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Paul outlines the qualities of what a leader of the ekklēsia (assembly) should look like in 1 Timothy 3.
The position of overseer is described in verses 1-7. The term translated as overseer is episkopē in the Greek, and means superintendent.
The overseer should be "blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, sensible, orderly, kind to strangers, able to teach, not given to wine, no brawler, but gentle, not quarrelsome, no lover of silver, one who rules his house well, having his children in subjection with all reverence... not a new convert."
Meanwhile, attendants (diakonos) are described in verses verses 8-13. They are to be "reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for filthy gain... the husbands of only one wife, ruling children and their houses well."
These are the guidelines for how one should "behave in the House of Elohim, which is the assembly (ekklēsia) of the living Elohim" (verse 15).
Note that, among other noble qualities, both the overseer and the attendant are to be the husband of one wife. While the Torah does offer provision and regulation in the event a man does take more than one wife, the intention of marriage in the Bible was always to be one man and one woman. This intention was established in Genesis 2:24, "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one (echad) flesh."
It is further reinforced by Yeshua in Matthew 19:4-6, when Yeshua quotes from Genesis 2. So, while having more than one wife is permissible, it appears to disqualify one from being a leader of the assembly of believers.
Matthew 19:4-6
“And He (Yeshua) answering, said to them, ‘Did you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ”For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what Elohim has joined together, let man not separate.’ “
Author, Jared Gragg
Date, June 17, 2025