Someone asked me about the "husband of one wife" translation of 1 Tim. 3:2. The actual wording in Greek is "one woman man". My thoughts on the 'one woman man' controversy of 1 Tim. 3 seem pretty plain to me. :)
Paul is addressing this section to anyone (tis) who desires, thus right up front this is an admonition directed to anyone who desires a certain work. The overall list is one of personal character. Taking into consideration that the masculine is a default when one is addressing an unknown or general crowd (we don't really address the unknowns as neutered), then Phillip Payne (author of Man and Woman, One in Christ) seems right on the mark of interpreting the idiom of 'one woman man' as pertaining to 'one spouse humans'. We can further interpret that as a call to faithfulness in relationships.
This seems more accurate to me because then the call of faithfulness fits in with a Hebrew poetic call (in vs. 3:1) of: faithful is the saying….. an overseer then must be blameless, a faithful spouse, etc. In addition this also fits right in with the rest of the list as a personal point of godly, faithful, moral character.
We really need to not insert physical requirements into Scripture when we know that God accepts all who come to Him and as well calls us all to be like Him and do the works that He did and more.
Sometimes we forget that our Bibles are in a different language than the original writings, and as such are not perfect examples of the original. One discrepancy that stands out in chapt. 3 is that in English it sounds like everything is being addressed to men. This is because the use of the word 'man' used to refer both to men and women as well as only to men. Today it is used this way less and many Bibles are outdated in still using the word 'man' as a default. Also, often the word 'man' is inserted because in English it doesn't seem to read naturally without it, even though in the original there is no such word because the sentence is meant inclusively.
In Chapter 3, the whole chapter and all the examples are used inclusively toward any, except for the one part in verse 2 (the idiom 'one woman man') and in verse twelve where it is addressed specifically toward women. Some translate it as wives but that is purely interpretive (and erroneously in this instance) because the word gune is used simply for women regardless of their marital status. So it can be used for wife as well. But technically it means women. Those who want to maintain an attitude of male dominance in the church want to hold all ministry of importance for men, and therefore they will try to maintain that vs 12 is for deacons wives, not women deacons. But then they must contend with Romans 16 where Phoebe is a deacon of the church of Cenchrea.
Posted by: TL | Oct 05, 2010 at 07:12 AM