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| The Marriage of Church Dignitaries.
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22. The Marriage of Church Dignitaries.
But, while dealing with the passage, I would say that we
will be able perhaps now to understand and clearly set forth a question
which is hard to grasp and see into, with regard to the legislation of
the Apostle concerning ecclesiastical matters; for Paul wishes no one
of those of the church, who has attained to any eminence beyond the
many, as is attained in the administration of the sacraments, to make
trial of a second marriage. For laying down the law in regard to
bishops in the first Epistle to Timothy, he says, “If a man
seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. The
bishop, therefore, must be without reproach, the husbands of one wife,
temperate, sober-minded,”6216
etc.; and, in
regard to deacons, “Let the deacons,” he says, “be
the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses
well,”6217
etc. Yea, and
also when appointing widows, he says, “Let there be no one as a
widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one
man;”6218
and after this he
says the things superadded, as being second or third in importance to
this. And, in the Epistle to Titus, “For this cause,”
he says, “I left thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order
the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city as I gave thee charge. If
any one is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children, that
believe”6219
—of
course—and so on. Now, when we saw that some who have been
married twice may be much better than those who have been married once,
we were perplexed why Paul does not at all permit those who have been
twice married to be appointed to ecclesiastical dignities; for also it
seemed to me that such a thing was worthy of examination, as it was
possible that a man, who had been unfortunate in two marriages, and had
lost his second wife while he was yet young, might have lived for the
rest of his years up to old age in the greatest self-control and
chastity. Who, then, would not naturally be perplexed why at all,
when a ruler of the church is being sought for, we do not appoint such
a man, though he has been twice married, because of the expressions
about marriage, but lay hold of the man who has been once married as
our ruler, even if he chance to have lived to old age with his wife,
and sometimes may not have been disciplined in chastity and
temperance? But, from what is said in the law about the bill of
divorcement, I reflect whether, seeing that the bishop and the
presbyter and the deacon are a symbol of things that truly exist in
accordance with these names, he wished to appoint those who were
figuratively once married, in order that he who is able to give
attention to the matter, may find out from the spiritual law the one
who was unworthy of ecclesiastical rule, whose soul did not find favour
in the eyes of her husband because there had been found in her an
unseemly thing, and she had become worthy of the bill of divorcement;
for such a soul, having dwelt along with a second husband, and having
been hated by such an one, can no longer, after the second bill of
divorcement, return to her former husband.6220
It is likely, therefore, also, that
other arguments will be found by those who are wiser than we, and have
more ability to see into such things, whether in the law about the bill
of divorcement, or in the apostolic writings which prohibit those who
have been twice married from ruling over the church or being preferred
to preside over it. But, until something shall be found that is
better and able by the excessive brilliancy of the light of knowledge
to cast into the shade what we have uttered, we have said the things
which have occurred to us in regard to the passages.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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