1 Timothy 3:1-3 .......
"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. 2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 3Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; "
How many more do you need.????
Now before you post that several translations use the word "Overseer". Correct. However if you read the entire verses, 1-3 you will see that in verse #2, "Husband of one wife" in the original Greek is ἄνδρα μιᾶς γυναικὸς, andra mias gunaikos.
andra = man, husband. “A man, i.e, an adult male person.”
mias = “One, the first cardinal numeral.”
gunaikos = Woman, wife,
So Paul is clearly telling us that the overseer must be a “MAN of one woman” which is translated as “husband of one wife.” This refutes the counter-argument.
But feel free to believe whatever you want to.
I agree with your exegesis and use of the Greek. What I do not agree with is your total failure to consider the context!!
What is the whole book of 1 Timothy about? It is a private letter from Paul, who mentors Timothy, who is in charge of the church in Ephesus. He is probably referring to specific incidents which are disturbing the church, like the priestesses of Artemis, who loved to be in control, and were probably causing issues, just like Paul encountered with Demetrius and other silver smiths, who were angry that people were converting to Christianity, and cutting into the incomes of those men.
Artemis was not just any goddess, either! Her devotees built Artemis a large temple in Ephesus, which was so beautiful it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Pilgrims came from everywhere to worship her, and engage in ritual cult sex with the so-called priestesses. Paul was literally overthrowing an entire culture, and he got thrown in jail for it, even though he was released unharmed.
So Paul knew the culture, how wicked Ephesus was, and was offering some specific ways for Timothy in Ephesus to deal with the unruly people. He also did not mention this issue in public letters to the churches in other places. Instead, he deals with specific issues in those churches, like the man in Corinth that Paul points out for sexual immorality which has ended by 2 Corinthians.
He also had strong words for the men in Ephesus. Polygamy was very common in the OT, and certainly in the early part of the 1st century AD. But that was never God's plan. But Paul thought it important enough to bring to Timothy's attention to disqualify men as leaders who had multiple wives!
"husband of one wife" means not having more than one wife. Polyandry is not mentioned, because it was not a popular practice, in the ancient world. There were usually less men in a primitive culture, because of death by war, and because men don't live as long as women, which is statistically correlated today. (When I was a chaplain in LTC, there were 10 elderly, widowed women for every elderly widowed men!)
So, Paul says no to polygamy for men. Which is a rule still being followed today, and not just by leaders.
If you want to use Greek, that is great. But don't post 3 words and them twist them to fit your preconceived ideas about leadership by only men, which contradicts so many other verses.
In actual fact, there really are no verses about the qualifications for a pastor or Shepherd. Paul continues to Eph 3:11 to talk about various offices, and it is loosely translated as "pastor" in many English versions. In fact, it is ποιμένας or poimenas, which means "shepherd" in Greek. Paul only gives qualifications for overseers, or elders in Ephesians. That is because Timothy doesn't need to know the qualification for pastors, because he is the pastor! Which definitely brings out the non-universal aspect of what Paul is saying to Timothy. Paul is giving guidelines to choose people with the right qualifications for the church in 1st century Ephesus.
I attended a church in northern BC, which only allowed men to be elders. There were a lot of other rules, like the man couldn't be divorced, and he had to have his family under tight control. When we needed new elders, the old board met and concluded there was not one man in the church who was qualified to be an elder. When I asked why didn't they find a woman who could do it, and they conceded that they had examined every woman, and none met the qualifications. There was one woman who might have made a good elder, but her husband was unsaved, even though they had a good relationship. Although I think the general rules for behaviour snd being a godly example in 1 Tim 3 are good rules.
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