblically the same as many teach, which is another study concerning the correct organization of a Christian assembly. Anyone one who feeds the flock would be a Pastor, but a Bishop is chosen from the elders to be the chief elder in the oversight of an assembly or location. The oversight of the Church is not a one man job, neither is it a career for young men to follow.
1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Many erroneously interpret “the husband of one wife” to mean only having been married once. This of course would exempt divorced men. The correct interpretation is not being polygamous. When the Scriptures want to make the distinction it can.
1 Timothy 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Being the husband of one wife is different than being the husband of one woman. Supose a polygamous gets saved, he cannot be a Bishop.
If a divorce is biblically sanctified why would it bar a man from the office?
1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
The bondage, of course, is the law of marriage.
Matthew 19:9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
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