Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
The New Testament's prohibition of polygamy among church elders is radical compared to the position of the Old Testament. By mandating that elders have one wife....Paul elevates a woman to being more than just property and essentially makes her equal to her husband in regards to conjugal entitlement. Paul's admonishion for every elder to have his own wife was to help in preventing sexual immorality which was very prevalent in ancient times, especially among pagan peoples. Interestingly, Paul's admonishion that a bishop be the husband of only one wife also precludes concubinage (which was also common and allowed...consider it a legal mistress) because the Greek more literally reads "man of one woman".
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Wonderful post and I agree with everything except the paragraph in quotes above.... I don't believe Pauls instruction to the Bishops to have one wife had anything to do with elevating the woman... as Paul clarifies why he wishes for them to have only one wife was in order to better serve the church.... we find his reference that those who are married cannot give as much attention to the church...... therefore he recommends that they do NOT MARRY but if they must to only marry ONE WIFE and any more than that would be too much of a distraction from the flock of God