Quote:
Originally Posted by Truthseeker
Do you think a married pastor that ran off with a woman then married the woman is excluded from being a bishop/elder? Or all is clear?
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Excluded.
Consider the qualifications laid out in the Scriptures, and how such a scenario fails nearly every standard:
1 Timothy 3,
Above reproach: FAILS
Most people will hold such a man in reproach, and consider his actions shameful
Husband of one wife: FAILS
If he "marries" the second woman in some figurative sense, it's polygamy. If he divorces, he's had more than one wife.
Sober-minded: FAILS
Perhaps he doesn't drink to intoxication, but the phrase also implies clear-headedness, thinking clearly.
Self-Controlled: FAILS
Clearly, he's given away his control over himself to the lusts of his flesh
Respectable: FAILS
No one but the wicked respects an adulterer
Hospitable: FAILS
How are you going to entertain people in your home and minister to them, when your marriage is falling apart and you've split the moral strength of your home in two?
Able to teach: FAILS
How can a man teach sinners and even saints on how to live a life of Godly righteousness when he himself clearly cannot?
Not a drunkard: DEPENDS
He may or may not imbibe alcohol to the point of drunkenness. If he does, he's again disqualified. If he doesn't, he already has everything else against him.
Not violent but gentle: DEPENDS
Perhaps he doesn't strike or hit or throw his hands around in violence, but the emotional and spiritual toil of his cheating is an emotionally and spiritually violent act of betrayal toward his family and the church
Not quarrelsome: FAILS
Him and his wife fought and argued and quarreled a long time, privately, secretly, before he ever went a-whoring, rest assured. Rome didn't fall in a day, as the saying goes, and neither does a marriage.
Not a lover of money: DEPENDS
His greed is indeterminate
Must manage his own household well: FAILS
Obviously.
With dignity, keeping his children submissive: FAILS
Loss of dignity, and his children will become rebellious and fight against him, without question. His relationship with them is permanently altered, perhaps even ruined.
Not a recent convert: DEPENDS
His level of emotional and spiritual maturity help defines his status as a convert, just as much as his personal time in the Body of Christ.
Well thought of by outsiders:
His poor example will likely, in fact, cause people to turn away from Christianity, as a sham religion full of immoral people.
Titus 1,
Above reproach: FAILS (see above)
The husband of one wife: FAILS (see above)
His children are believers: DEPENDS
There's a good chance his sin will cause his children to fall away.
Not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination: DEPENDS
If his children fall away, what will become of their behavior?
Must be above reproach: FAILS (see above)
He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered: FAILS
Anyone who thinks he can disobey God, disregard the Word, wreck his marriage, ruin his family, and etc. is likely arrogant, that is, too full of himself and his ability to get away with it. Especially if it's brazen. The word translated "arrogant" means self-willed, i.e. self-gratifying. As for quick-tempered, if his marriage is poor, and he decides to whore after another woman, the Greek here refers to someone who harbors resentment, with a long standing anger which generates a short fuse. That may describe such a man in an unhappy marriage.
Drunkard or violent or greedy for gain: DEPENDS (see above)
Hospitable: FAILS (see above)
A lover of good: FAILS
Clearly, he loves something else.
Self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined: FAILS
Obviously.
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it: FAILS
Without question. He isn't holding firm to the Word. He gave that up when he decided to whore after another woman.
So, with all this decidedly so, what about the man who has FAILED at the above, then repents and is transformed and renewed by the Holy Spirit?
Can he be restored to oversight? Or is that bridge burned forever?
I'm not sure a doctrine can be reached from the Scriptures either way, but I think we can be dogmatic about it, perhaps in a similar way in which a parole board has to determine if a prisoner has been sufficiently rehabilitated by his incarceration to be allowed an early release back into society. And as you know, some offenders are denied parole every time, until they die in prison.
Such may be the case for a bishop who commits adultery. No parole, no early release. He may die without oversight ever again. And that may be God's will of him. And if so, so be it.
The sin will follow him everywhere he goes, even if God has forgiven him. Let the ministry be not reproached or give offense in anything.
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