FAQ ID # 1513 - What does the husband of one wife mean to you?

FAQ ID # 1513

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Question / Issue

What does the husband of one wife mean to you?

Answer / Solution

The Greek text says, "A one woman man". Obviously this means a man who is not in poligamy, as many Greek and Roman men were in the first century. Stepping beyond this becomes a matter of some debate among Christians. Some believe it means a person can only have had one wife. A strict interpretation of this would even exclude widowers from leadership positions (If they remarry, they are have had two wives, and if they don't remarry, they are single and not "a one woman man). Others interpret it to mean that a man cannot ever have been divorced.

Life complicates things. We must realize there are men whose spouses leave them before they were believers or who leave them because they are believers and those brothers later remarry a Chrsitian woman.

Some men never were married, but lived with someone before Christ and are now not married. If they marry are they to be considered "one woman" men? Our world continues to be a complicated place. People make poor choices before coming to know Christ and immature Chrisitians also sometimes make very poor choices. The Church is left to act redemptively, gracefully and with integrity towards the Scriptures. Where the Scripture speaks with absolute clarity, we speak with that same clarity. When the Scripture leaves room for the individual church to make a biblically informed decision, based on the individual's history, we should do that.

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