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"One Woman Man"
Greek:
mias gunaikos andra
- Considerations in
the Interpretation of the Meaning of mias gunaikos andra
- (and Grammatical
Variants) in I Timothy 3:2, 12 & Titus 1:6
-
- Dr. Vern Peterman
-
- "In this article Vern
Peterman wrestles with that controversial phrase "one woman man" as
is found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and offers a hermeneutically
sound approach to unlocking Paul's intended meaning. This is
an important contemporary issue in conservative evangelical
churches. In fact it has been pointed out that in the
erroneous doctrinal position of some churches and denominations, a
man can murder his neighbor--go to prison--get saved--come out and
go to seminary, and become a pastor with a great salvation
testimony. But if he was ever divorced, he is entirely
disqualified from the ministry."
In exploring the issue and
meaning of mias gunaikos andra, I am taking a look at another
approach than what is typically brought forward: that of the sufficiency of
God's grace and the nature of what the Lord means when he says that we are a
"new creation". Case in point is that Paul was a murderer
and persecutor (Acts 7:58; 8:1-3; 9:1-4; 9:26; 22: 4, 5, 7, 8, 19, 20;
26:14,15; Philippians 3:6; I Timothy 1:13), and Paul even calls himself a
blasphemer, and a violent aggressor. In spite of these clear and repeated
highly serious offenses, here is Paul's' perspective on the matter:
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has
strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13
even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent
aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love
which are found in Christ Jesus. 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving
full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among
whom I am foremost of all. 16 Yet for this reason I found mercy,
so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect
patience as an example
for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
I Timothy 1:12-16 (NASB)
Christ, in Acts 9:1-4 says
that Paul's persecutions were actually against Him personally. Notice,
too that Paul, as an example (clearly including what he WAS), calls on Timothy
and Titus to be examples as well, using the same root word (tupos),
which is also what Peter calls for elders to be in I Peter 5:3:
-
1 Tim 4:12: ...show
yourself an
example
of those who believe.
-
Titus 2:7: ...in all
things show yourself to be an
example...
-
1 Peter 5:3: ...but
proving to be
examples
to the flock.
If Paul can have been a
murderer,
blasphemer, persecutor and violent aggressor, yet the
Lord's grace, faith, love and perfect patience are sufficient to make him an
example and an apostle - one whom we study with great intensity - what sense
does it make to deny otherwise qualified men who have a background far less
perverse (divorce) and far less overtly opposed to Christ Himself from being
elders? Paul's offenses were far greater (I Timothy 1:15 - "...of whom
I am foremost of all") than that of a divorced candidate for elder, and his
position far greater and more critical (Ephesians 2:20) than that of an elder.
Is not denial of otherwise qualified elders on the
basis of their divorce status a denial of the sufficiency of Christ's grace,
love, faith, and perfect patience with Paul (I Timothy 1:14-16)? Is it not
Paul, the very author of every occurrence of mias gunaikos andra in the
New Testament (I Timothy 3:2,12; Titus 1:6) the greatest recipient of our
Lord's very own grace, mercy, love, and patience - more so than any otherwise
qualified divorced candidate for elder?
Hypothetical
Interpretive options for mias gunaikos andra:
-
An elder (or deacon) must be married
-
An elder (or deacon) cannot be married to more
than one wife at a time
-
An elder (or deacon) cannot be one who is
divorced
-
An elder’s (or deacon’s) spouse cannot be one
who is a divorcee
-
An elder (or deacon) cannot remarry while his
wife is alive
-
An elder (or deacon) cannot remarry even in the
event of the death of his spouse
-
An elder (or deacon) must be of a character
such that he is a one-woman kind of man
There are some variations of
the above hypothetically possible interpretations, and the various commentators
have held to almost every possibility, some interpretations being more common
than others. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, it was
common, for instance, to interpret mias gunaikos andra as disallowing
widowers who had remarried.
Contextual
considerations:
-
Every verb in these contexts is in present tense, having the meaning, “right
now continuing to be…“ (present infinitive).
-
None of the other requirements for elders and deacons (besides
mias gunaikos andra) can be shown
to be based upon consideration of the past history of the candidate.
-
The phrase mias gunaikos andra is
in the context of positive statements of requirements for elders and deacons
(e.g.,“must be hospitable”). Negative statements are also given as
well in each context (e.g., “must not be pugnacious”). This implies a
positive characteristic is intended, and not a negative characteristic.
Grammatical
considerations:
-
The phrase mias gunaikos andra is
capable of various interpretations by immediate grammatical structure alone,
which means that textual, historical, and cultural (including legal) context
are the factors which provide the meaning of the phrase among those
variations allowed by strict word meaning and grammar.
-
“The two nouns [for ‘woman’ and ‘man’] are without the definite
article, which construction emphasizes character or nature.” – Wuest
-
“Sometimes with a noun which the context proves
to be definite, the article is not used. This places stress upon the
qualitative aspect of the noun rather than its mere identity. An object of
thought may be conceived of from two points of view: as to identity
or quality. To convey the first point of view, the Greek uses the
article; for the second, the anarthrous construction is used.” – Dana &
Mantey
-
The qualitative force of a noun is “best
brought out in anarthrous nouns.” – Robertson
-
“…when the article is not used, the thing emphasized is quality
of character.” - Summers
-
“Husband of one wife”, “one-woman man” – Rogers
& Rogers
-
“It is necessary for him right now to be a
one-wife man” – Couch
-
“a one-woman husband” – Zodhiates
-
“a one-woman sort of man” - Wuest
-
“the overseer must be completely faithful to
his wife.” – Earle
-
The grammatical and word choices in Koine Greek
were available to Paul to specify that an elder or deacon must not be a
divorcee or remarried, as he demonstrated elsewhere (I Corinthians 7:11,12).
Koine Greek also easily permitted specific statement of past conditions or
events. Paul did not use that language in the qualifications for
elders and deacons.
-
I Timothy 5:9 uses the same construction,
reversing the order (“the wife of one man”). Given that younger widows
are urged to remarry (in keeping with requirements and encouragements of
Roman law – see “Legal Considerations” below), it is not likely to disallow
remarried widows from support, but instead to point to character.
Historical
considerations:
-
Because of the military conquests of Alexander
the Great over 3½ centuries earlier, the language and culture of the areas
where Paul had sent Timothy and Titus (i.e, Ephesus, and Crete,
respectively) was substantially Greek, with local variations in dialect
(e.g., Acts 2:11).
-
Because of the more recent military conquest of
these same areas by the Romans, the legal background of I Timothy and Titus
was Roman. Augustus Caesar had been influential in bringing about laws
impacting marriage, divorce, remarriage, polygamy, and other matters of home
and family life. Taxes were higher for unmarried men and women.
-
Paul’s 1st
visit to Ephesus is recorded in Acts 18:21-23, toward the end of his 2nd
missionary journey, which took place (according to the chronology in the
Ryrie Study Bible) in about 52 AD. Paul returned to Ephesus in his 3rd
missionary journey, spending 3 years there, from about 56-58 AD. He
met with the elders from Ephesus in Miletus, as recorded in Acts 20, after
his stay in Ephesus. Paul wrote the book of Ephesians while under
house arrest in about 61 AD, and wrote I Timothy in about the 63 to 66 AD
timeframe. The Ephesian elders whom Paul addressed in Acts 20 had
therefore likely been believers, brought out of the pagan culture, for about
six years or less. By the time Paul wrote I Timothy in the 63 to 66 AD
timeframe, elder candidates would have been believers for no more than 11 to
14 years. Since Paul had already established elders in Ephesus, his
directive was to recognize additional or replacement elders, and apparently
the same with deacons.
-
Crete, being one of the places mentioned in Acts 2:11 on the day
of Pentecost, would have had some Christian influence by as early as 30 AD
(Ryrie chronology), though depth of teaching and ongoing apostolic influence
may well have been an issue. Crete is not otherwise mentioned in
Scripture until about 59-60 AD, as recorded in Acts 27. Titus is not
mentioned in the book of Acts, but is mentioned in Galatians (2:1,3).
Paul would have written to direct Titus to establish elders in Crete in
about the 63 to 66 AD timeframe. That would allow for a few in Crete
to have been believers for possibly as much as 30 to 33 years. But the
fact that Titus was to make initial appointments of elders, and deacons are
not mentioned, would indicate that church development was not as advanced as
it was in places like Ephesus and Philippi (see Philippians 1:1).
-
Because the timeframe for the requirements for
elders would mean that an elder was not young (per the meaning of “elder”),
not a new believer (I Timothy 3:6), adolescent at about 14 years, and would
have been married typically in his late teens, most any elder candidate in
Ephesus would have had at least several years of living a sexually
promiscuous lifestyle under the pagan idolatrous, licentious culture before
being a Christian.
Elder candidate at 35 years or older
- Believer for 11 years
- Adolescent at 14 years
- Pagan sexual lifestyle for 10 years and very
likely more
Cultural
considerations:
-
There were multiple categories of prostitutes
in Greek culture. Men who came as guests to the home of another were offered
prostitutes as typical extensions of hospitality, regardless of marital
status. Ephesus and many larger cities with temples had a system of
temple prostitutes (heirodouloi). Men, married or otherwise,
also commonly availed themselves of street and brothel (pornai)
prostitutes, theatrical performance prostitutes (auletrides), “high
class” prostitutes (hetaera), live-in concubines, and freely made use
of their slave girls as well.
-
The temple of Artemis was the center of a
sexual cult. Prostitutes and pornography were a staple fare offered to
thousands of pilgrims and tourists who passed through the city’s streets.
In the midst of all this drug sorcery, witchcraft and occultic arts (Acts
19:19), and disease-ridden orgies, the atmosphere of Ephesus was thick with
paganism.
-
Because of economic factors and growing opinion
against polygamy, polygamy was virtually unknown even among the Jews in the
areas to which Paul had sent Timothy and Titus (i.e., Ephesus and Crete).
In practice, polygamy was found only among wealthier Jews in Israel, and
then only rarely.
-
Wives were taken by men to bear and raise
children, and while monogamy in the strict marital sense was the norm, being
sexually exclusive to the wife was not by any means the norm in the cultures
of Ephesus and Crete. Men in these cultures were expected to avail
themselves of the various sexual options outside of marriage, as stated
above (1st & 2nd bullets), and by every record they did so.
The many extramarital and premarital relationships which men had with women
were not considered or legally defined as adulterous in these cultures, as
long as one was not cohabiting with another’s legally married wife.
-
The Latin-speaking world, at the time of the writing of I Timothy
and Titus, had a term univira, which meant “one man woman”.
This term is found in oration records and funeral notices of the time,
noting the highly valued (but relatively rare) woman who had been faithful
to one man her whole life. The corresponding Latin term for men,
however, is not found in any oratory nor funeral records, since it was
neither valued nor expected in the culture.
-
Crete had long been known for its treachery and
deceit, with those practicing such treachery and deceit being held as heroes
within the common culture. Paul remarked and gave directions to Titus
about dealing with the negative aspects of the character of the Cretan
culture (Titus 1:10-14).
-
Timothy and Titus had each spent time with Paul
in cultures very similar to the Ephesian and Cretan cultures to which they
were sent, with Titus likely seeing more differences from the other cultures
in which he had been, and having spent less time in that specific culture.
Legal
considerations:
-
Greek marriage contracts were written with the
expectation that the marriage would end in divorce rather than death,
supplying the conditions for dealing with the divorce in the marriage
contract.
-
Divorce was relatively easy to accomplish, but
with possible legal complications arising out of conditions for return of
the dowry. Either party could opt out of a marriage, and the divorce
was typically “no-fault” in the Greek context. There were some
differences between Greek and Jewish marriages and divorces, and Jews
entered into marriage contracts under both Greek and Jewish marriage
arrangements.
-
Divorce documents often, but not always,
reaffirmed the already known legal right of the man and woman in the divorce
to marry whomever one wished. This is true of both Greek and Jewish
documents of the time.
-
As instituted by Augustus Caesar in 18 BC,
every woman of child-bearing age who became divorced was required to be
remarried within 18 months. Exceptions were granted to those who
had 3 or more children.
-
By Roman law, the right to inherit property
through a will was denied unmarried men over 25 and under 60, and unmarried
women over 20 and under 50.
-
Polygamy was not legal in the Roman Empire,
except as permitted among the Jews (see also the 3rd bullet under “Cultural
considerations”).
Dr. Vern Peterman is an pastor-elder at Holly Hills Bible Church in Denver,
Colorado.
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