The Bible states that a bishop can only have one wife. To what does this refer?

Question

No priests or bishops in the Church at Rome (besides some exceptions regarding converts) can be married, the Eastern Church allows priests to marry, but not Bishops. Some protestant churches believe that the "one wife" refers to divorce. I think it refers to having more than one wife i.e. polygamy.

Can anyone clarify?

Odd, my bible mentions Bishops.

Answer 1

I think that, based on the surrounding cultures at the time St. Paul wrote those admonitions to St. Timothy, he was definitely talking about polygamy.

Answer 2

The bible doesn't mention bishops at all. It does mention deacons and says that they should be proven as good husbands and fathers before being given a position of authority in the church.

In response to Suzanne - the words bishop comes from anglo saxon, biscop. The word used in the original greek of the NT is episkopos which means overseer or inspector. So bishops are not mentioned in the NT, some churches have selected the meaning to fit their own doctrine.

Answer 3

The word Bishop here can be translated to two other words, Elder and Pastor.

The congregations of the church of Christ in the New Testament were autonomous, meaning each congregation had their own Elders and Deacons which oversaw only that congregation. There was no central headquarters for the church and no "area" or "district" divisions. There was the church of Christ and that was made up of the various congregations of the church.

To put it in simple terms,

Christ is the head of the church.
Elders and Deacons govern each individual congregation of the church.

There is no other Biblical hierarchy. The concept of pope, cardinal, bishop (catholic definition) and priest is a concept that is not supported by the Bible.

See source for complete details and scriptures.

Answer 4

Paul actually refers to BOTH. A Bishop can only have one wife at a time; he cannot divorce and remarry unless his first wife committed adultery -- otherwise, he's an adulterer by taking a second wife, since the divorce isn't recognized by the Church.

EDIT: "lix," Bishops are mentioned at 1 Tim. 3:1-2 and Titus 1:7. The Greek word used there is "episkopē," while the Greek word translated as "deacon" is "diakoneō"; also,
"elder" is "presbyteros." So it's apparent Paul is referring to different offices by using differing words.

Answer 5

The BIBLE doesn't say those things, but church doctrines might. Clergy used to be allowed to marry, but when churches realized that the spouses were getting all of the financial belongings after one of the clergy died, they got greedy. The Church then decided that clergy had to "marry" the Church so that upon the passing of the priests and bishops and cardinals and even the pope, they could inherit the wealth rather than have it go to the families.

Answer 6

Nope it doesn't. I am Protestant Lutheran. And our clergy's are not called Priests or Bishops they are called in German "Pastors." The Bible does not give specifics as to the word one wife. Back in ancient history men alway's had one wifes. Look at Adam and Eve. They were on union.
However, the contractiction derives from old Eygpt where the Pharaos had multiple wifes. Or in the Orient where the men had multiple wifes and offsprings living in their palace. I doubt that such society would survive now a day's. No one wants to be a second or a third wife and life in the same household.

Answer 7

According to the Holy Scriptures, priests were allowed to marry, and to be celibate was a choice. 1 Corinthians 9:5 (New American Bible) "Do we not have the right to marry a believing woman like the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?" ("Cephas" is an Aramaic name given to Peter; see John 1:42; and Mark 1:29-31, where reference is made to the mother-in-law of Simon, or Peter.) 1 Timothy 3:2 "It behoveth, therefore, a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, ..." (Catholic Douay Version) Aaron, Moses brother, was a High Priest. He was married and his four sons were installed as underpriests.--Exodus 28:1-3. Before the Christian era, Buddhism required its priests and monks to be celibate. (History of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church, London, 1932, fourth ed., revised, Henry C. Lea, p.6) Even earlier, the higher orders of the Babylonian priesthood were required to practice celibacy, according to The Two Babylons by A. Hislop.--(New York, 1943), p. 219. Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Priestly Celibacy, 1967, endorsed celibacy as a requirement for the clergy, but he admitted that "the New Testament which preserves the teaching of Christ and the Apostles...does not openly demand celibacy of sacred ministers... Jesus Himself did not make it a prerequisite in His choice of the Twelve, nor did the Apostles for those who presided over the first Christian communities."--The Papal Encyclicals 1958-1981 (Falls Church, Va.; 1981), p. 204. The Bible speaks about how deceitful teachings will come about at 1 Timothy 4:1-3 "However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked by their conscience as with a branding iron; forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who have faith and accurately know the truth." (New World Translation)

Answer 8

I have always felt that a priest can stay single to better focus on God, but only if he has the will power to do so.

It is better for him to marry than to burn with lust.

The molestations of young boys and girls in both Catholic and protestant churches are caused in part by people trying to stay single when they have too strong of a sex drive.

Now, I take the scripture you refer to ----to mean this...

City and church leaders should focus on one wife becuase they have the church and community to run, and need to focus their attention on those important areas.

Poligamy was the norm back then. You could have as many wives and concubines as you could afford. Anything outside of that was fornication or adultery.

Getting divorced and then remarrying someone else was and is adultery.

But having more than one wife, as in the case of Jacob and Rebecca (2nd wife) in the old testament, was perfectly fine.

Society has made it harder for a man, who is historically used to having multiple wives, get chastised for having a hard time centering on one woman.

It has always been a double standard when it comes to women!

Answer 9

It's allegory. Paul The Apostle says in Ephesians 5 he speaks of "Christ and the Church", not of Adams, nor of Churches. What the Spirit saith "unto the churches" x 7 in Revelation is in Galatains: written "unto the churches".

The Groom-er: Christ (One Man)
The Bride: The Church (One Wife)

1Peter 2:25 Christ (of J-->C) is the Bishop of your souls:
"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls".

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus-->Christ WITH YOU ALL. AMEN.

Answer 10

The Bible states a lot of stupid meaningless things. When did they invent bishops and who was the first?